Salade Niçoise with Salmon at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California by Ruth Paget

Salade Niçoise with Salmon at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California by Ruth Paget 

Rainy and foggy weather in Los Gatos, California located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains whets the appetite for three-course lunches at Chez Philippe. 

On a recent visit for my husband Laurent’s birthday with our daughter Florence Paget, we all started our meal with escargots, snails baked with butter, parsley, and breadcrumbs. The sauce was excellent for dipping baguette slices in. 

For our main dishes, Laurent ate mussels steamed with white wine and crème fraîche with chopped parsley added at the end with fries on the side while Florence ate steak with fries. Both were reliably great and delicious just like in UNESCO world heritage bistros in Paris. 

It was not my birthday, but I think I got the best main dish – the salade Niçoise with seared wild salmon. Every French chef who lives near Alaska or the Alaska Current in the Pacific would probably choose to use “local” salmon in their American renditions of this classic French dish. 

At Chez Philippe, this spectacular salad comes with:  

-6 seasoned and seared chunks of wild salmon 

-slender French green beans cut into one-inch segments 

-slices of white onion soaked previously in water so they taste sweet 

-meaty anchovies 

-sliced boiled eggs with canary yellow yolks 

-tomato slices

-black olive slices 

-sweet red pepper slices

-boiled potato wedges

 -fresh baby greens 

This wonderful combination was tossed with a vinaigrette made with the addition of Dijon mustard.   (Champagne would probably go well with this dish or a Bloody Mary cocktail.)

Laurent ate a birthday mousse while Florence and I shared a crème caramel. 

We all had fun and ate very well at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California for Laurent’s birthday. 

For French food in a relaxed atmosphere, Chez Philippe is the place for lunch Los Gatos. 

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

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Shrimp Cocktail and Chile Verde from Super Pollo in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Gulf Coast Fare from Super Pollo in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

Super Pollo Taquería in Salinas, California offers delicious Gulf Coast Texan and Mexican fare for everyday dinners and special events. 

For my December birthday, I ordered a tonic winter meal made up of shrimp cocktail, chile verde con puerco, and Spanish rice. 

Super Pollo stuffs a large beverage container with briny shrimp that swim in a sea of pico de gallo salsa topped off with slices of avocado for its shrimp cocktail. 

Pico de gallo salsa is made with chopped red pepper, onions, tomates, and cilantro with the addition of spicy peppers and Tapatío hot sauce for Super Pollo’s shrimp cocktail. I wanted to eat the shrimp cocktail on a blustery day on a sailboat, but was happy at home with a Monterey Beer from Alvarado Street Brewery. 

Chile verde con puerco is made by browning onions and pork and making a spicy green sauce, the chile verde, to go with the browned pork. 

To make childe verde sauce, you roast Mexican tomatillo green peppers (minus the papery skin), jalapeño peppers and Anaheim or Poblano peppers. Once roasted, you place these items in a blender with a bunch of cilantro leaves, chopped yellow onions, and chicken stock and purée the sauce. 

You warm the sauce and browned pork cubes together and then serve the chile verde with Spanish rice. Spanish rice is made with chicken stock and tomato juice and is so delicious you can practically make a meal of it alone. 

This is a large and delicious meal. I add leftover chile verde to chicken noodle soup for a boost of Vitamin C. (I also add leftover salsa to chicken noodle soup for another meal for a Vitamin C and flavor boost as well.) 

If you want a tonic Tex-Mex meal in winter, the shrimp cocktail and chile verde meal I ordered à la carte at Super Pollo is pretty hard to beat. 

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

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Cabbage Recipes for Winter by Ruth Paget

Cabbage Recipes for Winter by Ruth Paget 

One of the best buys for .99 cents on Kindle is Ms. Fruit’s Hello! 365 Cabbage Recipes. This book has recipes from Ethiopia to Thailand with many from Europe and the US in between. Its multicultural offerings and price to fit all budgets make it a terrific buy. 

Five of the European recipes I like follow: 

*Dijon Pork with Apples and Cabbage 

-This recipe is made with green cabbage, apple wedges, olive oil, pork tenderloins, a Dijon-style mustard like Maille, white wine vinegar, and honey. 

-On a sheet pan, toss together the apple and cabbage wedges, salt and pepper, and olive oil. 

-Spread a mixture of oil, thyme, honey, white wine vinegar, and mustard all over the pork. 

-Place the apple and cabbage wedges on top of the pork. Roast the pork till the meat registers 130 degrees Fahrenheit. 

-Place the pork under the broiler till the apples and cabbage have a light char and the pork has a golden crust. 

-Cut the pork into slices and serve the apples and cabbage topped with chopped parsley. 

