Cooking with Judy: Spend time on the ingredients, let them do the work

What a pleasure it was coming back from Hawaii this time without wearing my mask at the airport or on the plane. It was really worth it to forego that slight inconvenience and then the following day see those two black lines on my home COVID test, feeling sick as a dog, said no one ever.

Yes, it’s New Year’s resolution time, and mine is to get that mask back on.

But this is a food column after all, and, bearing in mind that according to “Psychology Today,” within 6 months fewer than half the people who made New Year’s resolutions have kept them, I’m setting my entertainment goals within reach.

For years, I thought the way to impress my guests was to create labor intensive dishes, wearing myself out at the stove before they even arrived. Today the emphasis is on simplicity.

Use the best quality, locally sourced ingredients you can find, present them artfully and let the food speak for itself. In other words, spend your energies considering the ingredients rather than slaving over the method.

Case in point: the beautiful honeycomb appetizer pictured here from one of our favorite restaurants on Kauai’s North Shore, Bar Acuda, a sold-out-every-night tapas bar in Hanalei.

Tapas are small plates meant to be shared, and I love them, because you get to taste a wide assortment. This was my third visit to the North Shore of Kauai, courtesy of my brother, along with my almost 15-year-old nephew. (I really lucked out in the sibling department!)

A visit to Bar Acuda is de rigeur for this family – this trip we even dined there twice – and we always start with the honeycomb. Easy enough to duplicate at home, the menu description is your ingredient list: “North Shore Honeycomb with Humboldt Fog goat cheese, crisp Fuji apple and ciabatta bread.”

While you may find honeycomb at the supermarket, Bar Acuda uses honeycomb local to the North Shore.

Why use local honey and honey products? Local honey made by local bees that collect pollen from local plants contains, therefore, small amounts of pollen which you may be allergic to. Consuming this honey can possibly desensitize you from those allergens.

Locally, you can find honeycomb and fresh, unprocessed honey at OC Local Honey in Tustin. Contact Christine Ferrian at 714-272-4553 or email oclocalhoney@gmail.com.

Humboldt Fog is an uncooked pressed cheese made from pasteurized goat’s milk by Cypress Grove, of Arcata, in Humboldt County. It takes its name from the local ocean fog of Humboldt Bay.

It is available locally at Ralph’s, Von’s and Albertson’s. Certainly, you can find Fuji apples everywhere – note the exquisite presentation – as well as fresh ciabatta bread.

I love Bar Acuda’s “Local Cucumber Salad: avocado, crispy garbanzo beans, feta cheese, white balsamic vinaigrette and herbs” – I definitely tasted mint and parsley – a symphony of flavors and textures, and again, easy enough to duplicate at home.

White balsamic is milder and slightly less sweet than its darker counterpart. It is made by cooking white Trebbiano grapes from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, but at a lower temperature and higher pressure to achieve its pale, golden color.

Are you detecting a theme here? Search menus at tapas restaurants for your own ingredients lists!

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.