Macadamia Nut Pesto

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup macadamia-nuts
• 1 garlic cloves, 1 fresh (or roasted) pepper
• 1 Tablespoon salt and fresh pepper (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon lemon or lime juice

This is a simple but tasty recipe that we use for lots of things. Of course pesto goes well with pasta, but pesto is my favorite on a pizza or a grilled sandwich. You can replace macadamia-nuts with other nuts. For this recipe we used a cuisinart food processor - they are very handy for sauces and creams. First, we mixed 2 cups basil with 1/3 cup nuts and pulsed them for about 20 seconds.

From Upcountry Recipes

Next, we added garlic and a sweet red pepper from the garden.

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Then we added the 1/3 cup of olive oil. Make sure you add the oil slowly.

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Hawai'ian rock salt, pepper, and the cheese were added and mixed for about 20 seconds.

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Finally, the tasty product - Macadamia-nut pesto.

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Flour Tortilla Recipe

Tonight we decided to make tortillas for our yummy enchilada recipe. The blog about the meal will come later, so now let's show you the tortillas! Total time (45min to 1hr)
First I hopped online and looked up our favorite tortilla recipe at: http://www.texasrollingpins.com/tortillarecipe.html
It is as follows:
3 c. unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4-6 Tbsp. vegetable shortening/lard/butter (we prefer to use butter)
1 1/4 c. warm water

Matt took butter out of the fridge first. This way it can soften, and will be ready to work with once you get your other ingredients together. Second measure out your flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix with a wooden spoon or spatula in your bowl.

Next take your water and warm it up to luke warm. We use our microwave for this one, on high for approximately 40 seconds. Then add the butter, somewhat melted and mix. Add the salt, and baking powder next, then finish it off with two of your three cups of flour. Mix well, and add the last cup of flour. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

Now take your rested dough, and divide it into eight to twelve pieces. Roll them into a ball. We believe this helps keep the dough in a shape of a circle when rolled out (but square shape, and all sorts of silly shapes still taste delicious!).

Let these rest for 10 minutes, again covered with a cloth. Take out the pan you plan on using to cook your tortillas on. We start to warm the pan on three(ish), in preparation for cooking on medium heat.
Now you are ready to roll out your tortillas.Turn up that preheated pan to medium heat, and get started. You will want to get out a plate to put your cooked tortillas on too. One at a time roll the dough out to a somewhat round shape, and carefully place onto your hot pan.

You will see the dough bubble and sort of poof up. Flip it over, and wait for the tortilla to fill up with air and for those bubbles, or air pockets to brown just a bit. Sometimes we will under cook half of our batch, in anticipation of cooking a quesadilla with the tortilla, and this way, it's fresh when you cook it.

This is the wonderfully delicious end result:

Welcome and Aloha

Aloha

Welcome to the Upcountry recipe blog. This blog will be provide photos and recipes of many of the foods my girlfriend and I make at home in upcountry Maui. I am an artist born and raised on Maui (my art blog -here). My father is a pastry chef and my mom has always made tasty meals with an international zeal. Before I became a full-time artist I held many of jobs: line cook, baker, and pastry chef to name a few. With this eclectic background, help from my girlfriend Cristina, and lots of locally and home grown produce we will share many of the recipes we have come to savor. Bon appetit.