Stir Up Some Love With Pork Mofongo And More Chef Recipes

When the coronavirus pandemic swept across the United States, life as we knew it changed and every facet of society had to adapt. It's no secret that the restaurant industry has been incredibly hard hit, losing hundreds of billions in sales and facing some of the highest death rates amongst its employees.

Online Cooking Classes to Take During the Coronavirus Pandemic

In Western Massachusetts, chefs have banned together with a local foster care organization, The Treehouse Foundation, to create Stir Up Some Love to fundraise for both causes.

Chefs from more than a dozen restaurants have chipped in to create an online cooking series where folks can donate, watch and cook at home. Since they started in mid-2020, Stir Up Some Love has raised $80,000 and they hope to raise $150,000 by the end of the summer.

For a donation of $25 or more, donors get access to video recipe demonstrations from 17 chefs as well as a PDF of all recipes to use at home.

Funds raised are split evenly between the participating restaurants and The Treehouse Foundation, an intergenerational, intentional community of families adopting kids from the public foster care system whose flagship residential model is in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

That's where pork mofongo comes in. The classic Puerto Rican recipe of mashed plantains and slow-roasted pork is part of the collection of virtual cooking classes. Other chef-led demonstrations feature recipes as far ranging as ramp pancakes, honey miso noodle salad, ricotta dumpling cacio e pepe and even a lesson in pro cake decorating. And when cooking, don't forget the plating. Making your food look as good as it tastes is one of those reasons why restaurant food is better than yours.

For the Pork Mofongo recipe, click here.