Tammy Wilson’s super-easy salad recipe with a dried-seafood twist won her first place in the “Family Favorites Recipe Contest” sponsored by First Insurance Co. of Hawaii.

The contest sought out dishes that parents and grandparents have prepared for their loved ones over the years.

Wilson, a registered nurse case manager at Maui Medical Group and Hospice Maui, came up with the salad when she showed up at a friend’s house for dinner bearing only a package of dried ika, or cuttlefish. She foraged in the fridge and came up with enough random produce to put together a salad, which she topped with the ika.

“I like using what’s there in the fridge — it’s a good way to clean it out and make use and not waste,” Wilson said, “so this salad is pretty much a blank canvas. You’re only limited by your imagination.”

Wilson, 59, is mom to four adult children and tutu to two. She grew up in Kohala on the Big Island, where providing their own food was part of family life.

“I’ve always worked with food, as long as I can remember,” she said. “I grew up growing our own fruit and vegetables. My father taught me to spearfish and to shoreline-fish; I also tagged along when he went hunting in the Kohala Mountains for pig and goat. We also went up the rivers and caught fresh-water opae (shrimp) and picked fern shoots.”

The competition drew 20 entries and was judged by the editors of Crave. Wilson will receive a $100 Foodland gift card, and $100 will be donated in her name to Hawaii Meals on Wheels.

The contest was the finale to First Insurance’s “Malama Our Kupuna” campaign, which ends with a $40,000 donation to Meals on Wheels, to be presented Sept. 28 at a “Let’s Rock the Night” gala at the Honolulu Country Club (for details, visit hmow.org).

Wilson emphasizes that any vegetables and a variety of dressings may be used in this salad.

SHREDDED IKA SALAD

By Tammy Wilson

• 1-1/4 cups sliced beans (any type, cut in 1-inch pieces) or Chinese peas
• 1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 1 small green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved, more if desired
• 1-2 handfuls shredded dry ika (cuttlefish) cut into 1-inch pieces, more if desired
• 3/4 cup sesame, Oriental or papaya-seed dressing, more or less to taste

Blanch beans in boiling water, then remove to a bowl of ice water to stop cooking process; drain.

Combine beans in a large bowl with remaining vegetables and cuttlefish.

Add 1/2 the dressing and toss; taste and add more dressing if needed. Serves 6-8.

Nutritional information unavailable.