Celebrity Chef George Duran’s Super Summer Celebration Favorites
If you want to serve the most refreshing summer recipes for your next soiree, celebrity chef and Good Morning America culinary correspondent George Duran has some tricks up his very scrumptious-filled sleeve using his favorite products, which he describes as always innovative and of course, delicious.
For a convenient cooking shortcut this season, this TLC and The Food Network host, who studied at culinary school in Paris, describes Dorot Gardens, known for flash-frozen herbs, as his go-to for all things fresh and flavorful. “There’s no need to grow anything in or around your house. It’s so easy – you just pop it out of the frozen cubes right into your dishes. During the summer, I really like to make pasta salad or tomato salad, and now you can have an instant herb flavor in every dish you can imagine. I especially love to add roasted garlic by just popping a few cubes into a bowl with a little olive oil then put it in the microwave for a minute, and boom, you’re done. There’s no need to mince, peel and fry. It does it all in a fraction of the time. You can do anything from hummus to salad dressing to babaghanoush.
George is also a long-time fan of Mighty Sesame’s squeezable tahini. “Mighty Sesame has just one ingredient, the finest Sesames Seeds from Ethiopia, which gives this a wonderful and creamy texture with the added value of nutritional benefits, such as being antioxidant, vegan, and a great source of protein with anti-inflammatory properties. Most people don’t know how versatile and easy it is to use and because it is creamy and squeezable, I use it for salads and sandwiches. It is great to add to sweet foods and be infused with granola and even used with brownies and cookies as it adds a great nutty flavor. It’s my new go-to everything-healthy condiment”.”
Add a refreshing spritz to your summer with Wonder Melon, an organic, cold-pressed juice drink which George describes as “a healthy game changer. Aside from fun flavors such as watermelon cucumber and basil, or watermelon lemon cayenne, you can also use Wonder Melon juices to make creative cocktails or even mocktails. “I love making a watermelon sangria and it’s just so convenient. It’s all natural, there is no concentrate or added sugar, and you can mix it with any ingredients to make the drink you want.”
For the season’s sweetest beverage, you can’t beat Beetology, which offers juice flavors including beet and berry, tropical fruit, and lemon and ginger. “It doesn’t taste like beet juice and is by far
one my favorite summer drinks,” says the dynamic Duran.
When it comes to mastering your next dinner party, this master entertainer enjoys matching the fruit with the drink itself – think watermelon slices with a Wonder Melon drink – as well as decorating the table with bare fruits or vegetables, or whatever ingredients you are already cooking with. “After all, you can’t eat the flowers afterwards!”
Mighty Sesame, Wonder Melon, Beetology and Dorot Gardens are definitely making seasonal entertaining healthier and more simply delicious than ever before.
