Cook with Jason

I received a special invitation to embark on a Foodventure with Chef Jason a couple weeks ago. When I arrived, Jason’s wife, Kristi, greeted our group of 8 with some pumpkin pecan crunch muffins and fresh French pressed coffee to enjoy while we took a tour of the facility.
We started our Foodventure with a guided tour through the Solana Beach Farmer’s Market gathering fresh produce. Afterwards, we enjoyed a semi-​private olive oil tasting at the Temecula Olive Oil Co., wine tasting at Carruth Cellars, and a hands-​on cooking class!
Each Foodventure is themed, with ours headed to Tuscany! We learned how to make a personal-​sized potato, bacon & rosemary pizza without sauce and it was surprisingly delicious! It was fun to figure out which one was ours after they finished baking. Next, Chef Jason showed us how to make watermelon salad with arugula and goat cheese, pollo con le melanzane (chicken-​eggplant parmigiana), roasted heirloom carrots with honey and fresh thyme, and baked apple rosettes with homemade Madagascar Bourbon vanilla ice cream!
Accommodations for food allergies can be made accordingly– just let them know in advance so that they can adjust the menu for you!
Even though this culinary experience is about five hours long, I really enjoyed the multi-​course family style dinner along with the wine pairing. It was definitely a fun afternoon meeting awesome people and learning new cooking tips! I also received a special goody bag featuring products from Temecula Olive Oil Co., some honey, and fresh fruits to take home. If you want to learn how to cook healthy, check our their next cooking class!

Farmers Market has been my thing this year. You can search this blog and see how I’ve fallen in love with getting lost at a farmers market (alone or with someone). I participated in the Farmer’s Market Foodventure (A Tuscan Adventure) just last Sunday. The concept is that you meet at a local kitchen, explore the town’s farmer’s market, tour an olive oil company, sample some wines at a winery shop, and then take some of the market’s bounty to use for a hands on cooking class where you’d be making dinner for yourself and others with the help of Chef Jason. The foodventure starts at 1:30p and ends around 6:30p so it’s a half day leisurely affair where you can take your time and enjoy yourself.
Look for the Boys and Girls Club — the cottage style bungalow is towards the back of the main building.
There were homemade pumpkin muffins (made by Chef Jason’s wife Kristi) waiting for us when we arrived. They also had fresh French pressed coffee ready to go as well.
Chef Jason showed us around the Solana Beach Farmer’s Market and it was fun talking and meeting all the various vendors at this market. We then headed over to Temecula Olive Oil Company where we sampled copious amounts of olive oil and vinegars.
Carruth Cellars was incredibly quaint and had a reserved table ready for us when we go there. We sampled 6 or so wines and I even bought two bottles of their Sauvignon Blanc JUICE (hey it still has a 13% ABV content ok). We also received 10% off our purchases thanks to Cook with Jason.
For our hands on cooking class, we made:
Potato, Bacon & Rosemary Pizza:
Chef Jason had prepared freshly made dough earlier. He gave each girl their own piece of dough to knead and make their own pizza. Do you see the thin slices of potato underneath the slab pork belly pieces? Jason added farm fresh arugula tossed with roasted garlic olive oil from Temecula Olive Oil Company on top of the still hot pizza.
Pollo con le melanzane alla parmigiana (Chicken with Eggplant Parmigiana):
It was heart warming to see Kristi and Jason work together in the kitchen. The final product was FANTASTIC. Maybe I don’t eat eggplant chicken parm often but this was THE BEST version I’ve ever had. The chicken breast tasted succulent, moist, tender and so incredibly flavorful smothered with the homemade red sauce we made earlier.
Watermelon Salad with Arugula and Goat Cheese:
Chef froze the goat cheese prior to making this salad. The frozen goat cheese crumbled like beautiful white chocolate when he used a sharp knife to sheer the frozen cheese. He then drizzled reduced vinegar on top of the watermelon salad. I don’t eat goat cheese so Kelsey helped serve me a bit of the salad without the cheese. You could so taste the blood orange olive oil and the sweet reduced vanilla fig vinegar added a wonderful sweetness to this salad.
Roasted Heirloom Carrots with Local Honey and Fresh Thyme:
We used local autumn honey bought from the Solana Beach market earlier that afternoon.
Baked Apple Rosettes with Homemade Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Ice Cream:
Chef Jason showed us how to roll the slices of apples into a rose shaped pastry dessert dish. The puff pastry could have used a few more minutes in the oven but it was past 6:30p and a few bloggers had to leave. This dessert is so easy to make and the homemade ice cream was a nice addition to the puff pastry apple pie
I had a fun evening that night. I’ve always wanted my food blog to focus on how food brings people together and I can say that Farmer’s Market Foodventure was a fun take on that focus. It’s not often you connect quickly with new friends but this foodventure had me hugging a few people at the end.
OH! And they have cable tv in the cottage!
Sunday NFL + cooking = Bliss (if the dang Chargers had won again the dang Packers that day)

What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday!!!
We met at a great little cottage with a fresh herb garden, comfortable garden, even a live chicken. Then regrouped at the Solana Beach Farmers Market where we made our way through the market sampling and discovering secrets on how to pick the best of what was offered.
After selecting what we needed from the market, it was off the Temecula Olive Oil where we sampled olive oils & vinegars that were «life changing» (I walked out with 4 new favorites).
Then it was on to the wine tasking…
After having our fill we headed back to the cottage for the real fun.
The cooking began with live crabs, clams & mussels. We baked our own bread, made 2 types of cheese & enjoyed some more wine.
Each of us was invited to help prepare some aspect of the meal & learned a new technique or trick as we went.
In the end we learned a little, laughed a lot & created a spectacular meal that we enjoyed together!
«Great way to spend a Sunday»
Cheers!!!