Mini Grenache Tasting by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Mini Grenache Tasting by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

The Spanish wine grape Garnacha is called Grenache in France and the United States.  Grenache is widely grown in France for everything from rosé to a wine that tastes good with chocolate.

I first learned about wines made from Grenache grapes when driving past the Maury vineyards high up in the Pyrénées Mountains as my husband Laurent and I drove towards the Cathar fortress-castles of Quéribus and Peyrepertuse in the French Rousillon region (French Catalonia).

This tasting’s objective is to acquaint tasters with the range of wines that use Grenache in their making.

Suggested wines and regions:

-Monterey County California

Chalone Grenache

-Rousillon, France (French Catalonia)

Maury Wine

-Rousillon, France (French Catalonia)

Banyuls wine

(This wine is said to go well with chocolate.)

-Southern Rhône Valley, France

Châteauneuf-du-Pape - Grenaches is one of several grapes that go into this wine.

(The papal glass seal on the bottle is impressive to look at while dining.)

-Côtes-du-Rhône, France

Tavel Rosé

(Tavel is my favorite rosé.  It goes well with spicy food like couscous from Morocco.)

Happy Tasting!

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

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Stuttgart Smoked Salmon Salad Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Stuttgart Smoked Salmon Salad Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

When I lived in Stuttgart, Germany for five years, I invented several dishes to deal with hot, humid summers that also tasted good during brisk winter months.

One of my favorite creations is very easy to make.  I call it Stuttgart Smoked Salmon Salad.

The quick recipe follows:

-Mesclun salad mix from Edeka Supermarkets in Germany or Whole Foods in the US

-Sliced hardboiled eggs

-Scottish smoked salmon cut up into squares (Scottish smoked salmon is pink rather than bright orange.)

Steps:

1 – Place a mound of mesclun in a serving bowl

2 – Place sliced hard boiled eggs around the edges

3 – Place smoked salmon squares in the middle of the salad

Serve with a chilled, creamy dressing.

The photo below shows how I present it.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

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From Bratwurst to Bimibap - Part 3 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

From Bratwurst to Bimibap – Part 3 – by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Mi Tierra Market in Seaside, California sells clean, dried corn husks in bundles among other items, making my dreams for a tamale making party come closer to fruition – now I just need helpers to stuff the husks.

The produce section gleams.  Pasilla, lime-green Anaheims, yellow guerito peppers, and dark green jalapeño peppers glisten there.

Pudgy plantains invite frying, and brown-skinned yuccas feel rough to the touch.  Mi Tierra sells fresh cactus petals with their pickers.  These taste sour and go well with scrambled eggs made with chopped tomatoes and onion.

As usual, the drinks intrigue me.  I love horchata, which tastes like a rice pudding milk shake.  The jamaica juice looks good, too, and is described as a hibiscus flower drink.

Mi Tierra also sells champagne cola and other Mexican soft drinks like the guava and pineapple flavors of Jarritos and mandarin orange.  There is also Aga apple soda and Sidral cola.

Mi Tierra’s true beauty lies in its butcher counter, which extends the width of the building.  The butchers, who work under dangling strands of chorizo sausage, really ham up the service.

The immaculately clean counter presents a wide variety of:

-gizzards

-milk white tripe

-liver

-beef tongue

-neck bones

-hogs’ feet

-slim cuts of steak for carne asada

-ground beef and steaks

-cactus salad

-cream-like cheese called Queso Oaxaqueño

-seafood salad

-fresh fish on ice

-tiger prawns

All in all, the mouthwatering display made me want to run home and open some cookbooks.  (Note: Diana Kennedy and Rick Bayless explain technique well in their Mexican cookbooks.)

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Click for Laurent Paget's Book

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From Bratwurst to Bimibap - Part 2 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

From Bratwurst to Bimibap – Part 2 – by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Asian-Filipino Market in Marina caters to a largely Southeast Asian clientele according to its India-born owner.  The market offers goods spanning the culinary world from Thailand to the Philippines.

A love for snack foods seems to be common to all these countries judging from the vast selection of taro chips, seaweed chips, shrimp crackers, and coconut crackers for sale.  Snack fantasies led me to dreams of more substantial fare, so I headed over to the instant sauce section.

Many people avoid making ethnic food at home, because it requires a major outlay for basic ingredients.  Ready-made sauces can ease a new cook into a foreign cuisine, which is one of the reasons I like them.

Korean barbecue, Chinese roast duck, Cantonese noodles, and packets of Filipino kare-kare sauces are just some of the temptations on Asian-Filipino’s shelves.

I could smell the warm peppery masala spice mixture in the Indian food aisle before I got there and imagined how good it would taste in ground lamb kebab with cilantro and onion. 

I wanted to make coconut milk with the unsweetened, shredded coconut and season it with curry leaves to poach fish or shrimp.

Instead, I ended up buying a bottle of tea masala to make chai at home.

A penchant for habanera sauce led me to Mi Tierra Market in Seaside, which has Mexican and Salvadoran products.

End of Part 2

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Click for Laurent Paget's Book

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From Bratwurst to Bimibap - Part 1 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

From Bratwurst to Bimibap – Part 1 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

I like to make many ethnic foods at home, so I have learned about ingredients by shopping at local markets around Monterey County, which feature Asian, Hispanic, and European foods. 

The Monterey County Weekly (Circulation: 200,000 – California) liked my idea for a story on three markets that are still going strong after twenty years: Mecca (German), Mi Tierra (Hispanic – Mexican and Salvadoran), and Asian-Filipino (Southeast Asian).

These stores have changed some items on display, but they can special order usually, if you know brand names.  I have slightly edited the article for clarity:

From Bratwurst to Bimibap

You’ll want to eat before shopping at Marina’s Mecca German Market.

The owner suggests that shoppers fortify themselves with a hot schnitzel sandwich – lightly breaded pork loin on a hot roll with sauerkraut and Swiss cheese – before examining the row of chocolates that fill up half the store.  (Note: This display has changed in 2019.  There are more soup and sauce options on the shelves now, but ask about special orders.)

Among Mecca’s chocolate offerings that seem to change with the season:

-Ritter Sport Chocolates

-Swiss Lindt Chocolates

-Sarotti Whit Chocolate

-Toblerone

-Chocolates with Poire Williams

-Asbach Uralt brandy-filled chocolate

-Mozart Herzl chocolate with a soft marzipan core surrounded by pistachio cream in a chocolate covering

From the chocolates, it’s an easy segue into coffee klatsch territory for Tchilbo, Jacobs, and Eduscho German coffees to go with Mecca’s selection of marzipan, orange liqueur, and chocolate/vanilla marmor cakes.

I highly recommend the cookies, too:

-Bahlsen’s chocleibniz – a butter cookie topped with chocolate

-marzipan cookies with chocolate bottoms

-almond cookie sandwiches with cream filling

-capellas – almond crescents with chocolate covering both ends

-Delobas – puff pastry with blueberry filling

-Florentines – delicate lace-like cookies

(Chocolates and cookies are my favorite renewable emergency foods.)

Eating sweets with your eyes lets you enjoy the deli counter more.

Mecca’s cooked veal and pork bockwurst sausage heats up easily and makes for a tasty meal as does the homemade bratwurst pork sausage.

I asked the owner what the difference is between the Italian and Hungarian salamis, and a customer answered, “About 500 miles.”

From Mecca, I set out for Marina’s Asian-Filipino Market.

End of Part 1.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Click for Laurent Paget's Book

Ruth Paget Selfie