This recipe for Dijon Pork with Apples and Cabbage is worth the price of the book alone. 

*Balsamic Cabbage 

-This recipe is made with shredded green cabbage, shredded red cabbage, shredded carrots, salt and pepper, and balsamic vinegar. 

-Start by cooking the carrots, green cabbage, and red cabbage till soft. 

-Mix in the balsamic vinegar and serve warm. 

*Blaukraut 

-This recipe is made with onions, diced apples, red cabbage, vegetable broth, vinegar, and optional lingonberry jam. 

-Cook the apples and onions till they begin to soften. Add the cabbage and cook till heated through. 

-Stir in the apple cider vinegar and broth. Cook for 30 minutes. 

-Flavor with salt and pepper and lingonberry jam, if using. 

*Cabbage and Apple Slaw 

-This recipe is made with yogurt, sour cream, honey, shredded red cabbage, chopped Granny Smith apples, minced onion, and chopped parsley. 

-Make a sauce of honey, sour cream, and yogurt. 

-Mix parsley, cabbage, onions, and apples together. 

-Mix in salt and pepper. Mix the salad with the sauce and refrigerate till using. 

*Chopped Vegetable Salad with Beans 

-This recipe is made with canned cannellini beans, green peppers, chopped red cabbage, chopped radishes, lemon and oil dressing, and diced feta cheese. 

-Mix everything together and refrigerate. 

For more elaborate cabbage recipes, check out Gabriel Kreuther: The Spirit of Alsace – A Cookbook by Gabriel Kreuther and Michael Ruhlman. 

Happy Cooking! 

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

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Fish Po'Boy Sandwiches at Bag O'Crab in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Fish Po’Boy Sandwiches at Bag O’Crab in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

A Louisiana option for fish on Fridays in Salinas, California is a deep-fried fish po’boy sandwich from Bag O’Crab. 

A spicy, deep-fried fish filet comes dressed with shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced pickles, and mayonnaise on half a French baguette loaf in a po'boy sandwich.  

This pretty unbeatable sandwich for flavor tastes great with equally tasty Cajun fries with spicy and salty seasoning. When it is hot outside, and you have lost a lot of salt in perspiration from working, the Cajun fries are a great replenisher of energy and make you relax. 

Bag O’Crab also has po’boy sandwiches made with deep-fried spicy shrimp that I often order, too, for a change. 

Either sandwich adds variety and a little exoticism to one’s diet. 

Bag O’Crab’s big seller is boiler bags with shrimp, spicy Louisiana sausage, potatoes, and corn on the cobb with garlic-butter sauce that are a nice treat for Saturday nights with cold beer. 

All these fun dining options are located off West Davis in the Westridge Shopping Mall in Salinas, California. Bag O’Crab has all major delivery apps for customer convenience.

Bon appétit! 

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

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Upscale American Sandwiches in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Upscale American Sandwiches in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

You can learn a lot about the northern United States by trying some of its signature sandwiches that have gone nationwide and even global in some cases in Salinas, California. 

Three Salinas locations bring food for blustery and icy weather to you in mostly sunny Salinas: 

-Charley’s Cheesesteaks 

-Wienerschnitzel 

-Jersey Mike’s Subs (also has a Sand City location) 

*Charley’s Cheesesteaks offers a variety of meaty sandwiches like the following: 

-old school cheesesteak sandwich with USDA-choice steak, cheese whiz, and sautéed onions on a toasted bun 

-Philly cheesesteak with USDA-choice steak, green peppers, mushrooms, and onions topped with provolone cheese and served on a toasted roll. The sandwich also comes with lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. 

-hot shot Italiano sandwich comes with oven-roasted turkey, pepperoni, banana peppers, melted provolone cheese, and dashes of Italian dressing on a toasted bun 

*Wienerschnitzel is a Salinas, California chain with several outlets in town. On a recent run to Nob Hill Supermarket on South Main Street, I saw that Wienerschnitzel is selling Italian meatball sandwiches.

Italian meatball sandwiches are an authentic Italian-American dish. They are not sold in Italy, but they are a big hit in the northeastern United States. 

I looked up the recipe for meatball sandwiches on allrecipes.com. If you are willing to get your hands messy and have time, then these sandwiches are easy to make. Otherwise, let Wienerschnitzel do the work. 

Meatballs are made with ground beef (sometimes ground pork is added for flavor), breadcrumbs, eggs, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and seasonings. The meatballs are baked and then dunked in warm tomato sauce.  

After that, they are placed in hollowed out baguette halves. Provolone cheese goes on top of the meatballs. The sandwich goes back in the oven till the cheese melts.  

