Kiełbasa with Jam Sauce

georgehirsch November 3, 2023

The most popular kiełbasa is also called Kiełbasa Polska aka Polish Sausage.

In Poland, kiełbasa is often served garnished with fried onions, and smoked kiełbasa can be served cold, hot, boiled, baked, or grilled. The condiments in this recipe work wonderfully with the smokiness of the sausage.

This recipe was shared by my dear polish friends and graced my first cookbook over 25 years ago and is popular as ever today. You and your family will be amazed at how easy to prepare, and great it tastes. Enjoy!

Kiełbasa with Jam Sauce

Makes four-six servings

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2 1/2 pounds Kielbasa or smoked sausage

1 cup good quality Jam, such as marionberry, blackberry, or mixed berry

1 cup catsup

1 Tablespoon horseradish

1 teaspoon hot sauce

Slice the kielbasa 1/4 inch thick and place in a preheated nonstick skillet. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Pour the sauce over the kielbasa and cook for 30 to 45 minutes at a low temperature. Serve warm.

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Cinco de Mayo with George's Posole

George Hirsch May 2, 2023

This week Cinco de Mayo will be celebrated worldwide, honoring Mexican heritage and marking the defeat of the French Army after invading the Americas. But believe it or not, this commemorative holiday is celebrated by more people in California than in Mexico. And many festive ways are used to mark the occasion beyond cervesa and tequila. Dances and music keep the occasion to preserve & educate the public about its historical significance and culture.

A traditional Mexican dish from the Pacific coast region of Jalisco, Posole is a thick soup made with hominy–dried corn with the hull and germ removed. It makes any large gathering a fiesta!

George's Posole

Makes 8 servings

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2 pounds of pork shoulder chops

1/2 cup Posole Pork Rub

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 sweet onion, sliced thick, grilled, and chopped

4 jalapenos, roasted on the grill; split, seeded, and chopped

6 cloves garlic, chopped

4 cups hot chicken broth

4 cups canned hominy, drained and rinsed

1 Tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

3 fresh red radishes, sliced thin

1 cup fresh cabbage, finely shredded

Rub pork on all sides with Posole Pork Rub, and refrigerate for at least two to 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat a large soup pot to high heat.

Brush chops with 2 Tablespoons olive oil. Add chops and sear pork on both sides until browned and not fully cooked. Add 1 Tablespoon olive oil, chopped onion, garlic, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the hot broth, jalapenos, and hominy and simmer for 1 hour. Remove chops, cool, and chop meat into small pieces. Put the pork back into the soup. Continue cooking for 30 additional minutes. The longer and slower the soup simmers, the better.

Stir in cilantro and serve bowls of soup topped with sliced radish, shredded cabbage, and warm corn tortillas.

Posole Pork Rub

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Tablespoon each: ground cumin, black pepper, garlic powder, sweet paprika, chili powder, thyme

1/2 teaspoon each: nutmeg, allspice

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Store in a tightly sealed container.

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Traditions for Health, Wealth and Good Fortune

George Hirsch December 30, 2022

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

For many Americans, New Year's means parties, football, and watching the ball drop in Times Square. But to others here and around the world the celebration wouldn't be complete without certain delicious traditional foods.

**Champagne, a Universal Symbol of Good Fortune**

Black Eyed Peas are a centuries-old New Year's tradition in many countries, served to ensure health, wealth, and peace for the coming year. A traditional southern New Year's dish is Hoppin' John-black eyed peas and ham hocks. An old saying goes, "Eat peas on New Year's day to have plenty of everything for the rest of the year."

**Greens for the New Year Brings Luck + Healthy Addition to a Daily Diet**

The age-old celebration in England and Scotland called the 'First Footing' continues today and always includes a bowl of black-eyed pea soup and a drink to toast the new year at midnight. In the old days, people would gather coals from their hearth just before midnight and set out to visit friends in the first minutes of the new year. The first person to step through the door of the family they were visiting was called the 'first footer' and was believed to set the luck for the coming year. This person would present the spent coals they had gathered to the woman of the house, who would store them away and use them to start the subsequent New Year's fire. The first footer would get kisses and a hot bowl of black-eyed pea soup. First Footing traditions were brought to the U.S. by European immigrants and are still practiced, especially in the South and Northeast. With all variations, black-eyed peas are served for good luck and good health. Sometimes rice and black-eyed peas with cabbage or collard greens are served. The rice symbolizes riches, black-eyed peas for peace, and cabbage or collards represent money in the coming year.

Kwanzaa, the African American holiday beginning December 26 and lasting seven days, often includes black-eyed peas at New Year's. Each evening the celebration focuses on one of seven principles beginning with unity and ending with faith. On New Year's Eve, a feast takes place, with each person bringing a dish to share. These dishes often include baked black-eyed peas, pickled black-eyed peas, black-eye pea salads, and 'Hoppin' John'’ a thick stew with many variations that always include black-eyed peas.

In Texas, the New Year's tradition may include Texas Caviar, a salad made from black-eyed peas, hominy or sweet corn, vegetables, and vinaigrette.

Many Japanese foods also are served to bring health, wealth, and peace to the new year, including soba (buckwheat noodles), black soybeans, and miso soup. In Japan, 'O-Shogatsu' or New Year's begins on December 31 and continues for almost two weeks. Before New Year's Day, all bills are paid or current, and houses are cleaned from top to bottom, sweeping out the old year's energy. Everyone enjoys a simple bowl of long-cut soba noodles in a broth made only with water, kombu sea vegetable, and shoyu soy sauce garnished with scallions from ten minutes to midnight. It is eaten through the first few minutes of the New Year to ensure longevity and prosperity.

