Mallorca Potato Salad: Ensalada de Patatas Mallorquinas

"Mallorca," also spelled by some as "Majorca" (pronounced like "mah-yor-kah"), is an island of the Balearic Islands archipeligo in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of Spain. The islands are a part of Spain, and Mallorca is "about" 130 miles from mainland Spain. As with people in the mainland Catalonia region of northeastern Spain, people on Mallorca speak Catalan* as well as Spanish. Mallorca is a common vacation spot for many western Europeans, and it is known for its beaches and landscape, as well as its abundant sunshine.

 

Spain is known for its "tapas:" that is, "snacks," or small servings of various foods, and tapas are a whole part of what it means to be Spanish. This recipe appeals to me very much, as I am a guy who likes potatoes and seafood, and this dish gives me both. The basic recipe here is from one of the Spanish cookbooks I've owned for some time: "A Spanish Family Cookbook" (revised edition) by Juan and Susan Serrano, Hippocrene Books, New York, originally published 1993, revised editions in 1997 and 2000. 

 

Please don't get all shook up about anchovy fillets. Rinse and finely chop them, and they will not stand out in the potato salad like you experienced with your first and last bite of anchovy pizza when you were 9 years old. Anchovies are a common addition to recipes in the region of the Mediterranean Sea, but they are more commonly used to supplement a dish, not to dominate it.  

Ingredients:

2 pounds small red potatoes

2/3 to 3/4 cup mayonnaise (low fat type is fine)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 to 1 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

4 anchovy fillets, rinsed and chopped

1 can (about 4 to 5 ounces) sardines in olive oil (I use boneless and skinless sardines)**

lemon wedges

black olives (I buy black olives from a deli, I'm not a big fan of canned black olives)

chopped parsley for garnish

(Optional) hardboiled egg slices or quarters for garnish

Cook the potatoes in their skins until tender, but still somewhat firm and not mushy. Drain the potatoes and slice them into a bowl ("middle size" slices, or as some say, "not thin and not thick slices"). Add 2/3 cup mayonnaise and gently mix the mayo into the potato slices (if you prefer, add more mayo by the tablespoon, then mix, until you get the amount of mayo you like). Add the ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt (you can add more later, if desired), white wine vinegar and chopped anchovies; mix to disperse the flavors of the ingredients, but do so as to not break up the potato slices. Serve on small individual plates with a couple of pieces of sardines, a few black olives and some chopped parsley on top and a lemon wedge on the side. Optionally you can include a couple slices of hardboiled egg.   

* Catalan is a distinct language from Spanish, although both languages are Latin-based. While Spanish is the national language of Spain, Catalan is spoken from northeastern Spain and southward along much of the eastern areas of Spain's Mediterranean coast, including on the Balearic Islands, where it is also an official language. Catalan is the official language of the tiny nation of Andorra, which is located in the eastern part of the Pyrennes Mountains between Spain and France.

** I've tried making this salad by using the olive oil from the sardines, but I found it to be too much "fish taste;" so, I suggest draining the oil from the sardines.

WORD HISTORY:

Modicum-This word is related to "moderate," a word of Latin derivation borrowed by English, and to "modest," another Latin word borrowed via French, to "mode," still another Latin word "likely" borrowed via French, but with Latin reinforcement (or perhaps the other way around?), to "medication," another Latin word, but borrowed by English via French, and to "mete," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Modicum" goes back to Indo European "med," which had the notions "to measure (out), to act appropriately" (that is, "after consideration;" that is, "after measuring the action"). This gave Latin "modus," meaning "a proper measure, a method or way of acting or arranging;" thus also, "a proper quantity." This produced the Latin adjective "modicus," meaning "considered, reasonable;" thus also, "moderate, not of great extent or amount." The neuter form of "modicus" was "modicum," which was used as a noun meaning "a small amount, a lesser extent, a limited amount." English borrowed the word in the latter part of the 1400s.  

