Holiday Breakfast: Popovers & Scrambled Eggs

George Hirsch March 26, 2024

It is said the American style popover originated in Portland Oregon derived from the Yorkshire Pudding origins of Yorkshire county in Northern England. Whether true or not the principle of a good Yorkshire Pudding or Popover derives from using a crepe-like batter dough. To make a popover, change the beef fat drippings (from the roast) to butter- for a more updated flavorful batter. Whatever style you prefer to make, just remember don’t open the oven door and peek in the oven- if you want a tall pop-over from this crepe-like muffin.

Yorkshire Pudding or Popovers are usually served with roasted meats. A dear friend recently shared with me that he serves popovers with scrambled eggs for breakfast or brunch. Great idea!

Popovers & Yorkshire Pudding

Makes 12 popovers

Adapted From Adventures in Grilling Cookbook

by George Hirsch with Marie Bianco

5 Tablespoons butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

1 cup all-purpose flour

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and black pepper

Optional: 1 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme, rosemary or chives

Grease and flour a 12 cup muffin or popover pan. Add a teaspoon of melted butter to each cup of a 12-cup muffin pan.

Mix flour, eggs, milk, 1 Tablespoon melted butter, sugar, and salt. Beat in the flour a little bit and add herbs if using; the mixture should be smooth. Do not over mix the batter, or the gluten will overdevelop, and the popovers will be tough. Let batter rest for fifteen minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place empty/ unfilled muffin pan in a hot oven to preheat the pan for two minutes or until smoking hot.

Carefully remove the hot muffin pan from the oven and fill each cup halfway. Bake for 15-20 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees, and continue baking for 15-20 minutes more, or until popovers are puffed and browned.

Remove Popovers from pan immediately and serve hot.

Tips:

If serving scrambled eggs with popovers, begin to cook eggs 5 minutes before removing popovers from the oven.

Do not open the oven to check popovers until they have baked for at least 30 minutes.

To test for doneness, tap the outside of Popover; it should sound hollow.

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Mini Cake Hors D’oeuvres (Copy)

George Hirsch March 21, 2024

You can't go wrong with serving crab cakes as appetizers; they're a crowd-pleaser. They are also a good complement when meat is being served as a main course dish. I suggest making mini cakes so guests can easily nibble while having an interesting pre-dinner conversation.

Savory Crab Cakes

Makes four-six entrée servings or 20-24 hors d’ oeuvre size

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Step One

3/4 pound Maryland lump crabmeat (for Fishcake, substitute an equal amount of cooked salmon, cod, or shrimp)

2 teaspoons each- thyme, basil, parsley

3 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1/4 cup mayonnaise

3 drops of hot sauce

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1/4 cup fresh plum tomatoes, chopped

1 egg, beaten

5 drops of lemon juice

1/2 cup Fresh ground bread crumbs

1/4 sweet onion, minced

1 rib celery, minced

1 green onion, minced

Step Two
1/4 pound Maryland lump or super lump crab meat
1 cup each- fine corn meal and fresh bread crumbs, mixed for breading of crab cakes
Olive oil for sautéing crab cakes
- Mix all ingredients in step one.
- Gently mix the remaining crabmeat in Step Two; do not over-mix.
- Preheat a non-stick pan to medium heat.
- Form crab cakes into desired-size serving pieces and place in breading mix. Lightly coat the outside of crab cakes with bread crumb mixture, forming into patties.
- Add olive oil to sauté pan and carefully place crab cakes in the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown, turning once.
- Serve crab cakes with lemon and cocktail, tartar, or marinara sauce on the side.

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Potato Leek Soup

George Hirsch March 15, 2024

The University of Illinois published a study on matching personalities with soup preferences a few years back in the Journal of Database Marketing Lifestyle and Personality Clusters. The four most popular soups were chicken noodle, tomato, minestrone, and vegetable. These four top soups were cross-tabulated with personality and lifestyle traits. What's your soup say about you?

*A simple staple like a potato can make for a very hearty and satisfying soup.*

Potato Leek Soup

Makes eight servings

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

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 Tablespoons butter

1 cup sweet onion, chopped

1 leek, whites only, washed and chopped fine

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

3 cups Yukon Gold Potatoes, *scrubbed & medium diced

3 cups chicken broth

6 Tablespoons fresh chives, chopped

1/4 cup half and half

1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW

***I invite you to Subscribe to my You Tube Channel, enjoy + Like as you view***

Preheat a medium-sized soup pot. Add olive oil, butter, onion, leek, and garlic. Cook for two minutes until the onions are translucent. Add nutmeg, chicken broth, and 2 tablespoons of chives. Bring soup to a boil, then lower it to simmer, cooking for 45 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Puree half of the soup mixture, leaving the remaining chunky bits of potatoes. Ladle the soup into bowls and top each serving with a drizzle of cream, cheddar cheese, and the remaining fresh chives.

