Catalina Salad Dressing

The origin of "Catalina Salad Dressing" seems to be that it was invented by the Kraft Company; however, some feel it is connected, in some way, to Catalonia Spain.

 

Don't be intimidated by the cayenne pepper, as it is only a quarter of a teaspoon, which is not anywhere near the amount needed to make you feel as if your mouth is a furnace.

 

Ingredients:  

 

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 to 1/3 cup honey (or sugar), according to your preference

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika (not the smoked type)

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 cayenne pepper (or other hot ground red pepper) 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil (or other oil)

 

Add ingredients, except the oil, to a blender. Blend the ingredients for about 15 to 20 seconds, then, with the blender running, drizzle the oil into the dressing through the blender's opening until the oil is incorporated into the dressing. Best to refrigerate for at least an hour, and stir or shake the dressing before serving, as the oil will continue to separate.

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Crow-(verb and noun) This word is related to "crane." "Crow" goes back to Indo European "gerh/greh," in imitation of the call of some birds; thus, "to cry out in a shrill voice, to make a screeching sound." This gave Old Germanic "kreowan(an)," with the same general meaning, and this then produced the Old Germanic noun "kreo," meaning "crow" (the bird name, and apparently only retained by the West Germanic languages, including English), and this gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "crawe," which then became "crowe," before the modern form. Relatives in the other West Germanic languages: German has "Krähe," Low German has "Kreih," West Frisian has "krie," Dutch has "kraai." The verb "crow" goes back to the Old Germanic verb (above) which gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "crawan" (long first 'a'), which then became "crowen," before the modern form. Besides its longstanding meaning of "to make a screeching or shrill sound," by the first half of the 1500s, it also meant "to cry out in a proud and triumphant way." The other West Germanic languages have: German "krähen," Low German "kreihn," Dutch "kraaien" (apparently with the verb too, Frisian doesn't use it, even the Brothers Grimm have no Frisian forms).   

Devil's Sweat Cocktail

Most recipes call for 2 ounces of grenadine, but to me, this makes the drink a bit too sweet for my tastes; so, I use less grenadine, but more fresh lime juice. 

 

 

Ingredients (per cocktail): 

 

3 ounces triple sec

1 1/2 ounces grenadine 

1 1/2 ounces fresh lime juice

ice

 

 In a rocks glass (also known as an "old fashioned glass"), add a small amount of ice, then add the other  ingredients and stir to mix. Add a little more ice.

 

WORD HISTORY:

Sweat-This word, used both as a verb and as a noun, goes back to Indo European "swe-id/swyed," meaning "to sweat." This gave Old Germanic "swaitjanan," meaning "to sweat," which gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "swætan," with the same meaning, but with a figurative usage meaning "to work hard." The verb then became "sweten" before the modern form. Along the verb's way to modern times, it also developed the meaning "to worry greatly" (circa 1400). The noun goes back to the same Indo European base which gave Old Germanic "swaitaz," which gave Old English "swat," which then became "swate," then "swote," before the verb form nudged the noun back toward the verb's spelling and pronunciation as "swet," before the modern form. Throughout much of its history, "sweat" has been used to symbolize "hard work," but also "intense worry." The early part of the 1500s saw the development of the noun "sweater," which originally meant; "one who works hard," and then later, "clothing that makes one sweat (regarding weight loss)," but then "a classification of a type of vest or heavy shirt worn to keep warm in damp, chilly weather (but without the cumbersomeness of a heavy coat)," but gradually with an upgrading of some such garments to be stylish apparel. Relatives in the other Germanic languages (noun/verb): German has "Schweiß/schwitzen," Low German "Sweet/sweten," West Frisan "swit/switte," Dutch "zweet/zweten," Danish "sved/svede," Icelandic "sviti/svitna," Norwegian "svette/svette," Swedish "svett/svettas."     

Bread & Butter Pickles Sandwich

Bread and butter pickles were seemingly invented in Illinois during the early 1920s; at least, the type of pickles so commonly known by that name in the United States since that time up to the present. These pickles are also often called "bread and butter chips." The thing is, pickled cucumbers have been around for a LONG TIME, somewhere around at least 3000 to 4000 years. 

