Farmers Market Tour & Class-Cultivate your Senses
Step off the beaten path and join Julie for an insider's tour of the Napa Valley culinary scene and learn the delicious secrets of California cuisine. During the spring and summer months, Julie offers intimate tours of the farmers markets in Napa Valley, including a private wine tasting, followed by a cooking class to select groups of students eager to learn about the region's signature foods and celebrated wines.
Enjoy the morning at the market meeting the farmers, browsing and sampling your way through the stalls of magnificent produce, olive oil and artesian cheeses with Julie. You will see produce as you've never seen it before--plump, bursting with flavor. It is a rush to the senses the fresh flavors, scents of earthy herbaciousness. You will find flavors and varieties of produce you never deramed of. It is bliss for your palate. Produce picked ripe and mature the way nature intended.
We chat with our farmers to learn what new varieties they have and how they are grown. We talk with them about their vegetables and fruit offerings and their favorite way of eating their produce. St. Helena and Napa farmers markets, offer the season's finest and freshest local produce, fish, meat, cheese and other artisan products.
After pursuing the perfect produce we learn how to cook our bounty to highlight the flavor and texture. We select the season's vegetables from fava beans to torpedo onions and fruit (cherries, peaches, figs and more). You will also have time to buy some to bring home or for a picnic during your stay in Napa.
We visit a winery or wine bar in Napa for a private tasting to select the perfect wines to pair with our meal. Then on to the kitchen, where we don our aprons and turn our bounty into a wonderful wine country feast.
The table awaits, set with china, linen, silver, crystal, and fresh flowers where our farmers market lunch is served alfresco with Napa wines.
Bon Appetit
SAMPLE MENUS
Yellow Brandywine Gazpacho with Fresh Basil
Long Meadow Ranch Beef Steak with Chimichurri
Sautèed Garlic Scapes
Grilled Peaches with Homemade Marscapone ice-cream drizzled with Napa Wildflower Honey
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Zucchini Carpaccio
Homemade Fettuccini with Asparagus Cream Sauce
Cherry Almond Galette
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Warm Napa Goat Cheese Salad
with Atlas Peak Olive Oil Vinaigrette
Chicken Cooked under a Brick with Aioli
Grilled Spring Vegetables
White Peach Clafouti with Lemon Verbena
"There is no better way to get to the heart of any city than through its cuisine. And that means not just eating it, but shopping for it, cooking it and beginning to understand it." Taylor Holliday, New York Times.
DETAILS:
- Farmer's Market Tour classes are offered May through October on Tuesdays and Fridays.
- Check the Cooking Classes/Calendar page for available dates. We meet at the coffee and pastry stand at the Napa Farmers Market on Tuesday, or St. Helena Farmer's Market on Fridays.
- The St. Helena and Napa classes start at 8:00 a.m. and finishes about 4:00 p.m.
- The $195 fee includes tastings, hands-on participation cooking class and 3 course lunch with wine, as well as a Cooking with Julie logo apron and recipe booklet.
- Class size is limited to 9 guests.
Meeting location for Napa and St. Helena Farmers Markets:
- 8:00 a.m. Napa Farmers Market:
1275 McKinstry Street (near Soscol Ave.) Napa.
View 1275 McKinstry St in a larger map
8:00 a.m. St. Helena Farmers Market:
Crane Park (enter on Crane Avenue)
- View Larger Map
COOKING with JULIE™
(707) 227-5036
julie@cookingwithjulie.com