Watermelon Berry Fiz

Here's one way to beat the summer heat. Mix-up my Watermelon Berry Fiz - it's sure to be summer’s cooler, the new mojito. It's very refreshing and fun to make. Serve at your next outdoor party or simply poolside avec or sans the vodka. The kids can enjoy it too, the non-alcohol version of course. Enjoy!

Tipfor poolside serving: use only unbreakable drinkware!

Watermelon Berry Fiz

Recipe by George Hirsch | Makes 3-4 servings

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

2 cups cold seedless watermelon

1 cup fresh sliced strawberries (in a pinch-use frozen)

2 Tablespoons sugar, variable depending on how sweet the berries are & how tart/ sweet you like it

1/2 cup ice, crushed or cubes 

1/4 cup seltzer per glass 

In a blender, blend the lime juice, watermelon, strawberries, sugar, and ice until slushy. Serve in a tall pre-chilled glass filled with ice; fill glasses 3/4  full with blended watermelon & berry juice. Top off each glass with seltzer.

*To Spike: You can add 1/2 ounce of vodka, or rum, or tequila to each glass over the ice before adding watermelon-berry juice.  

U-Pick

Sure berries are available year round these days, so you may be thinking what's so special about berries now?  Well, believe it or not, it is prime berry season. For me in the Hamptons I am minutes away from picking up my local favorites, strawberries. I'm looking forward to serving up berry shortcake, cobbler and even simply plain yogurt or cream with local fresh picked berries.

What I like to do when I gather a mixture of wild blueberries or raspberries from my backyard is make a cool refreshing smoothie. It’s quick and good for you (packed with valuable antioxidants) but most importantly, it just tastes great! Go pick this weekend..

Berry Smoothie

recipe by George Hirsch | from George Hirsch Living it UP! cookbook

1 cup strawberries

juice from 1/2 lemon

1 cup frozen low fat yogurt

1/2 cup fat free milk 

Place berries in blender and puree. Add the lemon juice, frozen yogurt and milk. Blend until smooth. 

Optional: blueberies, raspberries, or blackberries

Fentimans

When was the last time you had a rootbeer float? You don't need to wait until August 6th (National Rootbeer Float Day) to get inspired. Here's my spin on a summer rootbeer float. You need two ingredients; good icecream + Fentimans Ginger Beer. Tip: use an ice cold glass.

I am seeing a resurgence in the popularity of an 18th century beverage, ginger beer. Not to be confused with ginger ale, which is made with ginger extract. The original version of ginger beer was actually an alcoholic beverage originating in England, today really only available by the home brewer.

Today's commercial brands are classified as soft drinks/sodas; containing less than a half percent of alcohol. Fentimans of the UK, is a great example of a company that has been brewing ginger beer since the 1900s. The point of difference in their ginger beer vs. any other, is their original brewing process requiring a few days of fermentation compared to the limited production time of other ginger beers available today on the market.

Fentimans on their ginger beer:

Unlike other Ginger Beers our process starts with fermenting the finest chinese ginger root. This goes a long way to explaining the wonderful Ginger "Burn" that each bottle contains. If you like Ginger, you will love our Ginger Beer!

Fentimans: available in the US

Herb of the Year

Rose is the winner for 2012. Roses have been used for culinary purposes for centuries in syrups, jams, sweets and teas. It has also been used for its medicinal properties, like it's high in vitamin C. Teas steeped from tea leaves or rose hips have a delightful fruity flavor; ideally serve with scones or cake. Pair my Good Stuff Pick with My Scone Recipe for Mother's Day.

We let Nature speak for itself, hand-picking premium organic teas and herbs and blending them with only real fruits, flowers and spices.  Since we use real ingredients and high quality teas & herbs (not tea dust or fannings), there is no need to apply “natural” flavorings or fragrances to create flavor.  This means you can pronounce the ingredients, know exactly what you’re sipping and savor true gifts of Nature. 

George's Scones | chefgeorgehirsch.com
Recipe by Chef George Hirsch | Makes 8 scones in a 9 inch round pan 

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) very cold sweet butter, cut into small pieces 
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons pure cane granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk, *made into buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup raisins, **plumped
1/4 teaspoon white vinegar, for making milk into buttermilk

*Add white vinegar to milk to make the buttermilk. Allow to sit 5 minutes to sour. 

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees F. 

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add cold butter to flour and blend in by hand until the butter resembles fine crumbs. Add granulated sugar and mix into flour. 

Combine beaten egg, vanilla, and milk. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, toss in plumped raisins and mix by hand until a dough forms. It will take about one minute of kneading until the flour is absorbed. Turn scone dough on to a floured surface. Form in the shape of a ball, do not over knead. With a rolling pin, flatten out dough to one inch thick.

Place the round scone dough into a 9 inch cake pan. With a bench scraper or knife cut though the dough across four times dividing into eight equal pieces. Immediately bake for about 16-18 minutes until dough sounds hollow, a sign it is fully baked. 

Serve warm with jam and clotted whip cream. 

**To plump raisins add 2 tablespoons of water and heat in microwave for 30 seconds. 

A.H.Hirsch

Get it while it's hot. A.H.Hirsch is the oldest available bourbon made from time honored pot tradition. Considered The quintessential American spirit - Hirsch Selection Small Batch Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, is a high quality bourbon in very short supply. The Penn. Distillery is no more, after running since 1753. With only limited stocks on hand, Hirsch Selection™ Small Batch Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey was selected expressly for connoisseurs of small batch fine spirits, but somehow priced for everyday man. This surely is great with my Apple Tart Tartin. BTW, Hirsch namesake, but no relation that I know of. Darn.

Tarte Tatin 
Recipe by George Hirsch
Makes six servings | From George Hirsch Living it UP! TV series

2 large green apples, peeled, cut into quarters, remove core and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/2 stick sweet butter
1/4-1/2 cup pure cane granulated sugar, depends on tartness of apples
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, defrosted 

Tarte Tatin

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees.

Spread room temperature butter in the bottom of a nine-inch non stick oven proof sauté pan. Sprinkle sugar completely over bottom of pan. Arrange apple slices on top of sugar.  Cover apples with puff pastry dough, but do not stretch dough. Press dough lightly around the inside rim of the pan. Cut away corners of excess dough so puff pastry fits into the round sauté pan. With the tip of a knife, poke three to four tiny holes in dough.

On the stove top, begin to cook the tart on a high heat until the dough begins to bubble. This will take about 3-4 minutes. By cooking on the stove top you are browning the sugars and apples. If the dough bubbles up too high, gently pierce dough with tip of a knife to allow excess steam to escape. Once the tart has been cooked on the stove top, place the tart in the oven for ten to twelve minutes or until the pastry is light brown and fully baked.

Remove tart from oven, allow to set about thirty seconds. CAREFULLY, with a large serving platter place inverted over tart. With a towel holding the hot pan and anther hand on top of the inverted platter, turn the platter right side up and un-mold the tart from the sauté pan. 

Top with powdered sugar. Serve warm with fresh whip cream or ice cream. Enjoy your tarte tatin.

chefgeorgehirsch.com