Six California Kitchens Lessons by Ruth Paget
Sally Schmitt, the author of Six California Kitchens, co-founder of Napa Valley’s French Laundry Restaurant, and champion of farm-to-table cooking, has left a legacy in California for high standards in home cooking, farmers’ markets organization, and dining at fine restaurants as part of elite tourism.
As a home cook and someone who likes California’s cuisine offerings, I chose three of her soup recipes to remind me of trips my family has family has made to Napa Valley.
All three of these soups can be puréed and chilled to eat on hot, summer days like those in Napa Valley:
-cold cucumber soup made with garlic chives, yogurt, cucumbers, water, mint, buttermilk, salt and pepper, and sweet onions
-eggplant soup made yogurt, garlic chives, sauteed eggplant, chicken stock, salt and pepper, and half and half. This soup is garnished with chopped shiitake mushrooms
-zucchini soup made with sautéed zucchini, salt, water, chicken stock, half and half, olive oil, shallots, and parsley
These vegetable-centric soups will always make me think of Sally Schmitt, the farm-to-table champion, who has made just about everyone in California value home cooking, farmers’ markets, organic produce, and fine restaurants.
Cooks who value farm-to-table dining will find much to like in Six California Kitchens by Sally Schmitt, which captures the lifestyle and values of Napa Valley.
By Ruth Paget
-author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France + 6 Kindle books
-developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games and Classical Western Civilization War Games (8)
-developer of food and beverage knowledge games
-creator of online exhibits about San Miguel Arcangel Mission, French baguette making, and the Carmel Valley History Museum
-creator of French Travel and Culture Games
-writer of 1800+ Central Coast Californian lifestyle blogs
-family genealogist - work includes editing 250 of my grandmother’s and father’s recipes (available on Ruthpaget.blogspot.com) and 150 recipes I wrote at the onset of COVID