*Good to Know: Wash potatoes and leave skins on to preserve the nutrients in the potato's flesh—a great source of vitamin C, vitamin B6, copper, potassium, and dietary fiber.

Tip: Cut any additions into small or a maximum of one-half to one-inch pieces. Why so small? Simply, it fits on a soup spoon.

Severing Suggestion: Serve soup as a starter for Corned Beef & Cabbage

Chef George Hirsch's Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipe — **CLICK FOR CORNED BEEF and CABBAGE RECIPE + TIPS**

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George's Irish Scones

George Hirsch March 5, 2024

Even as a stranger, you'll be made to feel like a regular local. Where's that? Any pub in Ireland. The local pub in Ireland is the heart of any village. It's where to catch up on local chit-chat or good craic, listen to live music, and enjoy excellent hearty food. See for yourself how Ireland's warm-hearted culture brings me back time and time again.

A scone is a quick bread, but it is unclear of the true origin—be it from the Scots, Brits, or Germans. I like the word scone as it may have derived from the Gaelic term "sgonn," meaning a shapeless mass or large mouthful. Although some are hexagonal, scones are usually round in shape, as this shape provides for space-efficiency while baking. Other forms include triangles and squares.

Why Buttermilk? Using Buttermilk instead of cream makes for a lighter, more bread-like scone. The scones are baked at a higher oven temperature which produces a darker, crispier crust. Using Buttermilk will also result in a more tender, creamy texture with a rich buttery taste and a bit of tang, somewhat similar to a good Greek yogurt. TIP: Not to worry if you are just plum out of Buttermilk; regular milk + vinegar will provide the same results.

Start with the best ingredients, and the results will provide tastier, better results—specifically, use good quality flour.

Easily prepared, baked, and enjoyed in under an hour—have a good cup of hot tea and jam with my Irish Scones.

George's Irish Scones

Makes 8 scones in a 9-inch round pan

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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

1/2 teaspoon salt

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 for 5 minutes to sour.

Preheat 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 onto a floured surface. Form in the shape of a ball, do not over knead. With a rolling pin, flatten out the dough to one inch thick.

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

Serve warm with jam and clotted whipped cream.

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

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Bistro Night

George Hirsch February 27, 2024

What could be better on a cold Winter's night than a bistro-themed spread: a French onion soup, quiche, and maybe tart tartin.

And what would a French onion soup be without a toasted crouton, a sop? Sops are used for soaking up a warm liquid, broth, or wine and were the term used in days of yore. I guess it was only natural that the word soup derived from sop.

In my Five Onion Soup, the mixture of five onions gives an excellent character to the soup. But, if you have less than five, no sweat; use a sweet onion, and you'll have a tasty version. The so-called bar of success in making an onion soup is all the slow cooking and gradual 'caramelizing' of the onions. The onions' natural sweetness adds the rich, robust flavor and golden brown color, the soup prize.

CREAMY FIVE-ONION SOUP

Makes 6-8 servings

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This easy-to-prepare hearty soup for a cool night makes for a wonderful dinner or rustic appetizer.

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 each sweet onions*, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

6 each Chipolini onions, chopped

1 each red onion, chopped

1 green onion, chopped

1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 teaspoons dried thyme

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 cup white wine

1/2 cup potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups beef broth

Optional:

1/2 cup half and half

French bread croutons

Parmesan, Emmental, or Gruyere cheese

Preheat a large soup or saucepot to medium heat. Add olive oil, sweet onions, garlic, cipollini, red onion, and green onion. Cook for 10 minutes without stirring until the onions in the bottom of the pot begin to brown. Stir and allow the onions to continue to brown further. Stir and allow onions to cook for an additional five minutes. The total cooking time of onions will be about 20 minutes or more.

Season with thyme, bay leaves, and pepper. Add tomato sauce and flour, and stir. Add white wine and cook for 5 minutes or until dry. Add chicken broth, beef broth, and potatoes. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 30 minutes.

Remove bay leaves, then puree one-half of the soup in a blender or food processor.

Return the pureed soup back to the soup pot. Bring soup back to a boil; reduce the temperature to a simmer. Add optional half and half. Serve with a toasted French bread crouton, top with grated Parmesan, and melt Emmental or Gruyere cheese. SEE SOUP NOTES + MORE RECIPES BELOW