Meatball sandwiches are not a handheld dish. You need a fork and knife to get every last bit of delicious of bread soaked in tomato sauce, especially if you are eating a top-quality tomato sauce. 

*Finally, Jersey Mike’s Subs is always reliably great for turkey-provolone cheese subs with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayonnaise on homemade Italian bread. 

I especially like to eat Jersey Mike’s Subs after going to Pebble Beach to do bird watching (look for brown pelicans and cormorants and even condors) like they do in the northern United States.

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

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Fish on Fridays in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Fish on Fridays in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I like to rotate my family’s fish on Fridays tradition between fish and chips and Baja fish tacos in Salinas, California where I live. 

For fish and chips, my family orders from North Main Fish and Chips by Boronda Road. You can choose one, two, or three pieces of batter-dipped, deep-fried cod as part of your combination meal, which comes with an ample amount of French fries.  

For a Salinas touch, I order an extra side of coleslaw (non-authentic, but healthy) made with shredded cabbage and onions. North Main Fish and Chips uses a creamy, mild dressing that is a nice finish to the crunchy and warm meal.

I looked up the history of fish and chips in the Encyclopedia Britannica online and learned that it is considered a working class meal in the United Kingdom. Deep-fried, battered fish is believed to have come to England in the 1490s with Sephardic Jews who were fleeing expulsion and the Inquisition in Portugal. 

Britannica writes that a Jewish immigrant from Belgium named Joseph Malin is thought to have combined deep-fried fish with French fries to make the first fish and chip meal in 1863 in East London. (French fries are called chips in the United Kingdom.) 

When my family wants to add some variety to our family’s Friday night fish routine, we order fish taco combination platters from Super Pollo Taquería on South Main, which come with two soft shell corn tortillas filled with chunks of cod, shredded cabbage, shredded onions, creamy sauce, and pico de gallo salsa to add made with chopped peppers, tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. 

The sides that come with the combination platter are refried beans and Mexican rice. Mexican rice is made with chicken broth and tomato juice, which gives it a beautiful orange color and tangy and savory flavor. 

Both North Main Fish and Chips and Super Pollo offer more elaborate menu items with seafood, but fish and chips and fish tacos are a pretty good deal; these meals for three with tip and delivery fees are about $60. 

I like living in Salinas, California for the Friday night fish options, which make a fish meal affordable for families and provide an international dining experience for children as well. 

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

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Pasta Champion San Francisco (California) by Ruth Paget

Pasta Champion San Francisco (California) by Ruth Paget 

Thanks to doing the supplemental reading listed in my health and nutrition textbook at Cass Technical High School in Detroit (Michigan), I learned that several grains have very good protein and fiber content. 

Being a teenager in recession-era Detroit, I was very interested in inexpensive proteins with a high-fiber content, which made them an attractive way to stretch money and still be healthy. 

These grains with good protein and fiber content include:

-buckwheat 

-whole wheat 

-oatmeal 

-brown rice 

-pasta made with semolina flour, which comes from durum wheat 

(Quinoa was probably mentioned too, but I might not have noted it due to expense. Quinoa, originally from the Andes Mountains in Latin America, is now grown in Rockies in Colorado.) 

I ate tons of oatmeal as a child and teen in Michigan to brace myself for winter mornings. Later when I moved to Monterey County California, I made tons of refried rice to save money. Sacramento, California’s capitol, is an important rice growing region like that along the Mississippi River Valley. 

I have made use of California’s Asian markets and bulk rice buying at Costco and Foods Co (owned by Kroger) to make my beloved refried rice with cooked shrimp, peas, corn, carrots, and scrambled eggs.

I consider pasta made from semolina flour to be a gourmet treat, especially if you combine it with organic vegetables like those you can find in Salinas, California. 

I like to tinker in the kitchen and have cooked several recipes from The San Francisco Cookbook Volume II edited by Michael Bauer and Fran Irwin. These recipes are so loved that you can find them on many restaurant menus now. 

I think making them with children is a fun family activity that teaches self-sufficiency and nutrition at the same time. 

I like the following pasta recipes from The San Francisco Cookbook Volume II: -creamy lemony spaghetti with olives and basil 

-spaghetti with marinated fennel, tomato, and olives 

-papardalle with arugula, cherry tomatoes, and bread crumbs 

-jalapeño macaroni 

-crab pasta 

-pasta with saffron-scented cream, peas, and prosciutto 

-oven-baked quinoa loaf

 -lemon-asparagus rice pilaf 

I love it that San Francisco has encouraged the development of so many pasta dishes made with organic vegetables that the whole country can enjoy. 

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

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