This column is used almost as much by Island expatriates as it is by readers here in Hawai'i. I got a request a while back from homesick Kehau Jackson (www.kehaujackson.com), a stand-up comic who married an Aussie and is living in Adelaide, Australia. She was craving an easy, casserole-style laulau. I dipped into my "Favorite Island Cookery" set from the Honpa Hongwanji (generously given to me by faithful reader Eloise Van Niel and used many, many times since) and found two versions.

Kehau replied with mahalos and this view of An Islander Down Under: "There is a large Asian section in Central Market in downtown Adelaide (like a much larger Chinatown open market with lots of ethnic foods, bakeries, fruit and veg and flower vendors) and I may be able to get salted butterfish there. If not, will go ahead and salt my own as butterfish is available here. There is definitely no poi, but I can always do the plate lunch thing and eat it with rice.

"It's interesting that some common Hawai'i favorites like lemon squares or seven-layer taco dip are unknown here. And they don't have pumpkin pie! (I had to make it from scratch last time, using Queensland Blue pumpkins.) My Aussie friends always look forward to me showing up at a gathering with something fun to eat. I'm not sure if they would enjoy laulau, but I'm not in the mood to share that anyway! Mine, all mine ... slurp."

Here's a version made with canned spinach instead of lu'au leaf — the recipe, along with a well-wrapped packet of frozen salt butterfish, might make a nice farewell gift for visiting family members who are heading back to the Mainland. Another version of this dish that I found in the Hongwanji books places peeled, chunked sweet potatoes on top of the laulau casserole, to cook along with it. Good idea, I thought.

EASY LAULAU