 

Sandwiches made of bread and butter pickles were common during the tough economic years of the Great Depression, as the sandwiches were cheap to make for many folks, and the limited ingredients were often already on hand to many families or individuals. I usually buy bread and butter pickles in brine spiced with whole dried red chili peppers from one of the stands at Cleveland's West Side Market, where the vendor sells them as "Sweet & Spicy." 

While white sandwich bread is traditional, you can certainly use whole wheat bread, or even rye bread, but rye bread will alter the taste of your sandwich; so, if that's okay with you, go for it!

Ingredients (per sandwich):

two slices of bread

2 pats of butter (or margarine), softened for easy use

6 to 8 bread and butter pickle slices, laid out on a paper towel to absorb excess brine

Butter one side of each slice of bread well. This will help to "waterproof" the bread from the pickle brine and keep the sandwich from becoming mushy. Lay the pickle slices (chips) on top of one of the buttered slices of bread, top with the other buttered slice of bread, buttered slice down. 

 

 

1) Bread & Butter Pickles Sandwich ...  2) Butter the bread clear up to the sides ... 3) With a chili pepper

WORD HISTORY:

Plateau-This word is related to quite a number of words. It is distantly related, through Indo European, to the adjective "flat" (smooth, level), a Germanic derived word, but in this case, borrowed by English from its cousin, Old Norse, and "plateau" is closely related to the "plat" of "platform," a word borrowed from French, to "plate," also borrowed from French, which had it from Latin, which had it from Greek ("platter" is based on "plate," but it was borrowed from the French that developed in English after the Normans arrived), and to "plaza," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English from Spanish. "Plateau" goes back to Indo European "plet(h)/plat," which had the notion of "to spread (out);" thus, adjectivally  "broad and flat." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "platys/platus," meaning "broad and flat, widespread," and this was borrowed by Latin as "plattus," mean "flattened, flat," which gave Old French the adjective "plat," meaning "flat," and which was used as a noun to mean "flat or level surface of something," the diminutive form of which was "platel," and this later gave French "plateau" ('-eau' is a French diminutive progression from Old French 'el' from Latin 'ellus," ("ella" is the feminine form), from the Indo European diminutive "elos/olos," and the meaning of "plateau" being "flat/level piece of land elevated on at least one side above the land around it." English borrowed the word between the middle to late 1700s (sources disagree). The verb was derived from the noun in the World War Two era, with the meaning (often in the past tense) "for a person, group of people or business to cease to expand in some field, but rather level off, seemingly without potential to go higher," as in, "The last couple of decades have seen soda pop sales plateau, and then decline."  

Portuguese Seafood Rice: Arroz de Marisco

"Arroz de Marisco" is one of the iconic dishes of Portuguese cuisine. Although recipes vary, especially about the types of seafood used, shrimp is included in almost all recipes, with 2 or 3 other types of seafood often chosen by its availability from among: scallops, mussels, crab, lobster, squid and various choices for white fish, like cod ('bacalhau,' in Portuguese; that is, salted and dried cod),* halibut, haddock.   

If you shell and clean the shrimp yourself, you can use the shells to help make stock for the dish by adding the shells in with the shrimp when you initially cook the shrimp. Just use the large parts of the shells so that it is easy to pick the shells out of the liquid. You don't have to clean and shell the shrimp, you can buy them already cleaned. Trust me, the earth will not stop turning based upon whether you cleaned the shrimp yourself. You will use about 1 1/2 cups of this liquid for the recipe (see below). You can buy the clam juice used in the recipe in supermarkets or perhaps in some fish and seafood shops. It comes in bottles. This rice isn't meant to be completely dry, where it has absorbed all of the liquid; so, don't cook it until that happens. When the rice is tender and the fish and scallops are cooked, that's it, IT'S DONE! Some good crusty bread is excellent for sopping up the remaining broth.

 

Ingredients (4 to 6 servings):

 

1 pound cleaned and shelled medium shrimp

1/2 pound scallops (bay or sea scallops out of their shells)**

1 pound firm white fish (for the photos below, I used halibut), cut into bite-sized pieces

1 1/2 cups arborio rice 

1 cup chopped onion

5 cloves garlic, minced

2/3 cup chopped red bell pepper

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil + (likely) 1 more tablespoon olive oil

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup clam juice

1 1/2 cups cooking liquid water from shrimp

1 good pinch of saffron threads, or 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground white pepper (or ground black pepper)

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 teaspoon salt 

 

Put the shrimp (and shells, if using) into a pan over medium heat and cover them with water. Bring the shrimp to a boil and reduce heat to low. Let cook until the shrimp are almost done. Save 1 1/2 cups of the liquid for the recipe (discard any shells used), and cut the shrimp in half (across, not lengthwise). Set the shrimp and the reserved liquid aside.

