Unlock Your Inner Chef: Cooking Skills That Make You Look Like a Pro

At Healthy West Orange, we’re proud to sponsor the Get Cooking program—an initiative that helps families learn how to prepare tasty, nutritious meals at home for just $20 or less. By partnering with local chefs, Get Cooking offers hands-on, virtual classes and easy-to-follow recipes that prove you don’t need a big budget or gourmet ingredients to create something yummy!

In our ongoing blog series, we’re featuring cooking tips along with recipes from the pros themselves. Let’s hear from:

Chef Terrence Tookes – As Executive Chef of Olive Garden, Chef Tookes shares how to turn pantry staples into a comforting Italian-inspired dish the whole family will love.

Chef Matt Hinkley – Founder of Hinkley’s Fancy Meats at East End Market in Orlando, Chef Hinkley focuses on using every part of the ingredient to stretch your grocery dollar. His slow-cooked pulled pork is perfect for multiple meals.

Chef Bruno Fonseca – Former Le Cordon Bleu instructor and chef behind The Foreigner Restaurant in Orlando, Chef Bruno shows how a few bold ingredients and thoughtful preparation can make even a simple dish shine.

Chicken Cacciatore By Chef Terrence Tookes

Ingredients:

4 chicken thighs deboned preferable or legs bone in, skin on, trimmed of excess fat
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 cup flour
2 Tbsp oil
1 small yellow onion julienned
1 red bell pepper julienned
1 green bell pepper julienned
8 ounces mushrooms (white or baby bella) cleaned and sliced
3 garlic cloves minced
2 sprigs fresh oregano
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1⁄2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 cup chicken broth
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 lb of spaghetti

Directions

Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper on both sides and underneath the skin.
Dust Chicken in seasoned flour, shake off all excess flour

In a large pan heat oil over medium-high until shimmering. Add the chicken, skin side down first. Cook until golden brown, then turn over to brown on the other side. Remove the chicken and set aside on a plate.

In the same pan, add the onions, peppers, mushrooms, and garlic. Cook over medium heat, tossing regularly. Add salt, pepper, oregano, fresh thyme, and red pepper flakes. Allow the vegetables to cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until tender. Add the chicken broth and cook until it has reduced by about 1/2, then add the tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Now add the chicken pieces back to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and allow the chicken to cook for 20 min or until your chicken reaches 165 degrees.

Pasta (Thin Spaghetti)
Cook according to directions. Toss in olive oil. Top pasta with Sauce and peppers. Place chicken on top of sauce and enjoy.

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo By Chef Matt Hinkley

Ingredients:

– 4 skin-on chicken thighs

– 2 links of sausage, casings removed

– 1/2 stick butter

– 2 Tbsp flour

– 4 cups water

– 3 bay leaves

– 1 green bell pepper, diced

– 4 stalks celery, diced

– 1 onion, diced

– 1 cup okra, sliced

– 1 cup rice

– 2 1/2 cups water

– pinch salt

Directions:

1. Season chicken thighs with salt and place skin-side down in a sauce pan over medium heat. Render out the fat and crisp up the skin. Scrape up any bits of fond that collect on the bottom of the pan. Remove thighs from the pan and cool.

2. Add sausage to chicken fat and cook until fat renders out from sausage. Add bell pepper, celery, onion and cook until vegetables soften. Remove from heat.

3.In a separate pan, melt butter and stir in flour. Whisk until it starts to turn brown. Add water or chicken stock incrementally to the flour mixture to create a rich gravy. Simmer for about 20minutes. Add the gravy to the sausage and vegetables.

4.Remove crispy chicken skins from thighs, chop and reserve. Pull apart thigh meat and add to the sauce pan along with okra.Simmer further for about 15 minutes.

5. Cook rice according to instructions on the box.

6. Ladle gumbo over rice and top with chopped crispy chicken skins.

Brazilian Shrimp & Mahi Stew (Moqueca) by Chef Bruno Fonseca

Ingredients:

4 plum tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup oil
1 large onion, sliced
4 cloves of garlic
2 bell peppers ,thin slices
1 chopped jalapeno
5 cups seafood stock (sub vegetable stock)
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 pound shrimp
1⁄2 pound skinless mahi
1/2 teaspoon of paprika
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
1/8 cup chopped fresh cilantro
8oz coconut milk
lime wedges
1 cup of rice

Directions:

Begin by bringing 1 1/2 cups of water and 1 cup of rice to a boil. Cover and simmer.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, add fish. Once fish is browned on one side, add shrimp. Once all seafood is brown, pull it off the pot and reserve.

Turn the burner heat down to medium. Add tomato, onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno. Cook, stirring often until onion and bell pepper are softened, 10 to 12 minutes.

Add the mahi back into the pot gently. Add both parsley and cilantro stems into the pot. Add stock, and bring it to a boil.

Once it boils lower your burner temperature tolow/medium. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, uncovered, until mixture reduces by half,about 25 minutes. Reduce heat to low; stir in coconut milk, salt, and pepper. Add shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, until opaque and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes.

Serve over rice with lime wedges; garnish with cilantro or parsley leaves and maybe hot sauce

If you missed our previous recipes, you can check out part 1 and part 2 with the chefs!

Check out our “Questions for the Chef” clips on the link below!