George's Pumpkin Banana Nut Muffins

I hope this recipe gets you in the mood for the first day of October! Get into the fresh baked autumn season and after 20 minutes of baking you can be enjoying hot out of the oven muffins. If you can resist to wait, they will even taste tomorrow. The banana in this pumpkin muffin recipe is an added natural sweetener, and also keeps the muffin fresh. 

George's Pumpkin Banana Nut Muffins

chefgeorgehirsch.com | George Hirsch Lifestyle George Hirsch Living it UP! cookbook

makes 10-12 muffins

For the Muffin Mix:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup fresh cheese pumpkin puree, cooked and reduced, or canned pumpkin 

1/4 cup about 1 large very ripe banana, mashed

1/2 cup pure cane granulated sugar

3 Tablespoons honey

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch fresh grated nutmeg

1/4 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest

1/2 cup sweet butter, melted; or replace with part/or all applesauce

For the Crumb Topping:

1/3 cup light brown sugar

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 Tablespoons nuts, chopped

1 Tablespoon sweet butter

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nuts. Blend butter in with a fork until mixture is crumb like.

Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together reduced pumpkin, bananas, sugar, honey, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, zest, nuts, and melted butter. Fold in pumpkin mixture by hand with a spatula into the flour mixture until just moistened. 

TIP: For a "lower fat" muffin replace the butter in-part or all with applesauce.

Place batter into muffin cups filling each cup to three quarters full. Divide the crumb topping evenly over the top of muffin batter.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin; done when toothpick comes out clean; or when touched lightly the muffin should have a slight resistance to finger pressure.

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Hot Baked Pretzels

Pretzels are commonly thought to have originated in Bavaria, but they can be traced back to Roman times. Legend says that the crossed ends represent arms folded in prayer.

Easy to make, allow one hour to rise, these pretzels are a great fall addition to an Oktoberfest party or stack them up on dowels and take-along to the weekend tailgate. Mustard optional!

Hot Baked Pretzels Recipe

Makes 12 large pretzels

1 teaspoon brown sugar

4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 1/4 cups warm water, 120 degrees F

4 1/2 - 5 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 Tablespoon Olive oil

For Pretzel Wash:

1/2 cup baking soda

4 cups hot water

For The Topping:

1/4 cup kosher salt

Optional Additional Toppings: caraway seeds, sesame seeds, Parmesan cheese

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and brown sugar in warm water. Let yeast bloom for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the dough is too wet add the remaining 1/2 cup a flour a little at a time. Knead the dough until smooth and it comes off the sides of the bowl cleanly about two minutes; then remove to a floured board and knead for a total of about 4-5 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place (about 80 degrees) until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.

When risen, turn dough out onto a large lightly floured cutting board and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about eight inches in length, and twist into a pretzel shape. With a large skimmer, dip each pretzel dough into the baking soda solution and back on cutting board, top each pretzel with salt and any other optional topping.

Place pretzels on a greased baking sheet, bake for 8 minutes, or until browned.

From Adventures in Grilling Cookbook, by George Hirsch with Marie Bianco.

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Jacob's Ladder

On one occasion when I was cooking for a client’s media event in the UK, I wanted to prepare a spin on a dish that was very popular with my viewers on my TV series - short ribs, but I had a heck of a time finding the cut of beef I required for my recipe. When I expressed to the British butcher my needs, he explained that in the UK it is known as Jacob's Ladder because of its 12 ribs; when laid on its side the bones look like the rung of a ladder. (There is of course a biblical reference to Jacobs Ladder, but I’ll stick to the short ribs foodie version for this post.) 

Short ribs are best cooked in the pot-au-feu method, meaning ‘low and slow’ (low heat, with a long period of braising) to tenderize the tough cut of beef. 

Short Ribs of Beef with Orange Ginger Sauce

Makes four servings 

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4 pounds Beef short ribs, bone in 

1/4 cup flour, for coating beef short ribs 

2 Tablespoons olive oil 

4 cloves garlic, sliced thin 

1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and chopped 

1 leek, whites only cut into one inch pieces 

2 teaspoons sesame oil 

2 teaspoons sherry 

2 teaspoons soy sauce 

juice of one orange 

1 1/2 cups beef broth 

Coat beef ribs with flour, shaking off any excess. 

Pre heat a braising or sauce pot to medium high temperature. 