 

I use a large skillet, but you can use a heavy-bottomed pan. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter to the skillet/pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the chopped onion and stir it around a little and let it cook for 2 to 3 minutes before stirring in the minced garlic and the chopped red bell pepper, and stir the ingredients around until the bell pepper softens somewhat. (If at some point, you feel another tablespoon of oil is needed, add it.) Now add the arborio rice and let it cook for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring the ingredients around occasionally to prevent sticking and burning. Add the white wine and stir, then crush the saffron threads in the palm of your hand and add them to the pan (or stir in the turmeric, if using), along with the white pepper, stir again until the liquid is almost absorbed by the rice, then add the clam juice and do the same, stirring until it is almost absorbed. Now mix the salt into the liquid from the shrimp, and add this liquid to the pan, stirring again. Add the bay scallops and stir and mix them into the rice (the rice should still be in the process of absorbing much of the shrimp broth). Then add the pieces of white fish and the chopped cilantro and mix them into the rice. The scallops and the fish should cook pretty quickly. Add the shrimp halves and mix them into the rice; cook only until the shrimp is heated through and the rice is tender. Any excess liquid if fine, the dish is usually served that way, with bread served to help sop up the broth.   

 

* Portugal is known for its dried, salted cod called 'bacalhau.' The country is home to hundreds of recipes for bacalhau. Portugal imports much of its dried, salted cod from Norway, taking virtually all of the Scandinavian country's cod available for export. 

 

** If you use sea scallops, which are larger than bay scallops, cut them into 3 or 4 pieces.

 

'Arroz de Marisco' with some sliced tomatoes and crusty bread ... 

WORD HISTORY:

Reply (Replicate)-"Reply" is related to quite a number of words, including: "plait/pleat," "complex," "complexion," all Latin-derived words borrowed from French/Anglo-French, and it's related to "flax," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Reply" goes back to Indo European "plek," with the notion of "to plait, to fold together, to weave or braid." This gave Latin the verb "plicare," meaning "to fold," and "replicare," with the "re" being a Latin prefix generally meaning "again, back. "Replicare" meant "to fold back," but also, "to repeat," and later also, "to respond." "Replicare" gave Old French "replier," meaning "to fold (up), to refold;" that is, "to fold again;" thus, "repeat," and "respond." English borrowed the word in the latter part of the 1300s as "replien, which then became "replyen," before the modern form. The English meanings were: "to make an answer to something (including in the legal sense of  'answer an accusation or charge'), oppose, retaliate." The noun developed from the verb in the mid 1500s with the meaning, "a written or a voiced response to something."

Citrus Delight Cocktail

There are various cocktails with this name, this is mine (ah, my cocktail, not my name).

Ingredients (per cocktail)

2 ounces orange juice

2 ounces triple sec

1/2 ounce fresh lime juice

1 1/2 ounces club soda

ice

piece of orange slice for garnish

In a cup, mix together the orange juice, triple sec and lime juice. Pour over ice into a glass, add the club soda and give a brief stir (not too much, you don't want the fizz to diminish). Garnish with a piece of orange slice.

WORD HISTORY:

Sedge-A large group of grassy and reed type plants that grow in and around wetlands. "Sedge" is related to "saw" (cutting tool), a word more clearly related when you see that English once spelled "saw" with a 'g' (as 'sagu'), and its German cousin still spells it with a 'g' (as 'Säge'), and it is distantly related to "sect" and to words using "sect" (like bisect, insect, intersect, sector, etc), with "sect" borrowed from Latin, but with French reinforcement. "Sedge" goes back to Indo European "sek," which meant "cut." This gave Old Germanic "sagjaz," a plant name with the underlying notion of "a plant with leaves that cut." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "secg," with the same meaning, and this then became "segge" before the modern version. German has "Segge," which was taken and used in written German circa 1700 from Low German (Segge/Segg). "Segge" tends to be more commonly used in northern Germany, which is the ancient homeland of Low German, but all Germans are taught standard German (Hochdeutsch) in school. "Saher" is more common in southern areas, although there are dialect forms too, such as, "Sacher." As with "Segge," "Saher" and the dialect forms also go back to the same Indo European base "sek," and they are related to German "Säge," which means "saw," the cutting tool. Dutch has "zegge," West Frisian "sigge." 

