Marathon

George Hirsch January 2, 2018

Fresh fennel adds a rich benefit of potassium & calcium...

As most of you know from my cookbooks and TV shows, one of my favorite ways to cook is with simple clean food. What is clean? Basically, food in it's natural state and not over worked with heavy seasoning or sauces. A good example would be my Marathon Salad. Fresh, crisp and seasonal with the first harvest from the farm. So go ahead and shave some marathon on asparagus and peas for the season's best!

Since the times of ancient Greece, fennel was called marathon. Greek myths tell that knowledge was delivered to man by the gods at Olympus in a fennel stalk. More importantly, in those times fennel was revered by the Greeks and the Romans for its medicinal properties in culinary. Crunchy and slightly sweet - fennel is a highly versatile vegetable that is wonderful when eaten raw, grilled, braised, sauted with other veggies or chopped and used in salads. Like celery, carrots and onions I always keep a bulb or two on hand in my fridge. I also love its distinct anise flavor. It’s great when simply shaved and served as a salad with sliced beets, roasted vegetables arugula, Parmesan, and a light touch of fresh lemon and olive oil.

START YOUR YEAR OFF RIGHT George Hirsch Living it UP! cookbook contains a 30-day mnu plan for an active healthy life.

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23 becomes 24

georgehirsch December 31, 2017

You warmly welcomed me into your homes on your local PBS station 23 years ago. Since then you would think cooking has changed? However, food is really the same. I have experienced the power of food—the goodness, especially when respect, passion and love are an essential ingredient. This is confirmed through your many messages over the years thanking me for instilling a spark to go ahead and try it yourself, cooking for family and friends. In 2018 I look forward to sharing countless more goodness as I enter the 24th year since the launch of my first TV series.

Cheers & Happy New Year! George

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Champagne is recognized as the universal symbol of good news, and this cocktail's simple recipe shows that life doesn't have to be complicated to be enjoyed. A Champagne Cocktail is a classic.

Classic Champagne Cocktail

Recipe: Six ounces of champagne and a sugar cube soaked in Angostura bitters is all it takes to make a sophisticated cocktail for the New Year. Drop the sugar cube into a tall flute glass, and then slowly add champagne and a lemon twist.

Tips: With the Champagne Cocktail, you can trust the bitters to take the edge off a lesser quality champagne or sparkling wine. For this drink, you can use a lesser expensive wine spending about $10 to $18 for a good domestic bottle.

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Soup Under Thirty

George Hirsch December 27, 2017

Tune-in CreateTV Marathon GHL Dec 30th Sat 10:30AM / 10:30PM + Sun Dec 31st 4:30PM

Here's a little inspiration from Bologna via cooking-up a brothy and hearty tortellini soup. The tortellini originates from the north-cental part of Italy. Many legends lay claim to the origins of tortellini; none of which I hold much belief in.. from an inn-keeper who replicated Venus' belly button, to claims of tortellini mimicking the shape of a turtle, to replicating 17th-century architectural features of Modena. Whatever you believe, these dumpling-like pasta can become a legend in your kitchen.

Eat more greens in your diet!

Adding deep green veggies to your diet will provide you with valuable nutrients that your body really needs during the winter. During cold season, fending off colds means strengthening your immune system. Power up with fennel, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, lettuces, green beans, kale and collards. Drop them in soups. Steaming vegetables is a quick and healthy side dish. Fresh is best. Frozen is the next best option. Canned veggies are the least desirable, because of the high sodium content. (Popeye’s strength may have benefited from 'me spinach', but he had high blood pressure from the high sodium content in his canned veggie.)

This pasta soup dish is wonderful as an appetizer or a luncheon entrée. The best part is that it can be ready in under 30 minutes. Serve alongside my Flatbread Pizzas

Tortellini Basil Soup

makes 6-8 servings

chefgeorgehirsch.com | George Hirsch Lifestyle

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 cup sweet onion, chopped

8 cloves caramelized garlic

1 cup canned San Marzano Tomatoes, chopped

4 Tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

1 quarter cup fresh spinach leaves, shredded

8 cups chicken or vegetable broth

8 ounces cheese tortellini

1 cup small white beans, cooked or canned

Pinch nutmeg

Grated parmesan cheese to taste

Fresh ground black pepper

Pre heat a medium soup pot to medium temperature.

Add olive oil, onion, garlic, tomatoes and cook for 4-5 minutes. Pour in broth and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and add tortellini, spinach, basil, and white beans. Simmer until tortellinis are al dente and season with nutmeg, pepper. Add parmesan cheese to taste. Serve with a basil leaf on top.