Add olive oil and sear beef short ribs until well browned, turning only once on each side. 

Drain any excess oil. Lower temperature of pot, add garlic, ginger, leeks, sesame oil, sherry, soy sauce, orange juice and beef broth. Bring sauce up to a boil, then lower to a gentle simmer, cover and cook for 1 1/2- 2 hours or until meat is beginning to fall away from the bone. 

When short ribs are fully cooked, remove meat from pot. Raise the temperature of the sauce to a low boil. Reduce the sauce to naturally thicken. 

Serve with steamed rice or creamy mashed potatoes. 

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The Midweek Salad

Grilled Romaine

Did you know lettuce made the top ten garden vegetables in America? It ranked number nine; trailing behind hot peppers, onions, zucchini, carrots, beans, sweet peppers, cucumber and tomatoes. The good news is lettuce beat out beans!

I received an email request that inspired this post. This was one of those recipes I did for my live PBS grilling shows that made people scratch their head years ago. The audience in the Disney Parks was at first shocked, then amazed! Now, its considered all the buzz, appearing on other cooking shows including chain restaurants. I guess they Know their Fire! Ha! Well, here's the how-to on grilling-up a delicious appetizer or side. I'll be making it this week. Enjoy! Top with this dressing.

Grilled Romaine

Makes four servings 

chefgeorgehirsch.com | Adventures in Grilling, 1996 by George Hirsch w/ Marie Bianco

2 Heads of hearts of romaine lettuce, split in half & washed

4 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

6 cloves caramelized garlic

A pinch of sea salt 

1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 Tablespoon fresh Italian parsley, rough chopped

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Shaved Parmesan cheese

Pre heat grill to high heat.

Cut the romaine heart in half lengthwise, leaving stem end intact. Soak romaine heads in bowl of cold water. Brush with olive oil.

Put romaine halves on hot grill. Cook for about 2 minutes each side, until lettuce begins to blister slightly and lettuce gets a slight char. Turn over and grill for 2 additional minutes.  

Remove and plate cut side up, and top each with remaining olive oil, balsamic, garlic cloves, Parmesan, prosciutto, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve while still warm.

Optional: serve with thinly sliced prosciutto, grilled chicken, or grilled shrimp. 

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Summer Berry Cheesecake

Local berries of all types are in everywhere, and are at their peak - the perfect inspiration for topping my classic New York Style Cheesecake. So I suggest you run out to your local farm stand and get them while they are there! 

TIP: 

• Bake it blonde, with no color. Put a small piece of foil loosely on the top of the cheesecake an hour into baking to keep the cheesecake from coloring on top.

New York Style CheeseCake

Recipe by Chef George Hirsch | Makes 12-16 servings

chefgeorgehirsch.com | George Hirsch Lifestyle Magazine

To prepare the crumb bottom:

1-1/2 cups *vanilla wafers, grind into crumbs, or good cake crumbs

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Line bottom and sides of a 10 inch tart pan, or 9 inch spring form baking pan with parchment paper. Parchment paper can overlap sides to make removal of cheesecake easier after baking. Place cookies in food processor; process until fine crumbs form. In a bowl mix cookie crumbs, melted butter and press onto bottom of pan. Refrigerate ten minutes.

2 pounds, 4-8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup Turbino (natural sugar in the raw) sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons lemon zest

3 whole eggs, beaten and at room temperature

3 yolks, add to whole eggs

1 cup sour cream, room temperature

To prepare cheesecake:

Preheat oven to oven to 400°F.

At medium speed with an electric mixer cream the cream cheese until smooth. Mix cornstarch with sugar and add to cream cheese. Reduce the mixer speed to low until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low speed after each addition, mix just until blended. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl well after each addition. Add vanilla and sour cream in two stages, stopping mixer and scrape bowl after each addition. Pour cheesecake filling over crumb bottom.

Bake 10 minutes at  400°F.; lower temperature to 225°F and continue baking 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until center is set. 

Cool 1 hour, un-mold cheesecake carefully from baking pan, refrigerate 2 hours. 

Add a Topping:

2 cups fresh mixed berries

1/4 cup raspberry jam, warm

Just before serving, arrange berries on top of cake. Warm jam in a microwave safe container for a few seconds, to slightly melted. Drizzle jam on top of berries and serve. 

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