Fresh Tomato Salad

Easy to make, with pretty easily obtainable ingredients, and with a variety of tomato types used.

Ingredients (multiple servings):

 

3 fresh and ripe Roma tomatoes, cut into bite-size pieces

2 ripe medium tomatoes, cut into bite-size pieces

12 ripe grape tomatoes, halved

1 medium heirloom tomato, cut into bite-size pieces

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

6 medium to large basil leaves, torn or cut into pieces

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

(optional) 1 heaping tablespoon capers

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne) or 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika 

In a bowl, add all of the ingredients and mix together well. Cover and refrigerate a minimum of 2 hours.

Fresh tomato salad, here with pieces of some salt stick rolls ...

WORD HISTORY:

Locate (location)-"Locate" is distantly related, through Indo European, to "stall" (noun for pen for animals) and "stall" (verb for "loss of power to move forward, come to a standstill, to delay," a word that goes back to the Germanic roots of English, but later with some French influence, which was derived from Germanic Frankish, and to "lieu" (commonly used in the phrase "in lieu of"), "local/locale," Latin-derived words borrowed by English from French, and to the "loco-" part of "locomotive" and "locomotion" borrowed from Latin (although the actual word "locomotive" is a borrowing from French). "Locate" goes back to Indo European "stel," meaning "to place, to set into a place, to put into a place," and this gave Latin the noun "locus" (via Italic "stlocos" and early Latin "stlocus"), meaning "a place, a spot, an area, a position," and from this developed the verb "locare" meaning "to put, to place, to set into position or into a place," one of the participle forms of which was "locatus," and from this English formed the verb "locate" in the early part of the 1500s, originally meaning "to settle into a place to live, to set up a business in a place," later also, "to find someone's or something's place (location)." "Location" was borrowed from Latin in the second half of the 1500s from "locatio" (accusative: "locationem"), meaning "a place, the state of being in a certain place," later adding, "an occupied place, a place available to be occupied for living or business, a leased place."      

Bluebird Cocktail

A refreshing cocktail that's easy to make. Blue curaçao is an orange flavored liqueur made from the peel of a type of bitter orange that grows on the island of Curaçao, which is located in the southern part of the Caribbean, not very far from Venezuela. The name is assumed to have been from indigenous peoples that was put into Portuguese spelling, as Portuguese ships made frequent visits to the island in the 1500s. The island of Curaçao is a part of the Netherlands. Blue curaçao (cure-ah-sow, rhymes with how) should be available at liquor stores and in some beverage store outlets, as its alcohol content is typically 15 to 20%. The "Bluebird Cocktail" has a variety of recipes, with big differences in some, but I like this one.  

 

Ingredients (per cocktail):

 

1 1/2 ounces dry gin

1 ounce blue curaçao

dash or two angostura bitters

orange slice

2 ounces tonic water

ice

rocks glass/Old Fashioned glass

Add the dry gin, blue curaçao and bitters to a rocks glass, stir to mix, add some ice, then add the tonic water and orange slice, but give the cocktail only one quick stir (you want the fizz of the tonic to remain). 

WORD HISTORY:

Villain (villein)-This word is related to the "-wick" and "-wich" parts of place names (for example: "Gatwick, Brunswick, Warwick, Norwich and Ipswich"), from Old Germanic, which had borrowed the base for both "-wick" and "-wich" from Latin, and to "villa," a Latin word borrowed by English via Italian, and to "village," "vicinity" and the last part of "parish," with the first two being Latin-derived words, and with "parish" a Greek derived word borrowed by Latin, which passed it to French, and English borrowed all three from French. "Villain" goes back to Indo European "weik," which had the notion of "settlement, house, abode:" thus also, "villa, village." This gave Latin "vicus" meaning "series of homes;" thus also, "village," and this then produced "villa," "house in the countryside," thus also, "a farm," and this produced "villanus," noun use of adjective meaning, "farm worker, farmhand;" thus also, "peasant." This passed to Old French as "vilein/vilain," meaning "peasant, person of low social status" (remember, this was in the time of feudalism). English borrowed the word around 1300, initially as "villein," which was retained and used with that spelling for "a feudal peasant," while the spelling "villain" took the more nasty meaning of "scoundrel, one inclined to wickedness." "Villein" is not at all common in American English in modern times.

