ORLANDO, Fla. — This week's Chef's Kitchen celebrates the diversity of cultures in Central Florida's dining scene, taking our craving for Lebanese flavors to an Orlando fixture on Restaurant Row.

“Cedar's is a family restaurant,” says Executive Chef Sami Homaidan, while preparing a Baba Ghanouj. "We're like a family here, [and] everyday I come to work, it's a new experience for me.”

Chef, who has been in charge of Cedar's kitchen since 2012, is sharing two recipes with us. Baba Ghanouj is a signature grilled eggplant purée found across the Middle East, enriched with tahini and seasoned with lemon juice and garlic, and Cedar's Chicken is the decades-old restaurant's namesake. It's a seared chicken breast stuffed with cilantro, tomato, onion, and garlic, in a buttery lemon reduction served with rice and vegetables.

Let's cook!

Baba Ghanouj (Cedar's Restaurant)

Ingredients:

  • 1 eggplant
  • ½ teaspoon Citric Acid
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • Ice water as needed
  • ½ cup sesame tahini sauce

Directions:

  1. Smoke eggplant on grill until soft.
  2. Peel it under ice water, then let cool until 39 degrees Fahrenheit.
  3. Once cooled, chop eggplant into small pieces.
  4. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients together, and whip until you get a light color and thick consistency.

Chicken Cedars

Ingredients

  • 2 6 ounces chicken breast

For filling:

  • Bunch of fresh cilantro (chopped)
  • 1 small tomato (chopped)
  • 3 cloves of roasted garlic
  • ¼ cup of diced onion
  • 2 ounces white wine
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon cumin
  • Salt to taste
  • Lemon zest

Directions:

  1. To make filling, combine all ingredients together in a large bowl. Over a sautéed pan, cook mixture until it becomes a thick sauce consistency. Let cool.
  2. Lay chicken on a flat surface, and cut a slit three-quarters of the way through without cutting all the way through. 
  3. Stuff chicken breast with mixture and seal.
  4. Bread the chicken in flour.
  5. In a hot ovenproof pan, sear the chicken on both sides until golden brown. 
  6. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until the internal temperature is 165 degrees.
  7. Place back on the stove, then add white wine, fresh lemon juice, cilantro and garlic and let simmer for 5 minutes.