Piña Colada

Back in the late 1970s, singer and songwriter Rupert Holmes released a song with the lyrics, "If you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain..." Well, the name of the song upon its original release had nothing to do with "piña coladas," because its was called, "Escape." We in the public knew the song because of its reference to piña coladas, and so the record company and Holmes amended the song title to, "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)." The song and the drink were VERY popular!

The "Piña Colada," which literally means, "strained pineapple" (see Word History, below) was invented in Puerto Rico in the 1950s. As with many a popular invention, there is not total agreement as to this drink's naming, or more precisely, when the drink was given its enduring name. This is a very tough drink to make, as it will require you to be able to pour liquid, add ice cubes and then.... to push a button on a blender to make the blender operate, and then... to push another button to make the blender stop. There are college degrees issued for being able to do these difficult maneuvers, but unfortunately, I flunked out. I kept pushing the wrong buttons and it took me most of a semester to find out the buttons that operate the lights in the room are not the buttons that operate the blender. They have to make things complicated. Damn! And I wondered why the lights kept going off and on. 

Ingredients (per drink):

2 ounces light (white) rum
2 ounces pineapple juice
2 ounces coconut cream
pineapple chunks
maraschino cherries
1 cup ice cubes

Put the rum, the pineapple juice, the coconut cream and the ice cubes into a blender. Blend until smooth. Garnish with pineapple chunks or slices and a maraschino cherry or two. You can adjust the ingredient amounts to suit your own taste. Hey! The lights just went out. Well, habits are hard to break. Cheers!
 
I've seen all kinds of glasses used over the years for Piña Coladas (short, tall, squat, narrow), so use what you have or what you think makes a nice presentation, if you are serving guests.

WORD HISTORY:
Colander-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown, and part of even its later history is a little shaky. It goes back to the Latin noun "colum," a type of "woven wicker basket or fishing net used for fishing." This brought about the additional meaning, "sieve," and produced the verb "colare," "to strain or to put liquid through a sieve." This produced Latin "colatorium." This passed into Latin-based languages of the western Mediterranean in various forms, but while English borrowed a number of words from Latin-based French, this does not seem to be one of them. It was borrowed by English in the 1300s, "perhaps" from Spanish or Catalan "colador," but with an "n" inserted because of either misunderstanding or easier pronunciation in those times? It had several spellings in English originally, all with an "n" ("coloner," "cullender," for example).       

Red Pepper Relish: Serbian & Croatian Ajvar/Ljutenica

Ajvar, essentially pronounced as if "eye-var," and "ljutenica," pronounced as if, "loot-en-eetsa," are types of relish often used as condiments in Serbia, Croatia and in other parts of the Balkans. Recipes vary somewhat by region, but "ljutenica" is the spicy hot version of the relish in most areas. So you can make it mild or spicy hot, as you wish. It is used on sandwiches and burgers, as well as just spread onto slices of bread. When I was a kid, Serbia was often written as, "Servia," and Serbian was often written as, "Servian," but those variant spellings ceased decades ago; at least, to my knowledge. 

2 pounds roasted sweet red bell peppers, or store bought roasted peppers
1 small to medium roasted eggplant (aubergine), about 1/2 to 3/4 pound
1 medium ripe tomato, roughly chopped 
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon hot (or mild) Hungarian paprika
1 hot chili pepper 
2 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2  teaspoon black pepper
pinch or two of sugar

To roast the peppers and eggplant: heat the oven to 450 F. While the oven is heating up, wash and cut the peppers and eggplant in half. Remove the stems and seeds from the peppers. You can rub a little olive oil onto each, if you wish. Place the vegetables cut side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Roast for about 25 to 30 minutes, until the skin on the peppers begins to blacken in spots (the eggplant skin will get a wrinkled look to it). Let the peppers cool a bit, then peel off the skin. You can scoop out the eggplant and toss the skin away, along with the pepper skins.
   
