Rutabaga and Ham Stew with Dumplings

A "rutabaga" is generally a softball-size root vegetable, resembling a large turnip. In England it is often referred to as a "Swede," seemingly because they were popular in Sweden. They are hearty and have been used as a cold weather vegetable in some places. During World War One in northern Germany, rutabagas were given credit for keeping many people from starvation in winter. This is my own recipe, although I must admit to likely being influenced by several recipes from northern Germany I've seen over the years.

ingredients:
1 softball size rutabaga (peeled and diced)
1 carrot, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup chopped ham (I use lean cottage ham)
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon marjoram leaves
3 tablespoons ham soup base
salt (minimal, if any, as the soup base is salty)
1 tablespoon black pepper
(to thicken: 2 to 3 tablespoons of flour mixed well with the same amount of butter or with the same amount of water, plus 1 tablespoon)*
dumpling mixture (1 cup all purpose flour, sifted with the other dry ingredients; 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons butter, 5 tablespoons milk)**

Add all of the ingredients to a heavy-bottomed pot (with tight-fitting lid), except for the flour and water or butter, and the ingredients for the dumplings. Simmer the ingredients until the carrot and rutabaga are tender, but not falling apart. Mix the flour with the butter, or water, making sure it is smooth. Gradually add the thickening mixture to the hot ingredients, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. Keep the heat low. Make the dumpling mixture by cutting the butter into the sifted dry ingredients with a fork until it is a coarse mixture. Add the milk and gently mix until just mixed together. Do not keep mixing. Drop tablespoons of the dumpling mixture into the hot stew, cover with a lid and let cook for 18 to 20 minutes. The extra cooking for the dumplings will help to cook the raw flavor out of the flour used to thicken the stew.

* You can always adjust the amount to thicken the stew as you prefer.

** I often cheat ... I mean, I take a short cut by buying a tube of biscuits and using several of them in the stew. I cut them in half and add them to the stew, put the lid on and leave to cook for about 10 to 12 minutes. They make great dumplings. 

WORD HISTORY:
Stove-There is much about the origin of this word that is uncertain, so try to follow along. It "possibly" comes from Old Germanic, or it "could" be an ancient borrowing from Latin, as there are similar words in the descendants of both Germanic and Latin, although I "suppose" it is just as possible to have been borrowed into Latin from Germanic. Whatever the case, where either Germanic or Latin got the basis for the word is also still an open question. "If" Germanic, it may well be derived from Germanic, "staubfmaz," a form of which, "staumaz," gave modern English "steam," Dutch "stoom" (steam) and Low German Saxon "Stoom" (dust, from the notion of steam, mist). "If" from Latin, that language had "stupha" (and the "assumed" word "extufare," from the common people), a word seemingly borrowed from Greek "tuphos," which meant "smoke," but also "vapor, steam." As you can see, the possible ancestors of "stove" are so close, it is difficult to say which is THE ancestor. Anyway, Old English had "stofa" (also "stofu"), which meant "room with a heated bath; that is, a bathroom." Later the English meaning was influenced by Dutch, itself seemingly influenced by French or Italian, where forms of the word had taken on the meaning "appliance used to cook food" (from the notion of "heated room, chamber), but this meaning didn't really take hold in English until the 1600s. The other Germanic languages have: German "Stube" (warmed room, family room, also sleeping room in a barracks, with the 'warmed' meaning implied), Dutch "stoof" (stove), I did not find a modern form in Frisian, nor in Low German Saxon, which once had "stove," although I did find "Stow," which is perhaps used on a limited basis by some dialects for "room," Swedish "stuga" (cottage), Icelandic "stofa" (living room), Danish "stue" (living room), Norwegian "stue" (living room).

NOTE: In Britain the word "stove" also has a secondary meaning of "greenhouse" (a warmed room to grow plants).