Last month I had the amazing opportunity to spend a few days at Disney’s Aulani Resort & Spa in Hawaii. While there, I had the pleasure of meeting with Chef Kevin Chong for a delicious cooking tutorial on how to prepare a traditional Hawaiian dish served at the onsite Ama Ama restaurant. 

The Snapper Lau Lau is a fresh, light dish that would be perfect for these warm spring and summer evenings under strings of paper lanterns in your back yard. For a detailed step by step of the process, check out our video below and please feel free to download the recipe here to try it for yourself!

Since Ben was not able to join Whistler and I on our trip to Aulani, I wanted to try and bring back a little bit of Hawaii for him by preparing a slightly edited version of this dish using Mahi Mahi for dinner last week. I was so pleased with the results!

Ingredients

Sauteed Spinach
2 cups Fresh Spinach
1 tsp Garlic, minced
1/2 tsp butter
1/2 tsp olive oil

Dressing
2 tbsp Maui Onion, sliced
1 oz Citrus Champagne Vinegar 634039000115
2 oz Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice

1/2 tomato, sliced
1/4 Maui onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp green onion, diced
1 tbsp basil, diced

1 7oz Snapper or Mahi Mahi filet
Hawaiian Sea Salt
Fresh Ground White Pepper

Directions

1. Saute spinach and garlic in olive oil and butter until just barely wilted.
2. Season Mahi Mahi with Hawaiian sea salt and fresh ground white pepper.
3. Place the sautéed spinach in the center aluminum foil sheets.
4. Place the Mahi Mahi on top of the spinach.
5. Fold to create a packet.
6. Steam for about 7-10 minutes or until the Mahi is cooked thoroughly. (you could also throw this on the grill!)
7. Meanwhile, place onion and vinegar in a blender and blend on high speed.
8. Lower the speed of the blender and drizzle in the extra virgin olive oil.
9. Season with lemon juice, sea salt and fresh ground white pepper and strain through a fine sieve.
10. Place the dressing in a bowl.
11. Add the finely sliced Maui onion, tomatoes, green onions, basil and toss. Season with sea salt and fresh ground white pepper.
12. Open the lau lau and carefully scoop spinach with fish onto a plate. 
13. Spoon the sauce on top of the fish.

This is just a small taste of the Disney Aulani Resort – I have soooo much more to share with you including information about their new expansion, our vacation experience including Auntie’s Beach House and the Spa – OH THE SPA! So please be sure to stop back next for our next article with Disney Aloha Magic!

Thank you to Disney for hosting me and my son at the incredible Aulani Resort. We created a lifetime of memories and can wait to tell you all about our stay. Even though our travel expenses were graciously covered, our opinions remain our own.