Put all ingredients into a food processor or blender and process until still a little chunky, although some make it into a smooth paste. Often used in the Balkans on burgers there called "pljeskavice." For that recipe, here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/07/pljeskavica-serbian-burgers.html

WORD HISTORY: 
Aubergine-There is some slight uncertainty about the history of this word, and its ultimate origin is not known, although a Dravidian language may be the source. ^ It goes back to transliterated Sanskrit "vatigagama," ^^ which meant "eggplant." This gave Persian "badingan/badengan," which was borrowed by Arabic ^^^ as transliterated "al-badinjan," and with the continued meaning "eggplant." Large parts of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) were conquered by the Arabic speaking Moors, from northwestern Africa, and this brought the word to the various languages/dialects of Iberia in sometimes slightly different forms. French borrowed the word as "alberge/albergen(?), "perhaps" from a form in Catalan, which then became "aubergine," and English borrowed the word in the very late 1700s, and it finally overtook the word "eggplant" in England and Britain, although "eggplant" remained as the main word, and still does, in the United States and, I believe, in Canada, although "aubergine" is likely used by French speaking Canadians. I dare say that quite a number of Americans would be at a loss if someone told them, "We just bought a nice aubergine." German, a close relative of English, used "eierpflanze" (egg/eggs plant), before borrowing "aubergine" from French in just the past century, although some southern dialects use "Melanzani," a borrowing from nearby Italian. The idea behind the naming of the produce as "eggplant" comes from the oval shaped white eggplant looking like eggs, and the name carried over to the purple color produce too.   

^ Dravidian is a language family of southern Asia, principally with languages spoken in the south of India. English belongs to the Indo European family of languages, and then the Germanic branch of Indo European.
  
^^ Sanskrit is an ancient language from the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo European; thus, it is related to English, although much further down the family tree. It is still in use to some degree, especially in India.

^^^ Arabic is from the Semitic languages, the most common of which are Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew and Tigrinya. Arabic and Hebrew are commonly known in much of Europe and North America, but Amharic is spoken in a large part of Ethiopia. Tigrinya is also spoken in parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea, another East African nation. 

Spanish Romesco Salsa

This salsa (sauce) is from the region of Catalonia (capital: Barcelona), in northeastern Spain. Besides Spanish, Catalan is the regional language. While Catalan is closely related to Spanish, it is a separate language. Spaniards often use this sauce with fish and seafood, but also with chicken, roasted vegetables or hard boiled eggs.

There are variations to this sauce within Spain, let alone outside of its homeland, with varying degrees of spiciness being one of the major differences.   

Ingredients:

1 cup diced canned tomatoes, drained, or seeded and chopped fresh Roma tomatoes
3/4 cup red peppers, preferably roasted, from a jar is fine, lightly rinsed
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon sweet Spanish paprika (Spanish paprika has a smoky flavor)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
1/4 cup olive oil
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
1 slice toasted Italian white bread, cubed or torn
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

You can use a food processor, blender or a stick blender. Blend all ingredients until smooth, which can take a little time, so be patient.

Very good with large shrimp broiled or baked with olive oil and garlic.

WORD HISTORY: 
Seed-This word goes back to Indo European "se," which meant, "to sow;" (pronounced the same as "so," and not to be confused with the word of the same spelling that rhymes with "how," and means "female swine") that is, "to scatter by throwing." This then produced the Indo European noun, "seti," meaning, "sowing." This gave Old Germanic "sediz," meaning "seed" ("that which is sown"), also the more specific, "sperm." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "sæd," then "sed," which then became "sede," before the modern version. The other Germanic languages have: German "Saat," Low German "Saad" (some Low German dialects, influenced by standard German, now use, "Saat"), Dutch "zaad," West Frisian "sied," Danish and Norwegian "sæd," Icelandic "sæði" (ð=th), Swedish "säd." All mean "seed, sperm," although in Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic and Swedish the emphasis is more on the meaning seed="sperm."