Punjabi Potatoes in Onion & Tomato Gravy: Dum Aloo

"Dum Aloo," also called "Aloo Dum" and other terms, has some regional variations, with this recipe here being based upon the style prepared in Punjab. Punjab is a region with parts in northern India and Pakistan. The part of Punjab in India is one of India's states, while the part in Pakistan is a province of Pakistan. The Indian state of Punjab has a majority Sikh population, the only Indian state with such, and in Pakistani Punjab, Sikhs are also part of the population, but they are far from a majority there.     

 

This Punjabi style potato dish is not terribly spicy hot, and it is thickened with ground cashews.

 

Ingredients:

 

1 1/2 pounds of small white or small Yukon Gold potatoes

water for cooking the potatoes, seasoned with 1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons vegetable oil or peanut oil

3 tablespoons yogurt, stirred so that it's smooth

1/2 cup chopped tomato, seeded (small chop)

1/3 cup chopped red onion (small chop)

1 1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated

2 cloves garlic, minced

(optional) 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida 

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

3 teaspoons Kashmiri ground red pepper (or 1 teaspoon cayenne and 2 teaspoons sweet paprika)

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 inch piece cinnamon stick

2 whole cloves

2 green cardamom pods, slit or cracked 

3 whole black peppercorns

1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 cup water

15 cashews, ground into meal

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped

 

Rinse the potatoes, then in a pan cover the potatoes with water and add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Boil the potatoes over medium heat. Cook until the potatoes are just cooked through, they should not be mushy at all. Drain the potatoes well, let them cool a little, then peel them (the peels/skins should come off pretty easily). In a skillet, add the 5 tablespoons of oil over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add the potatoes and let them fry, turning them often, until they are lightly browned. Remove the potatoes to a dish and set aside. Drain oil from the skillet to leave only about 2 tablespoons in the skillet over medium heat. Add the cinnamon stick, whole cloves, cardamom pods and peppercorns, stir often and let them fry for about 1 1/2 minutes, then add the onion and saute another 2 minutes before adding the chopped tomato, ginger and garlic, stir and keep breaking up the tomatoes. Continue cooking the ingredients until the onion softens, then add the asafoetida (if using), turmeric, Kashmiri chili powder (or cayenne/paprika substitute), ground coriander and ground cumin, stir well to mix. Cook for another 2 minutes, then add the fenugreek leaves, yogurt and sugar and stir to mix them in, then add 1 cup water and stir to mix everything well. Let the mixture come to a steady simmer (adjust heat to maintain the simmer), add the potatoes to the skillet, cover the skillet (lid or foil) and let everything simmer for 6 to 8 minutes, then gradually stir in the ground cashews and salt; continue simmering everything without a cover. When the gravy (sauce) begins to thicken, stir in the chopped cilantro (coriander). Serve with naan, roti or rice.

 

WORD HISTORY:

Kin-"Kin" is related to "kind," both the noun (meaning "type, classification") and the adjective (meaning "friendly, helpful"), and it is related, through Indo European, to "gender," a Latin-based word borrowed by English from French. It goes back to Indo European "gen/gn," which meant "produce, beget, give birth." The Old Germanic offspring was "kunjan/kunjam," which gave Old English "cynn," with the meaning "family," but also meaning "race, kind (as in, "what kind of plant is that?")." As for the other Germanic languages, it also gave German "Kind," (pronounced with a short "i," and the "d" is pronounced "t") obviously related to the English words of that spelling, but it means "child" in German, as it also does in Dutch; Norwegian has "kjønn," Danish has "køn," Swedish has "kön," and Icelandic has "kynlíf," but all of these mean "sex," in the sense "gender." In the 1100s, English also developed "kindred" from the base word, with the "red" suffix from Germanic meaning "condition, state (of)."