Where to find Goshen's 'Fearless' cook: Farmers markets, craft breweries, and your place

Whether you’d like to learn to cook, want a healthier option for takeout, or just need some ideas on what to do with the farmers’ market haul that’s wilting in your crisper, Jodie Rocchio is the person to call.

As the owner of The Fearless Cooking Company in Goshen, Rocchio wears many (chef’s) hats: she prepares a rotating menu of lunches and dinners available for pickup (her Vegan Dream Quiche with lentils, mushrooms and a gluten-free crust is a standout), she caters weddings and other events; hosts cooking classes for kids and adults; and on weekends she sells her homemade sauces and baked goods at farmers markets throughout the Hudson Valley.

Oh and as if that weren’t enough to keep her busy, on Friday nights she and her husband, Stephen, can be found at Blue Arrow Farm in Warwick, crafting artisanal pizzas in their homemade oven.

“I love the tradition of making food and sharing recipes,” says Rocchio. “It’s something we’ve been doing forever as humans. A lot of joy comes from it for me.”

Rocchio developed her passion for preparing food as a pre-teen. Her mom worked long hours so she taught herself to cook dinner, often seeking advice from a family friend who owned a restaurant.

As an adult, she got a degree in art therapy, but “people knew I cooked so I started doing catering for friends,” she says, adding that she was often asked for ideas on what to do with certain vegetables.

This spawned an idea and, in 2015, she asked the organizers of the farmers market in Middletown if she could start doing cooking demonstrations with whatever produce was available that week. Accompanied by her daughter, Ellis, they called their program The Fearless Cooking Kid.

“I realized how much I liked being able to come up with a product and teach building block recipes that people could make on their own,” she says. She also places an emphasis on vegan and gluten-free recipes, a reflection of her own eating habits. “Having chosen to be vegan and gluten free I realize how challenging it is to find things that taste good, are hearty and feel like a perfect meal," she says.

Cooking classes in Chester

Following the success of the demos, she began teaching regular cooking classes for kids and adults at Meadow Blues Coffee in Chester. And she started selling the signature sauces that she made for family and friends at local farmers markets, some of which have a vegan twist: her Dillichini Sauce made with zucchini and dill is a non-dairy version of tzatziki. (“Death to Ketchup,” a flavorful tomato jam is also a bestseller.)

As the different facets of her business grew, Rocchio was able to make The Fearless Cooking Company her main focus.

Improving vegan, gluten-free recipes

Now on any given day, you’ll find her experimenting with new ways to make vegan and gluten-free recipes as good as their wheat and dairy filled counterparts, meeting with local growers and purveyors to find out what ingredients look best that week — she often works with Eat Your Greens in Goshen, Long Season Farm in Kerhonkson and Obercreek Farm in Wappingers Falls — and planning her weekly menu for her “For Real Meals” and “Lunch Box Specials.”

Recent offerings have included grilled organic chicken with mango salsa and rice, cold sesame noodle salad (vegan and GF), and triple chocolate brownies.

“I like getting people to try things they don’t think they like,” says Rocchio, who enjoys playing around with unusual flavor combinations — like her barbecue sauce pizza with local kielbasa and pickled onions — or deconstructing recipes. “I sell a lot of vegan and gluten free stuff to people who are neither, and they can’t tell.”

But don’t take her word for it. Head to the farmers market in Beacon, Goshen or Middletown and taste for yourself. Or sign up for her newsletter on her website, thefearlesscookingco.com, and have her weekly menus and upcoming events delivered to your inbox. (Meal orders can be placed via phone or text.)

“I love it when people are happy and eating,” says Rocchio. “I dropped off food to a customer recently and the guy told me how wonderful his whole car smelled. And I thought to myself, ‘This is why I do this.’”

Where to find the Fearless Cook

The Fearless Chef: Website has info on cooking classes, pick up meals and more. thefearlesscookingco.com

Middletown Farmers Market: Returns June 4. Hours are 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Held on Union Street. 

Blue Arrow Farm: Alfresco dining and live music is available Friday through Sunday. 86 Glenwood Road, Pine Island, 973-670‑9373; bluearrowfarm.com

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Goshen's Fearless Cook provides take-home dinners, farmers market fare