In Italy, people welcome the New Year by tossing old things out of their windows to make room for the new and lucky to enter their households and lives in the year to come. The Italian people eat a dish called Cotechino Con Lenticchie: pork sausage served over lentils. This dish is consumed because of the fatty, rich pork sausage and lentils in the dish. Cotechino sausage symbolizes abundance because they are rich in fat, while the coin-shaped lentils symbolize money.

Hoppin John

Makes six servings

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1 pound dried black-eyed peas

2 ham hocks, smoked

2 medium onions, chopped

6 cloves garlic, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 cup converted long-grain white rice

10 ounces diced tomatoes with chilies, juices reserved

1 large red bell pepper, finely diced

3 ribs celery, diced

1 jalapeno or Serrano pepper, minced

2 teaspoons paprika

3/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

3 scallions, sliced

hot red pepper sauce

In a large pot, combine the black-eyed peas, ham hocks, and 6 cups of water. Add 1 chopped onion to the pot along with 3 cloves of garlic and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer gently until the beans are tender but not mushy, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Remove and discard the bay leaves. Remove the hocks, cut off the meat in large shreds, and set the meat aside. Drain the peas reserving the liquid, add enough water to the liquid to make 2 1/2 cups of liquid to cook the rice. Add back to the pot and bring to a boil. Add the rice, cover, and simmer until the rice is almost tender.

In a sauté pan, add olive oil, remaining garlic, onion, bell pepper, celery, and jalapeno pepper. Sauté for two minutes and add paprika, thyme, cumin, and tomatoes. Add the cooked rice along with the peas. Top with sliced scallions and meat from the ham hocks. Serve with hot sauce on the side.

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Pesto al Trapanese by Kevin Penner as seen on George Hirsch Lifestyle

George Hirsch April 18, 2022

When the tomatoes are vine-ripe it's time to make Pesto al Trapanese. By far the easiest and tastiest sauce. Period, read on…

Kevin Penner, George Hirsch from George Hirsch Lifestyle TV series

Chef Kevin Penner has opened and exec’d many top kitchens; this segment was filmed on the South Fork of Long Island's CittaNuova in East Hampton, NY. His passion to be within steps of the farms has kept him closer to the roots & vines— and as he puts it, “can be found loitering in the kitchen at some of the highly acclaimed East End restaurants.” Luckily for those who get to sample his gift with food, I am happy he is still part of the East End Team!

To say the Pesto al Trapanese is incredible is an understatement. But, as Kevin or any great chef will tell you, it is about the ingredients. Underscore those tomatoes, no shortcuts.

Pesto al Trapanese by Chef Kevin Penner | chefkevinpenner.com

10 ounces heirloom cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1/3 cup roasted Marcona almonds

1/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 small Calabrian chili in oil, minced (about 1/2 teaspoon) (see note)

Kosher salt

A pinch of red pepper flakes

1 pound pasta, preferably a long shape (spaghetti, linguine…I use house-made chitarra)

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated

INSTRUCTIONS

Blend the almonds, tomatoes, basil, garlic, Calabrian chili, salt to taste, and red pepper flakes in a blender until smooth and homogenous. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. With the machine running, slowly drizzle in Evo, about 30 seconds.

Bring one gallon of water to boil in a large pot. Add pasta and 3 tablespoons of salt and cook until al dente. Reserve ½ cup cooking water; drain pasta and transfer back to the cooking pot.

Add tomato pesto and ½ cup Parmesan to cooked pasta, tweaking the consistency with reserved pasta cooking water so that pesto coats pasta and forms a nice, creamy emulsion. Serve quickly with extra cheese on the side.

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Fondue as seen on George Hirsch Lifestyle

George Hirsch March 20, 2021

Love fondue, but not a fan of double dippers? The solution, my individual mini-fondue servings, will satisfy the creaminess of the cheese and wine sauce.

Serving a variety of crisp, colorful veggies makes for a healthier spin on the traditional fondue. The vegetables and bread can be prepared ahead, while the fondue sauce is a quick sauce prepared and served immediately. Topped with a zesty pesto cuts the heaviness of just serving an all cheese sauce.

Fondue with Sweet English Spring Peas & Garlic Scape Pesto

Sauce serves 6-8

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4 Tablespoons Garlic Scape Pesto, or my Perfect Pesto or Winter Pesto when scapes are out of season

1 cup dry white wine

½ pound Swiss Emmenthaler or Emmental cheese, shredded

½ pound Gruyere, cheese, shredded

2 Tablespoons flour

Pinch fresh grated nutmeg and sea salt

Fresh grated black pepper

Serve with assorted crisp vegetables such as string beans, spring peas, tomatoes & slices of crusty bread.

Prepare ahead an assortment of vegetables and sliced bread and arrange in small ramekins.

Mix flour with shredded cheese.

Immediately before serving, gently simmer wine in a small saucepan. Add Swiss cheese, Gruyere cheese a little bit at a time until blended into the wine. Keep gently stirring after each addition of cheese until completely melted. When all the cheese has melted, add nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Ladle a small amount into each ramekin. Top with a small spoon of pesto. Serve immediately.