About Me

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Boston, MA, United States
Free lance Chef. A Middlebury, Vermont native, Chef Jon Sargent worked his way up through the ranks of kitchens starting as a dishwasher. His career in the kitchen has taken him across the country and back. Sargent moved to Boston first in 2005 where he helped open OM Restaurant | Lounge in Harvard Square, working under chef Rachel Klein. He then headed west to Wisconsin, taking a Sous Chef position at Stout's Island Lodge. Next he headed south, travelling to Naples Florida to work for the D'Amico Corporation with chef Andrew Wicklander. Back in Boston chef Jon worked as chef d' cuisine for Chef William Kovel at 28 degrees in the south end of Boston where he worked diligently on the restaurant's seasonal, globally-influenced menu. After taking up the ranks as sous chef at Catalyst restaurant in cambridge massachusetts, Jon has been on a journey of developing his style of cooking, and focusing on the development of his own restaurant.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012



Chile Olive Oil and Boston Bakes For Breast Cancer.
Last night was the debut of my freelance chef company! We will be specializing in catering and private parties. I was asked to do an event for Boston Bakes for Breast Cancer, in support of an up and coming olive oil company named Chile Olive Oil. The competition was to create a dessert using the olive oil and making it so you can taste it in all the ingredients. The winner would have the chance to donate $1000 dollars to Boston Bakes for Breast cancer in his or her name; they would also get a write up from Chili Olive Oil. When proposed this idea I didn’t hesitate and said “absolutely” obviously.

I set out to make a dessert that would rival the rest apparently. On a side note, a little info about my self, I have never been confident in my pastry department skills nor have I done a lot of work in the pastry field. I am mostly a hot line kinda guy. So what I did for my desert was I made a sweetened marscarpone, crème fraiche spread with orange zest, with a rosemary olive oil cake also hinted with orange zest, I had a cranberry compote steeped in olive oil with orange segments, and blue berries, I topped all of this with an almond crumble and micro basil.

The process for this was quite easy. I first thought rosemary olive oil cake, then I was drawn to orange, I think rosemary and orange are great together, and then I thought cranberries! So good with rosemary! But also very tart, lets bring it down with fresh blue berries. All in season at this point. Then I needed a crunch element, I had originally thought of popping kernels of quinoa and folding them into caramel, then I said no I’ll make caramel glass and crumble it on top, I wasn’t satisfied with this either. I then was thinking maybe a tuile, then it came to me, something easy and still complete, an almond crumble.
Then the time for the event started to sneak up. I gathered all of my supplies and headed to the Deuxave kitchen, where I was able to expedite my project.
I opened 3# of fresh cranberries and put them in a pot with about 1 pint of sugar, 3 cups orange juice and ½ cup Chile Olive oil, I brought this to a boil and let it come down to a very low simmer for about 10 minutes so the cranberries would cook down.

I then laid them out on a hotel pan to cool rapidly

Once they cooled to about room temperature I folded in blue berries and orange segments.

Then I started making the batter for my cake this is the recipe I used.
1# All purpose Flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp Sa;t
6 eggs
1 ½ # sugar
zest of 1 orange
12 oz Bold Chile Olive Oil
 1# 4 oz milk
1 Tbl Chopped Rosemary

I added the eggs to a mixer with the sugar and orange zest, I whipped them until the became Smooth and fluffy, then I started to add ½ of the olive oil in a steady stream and half of the milk at the same time, as to not over load the eggs with fat and make them fall.

After combining all of the dry ingredients left, I a brought it over to the mixer and changed the attachment on it for the paddle and started using it to stir in the dry mix. Remember to sift your flour into the wet mix. Once it started to incorporate I alternated the remaining liquids in with the dry till all was finished. Do not over mix your batter; work it as little as possible. Pour into molds and bake at 325 in a convection 375 in an induction for 7 to 10 minutes depending on your oven.

The crumble went like this

1# butter
1# sugar
1# Almond Flour
1# All purpose flour
1 tsp Sea salt

Mix till it has become mealy and crumble onto a sheet tray, bake this at 325 for about 10 minutes, using a wooden spoon or off set spatula break up the crumbles and bake another 5 minutes doing the same thing. Repeat this process another time and cool it till room temp. Give it one last chop with the spoon or spatula.

Now the marscarpone
1# Marscarpone
½ # Crème Fraiche
3 Tbl Honey
¼ cup confectioners sugar
zest of 3 oranges
anout 1/3 cup Chile Olive Oil.

Place all ingredients in a food processor and spin until incorporated, this will be thin and flat looking, adjust the flavor, and spin some more until it becomes thick.

Now all the components are ready for assembly.