NOTE: This recipe requires a good quality tortellini, if you are cooking the pasta in the broth. A lesser quality tortellini will make the soup starchy. If you are not sure of the quality, cook the tortellini separately and add pasta to the soup right before serving.

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Lamb Osso Buco with Mousseline Potatoes as seen on George Hirsch Lifestyle

George Hirsch December 21, 2017

Osso buco is a traditional Milanese dish made with veal shanks, and is just as good or even better when prepared with lamb. Cooking with a low and slow braise is the key to a good tender lamb shank. And, while the lamb slowly cooks you can improve on the osso buco by preparing my Mousseline Potatoes as a side. Both are warm and comforting!

George Hirsch's Lamb Osso Buco

Lamb Osso Buco with Mousseline Potatoes

Makes four servings

chefgeorgehirsch.com | George Hirsch Lifestyle TV Series

4 whole lamb shanks

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup carrots, chopped

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1/4 cup celery, chopped

10 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup tomato sauce

2 cups chicken broth

1 Tablespoon rosemary

1 teaspoon thyme

Pinch of fresh ground black pepper and sea salt

Click For Mousseline Potatoes Recipe

Preheat large saucepan.

Add olive oil and brown meat on all sides. Add onions, garlic, carrots, celery and cook until light brown.

Add vinegar and reduce for two minutes. Add tomato sauce, broth, rosemary and thyme. Cover and cook meat for two hours at a gentle simmer. The lamb shanks are fully cooked when the meat becomes flaky and shrinks away from the bone. Add fresh ground black pepper and sea salt to taste.

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Mousseline Potatoes from George Hirsch Lifestyle TV Series

Serve the cooked lamb shanks with sauce and vegetables on top of hot, steamy mousseline potatoes.

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Dresden Stollen

George Hirsch December 11, 2017

It’s that time of year. No, not Miller Time, it’s Stollen Time! And the best place for stollen is Dresden, Germany. Avaiable at the Backerei & Konditorei (bakery & pastry); but don't worry if you didn't make it to Germany for the festival on Nov 29th. Enjoy with a good mug of coffee.

Stollen Maiden About the Festival:

The history of the Stollen Festival dates back to the beginning of the 18th century. In 1730, Friedrich August I., better known as August the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland arranged a legendary amusement festivity in the framework of a camp known as Zeithainer Lustlager (or Zeithainer Lager). Even today, it is still the epitome of the baroque way of life because of its luxury and splendour. This festivity is the historical model for today's Stollen Festivals.

The Dresden Stollen Festival is quite a young festival. It was celebrated for the first time in 1994. In the meantime, it has established itself as part of Dresden's cultural life and is considered to be the highlight of the Dresden Christmas fair (Striezelmarkt). Originally, the festival was planned as a single PR-Event for the Dresden Stollen. It has become an important destination for the Christmas Capital Dresden and takes place every Saturday prior to the 2nd Advent.

If you dare try, here's an authentic recipe, translated. Note measurements in grams.

Dresden Stollen -recipe with one "Metze" (4 kg) flour for 6 four-pound-stollen

4000 gram wheaten flour

1600 gram butter

500 gram butter lard

600 gram preserving sugar

750 gram sweet almonds, pulverized

250 gram bitter almonds, pulverized

600 gram candid lemon peel

3000 gram seedless raisins

1000 gram milk

250 gram yeast

50 gram salt

100 gram lemon peel

10 gram Macis

300 gram rum

1 gram vanilla pod

Dresden Christmas Stollen (translated from native tongue, German)

The Dresden woman Lenelies Pause delivered in her monography about the "royal Children" a stollen recipe in his high developed form. It demonstrated the high school of the art to bake Dresden stollen:

"There are a lof of tales. The history tells, they don't used milk, they better took the rich cream, 2 cans, full, directly from a farmer. It is the speech of a "Metze" (4 kilogram) dusty wheaten flour. This "Metze" devours desirous 2 kilogram of the best butter, snatch 3 kilogram seedless raisins with themselves, satisfied themselves with 1 kilogram almonds. It desires an hand full with bitter glassy candied lemon peel, planed orange peel, takes also a breath mace - rubbed soft over a peace of sugar with powerless hand -, demands a charge of the good old Arrak and takes the sugar not in the modern crystallized form, but after the good old tradition as an hat which is packed in blue paper, and then also only martared, sifted and on the lemon rubbed off. The Stollen is an unready children only mixed, formed and baked. With 1000 gram melted hot butter the stollen will be slowly and softly touched und steeped, sugar, smells like vanila, sinks up like a snow clouds, till it finally carried home, with a sweet aroma, which march through the whole city in the days before Christmas and all bakeries, whichs breathes out of all corridors."