A Bunch of Baloney (Sandwiches), Part Two

The recipes and names I've given for these sandwiches are mainly my own inventions. Mortadella is also called "Italian bologna/baloney" by some.

 

Here is the link to "Part One:" https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2022/07/a-bunch-of-baloney-sandwiches.html

Fried Baloney Plays the Blues:

 

2 slices white or whole wheat bread

2 slices fried baloney

1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons thick blue cheese dressing

1 or 2 lettuce leaves

1 large tomato slice

bread and butter pickle slices

1 or 2 teaspoons oil for frying

Note: If you'd like to make your own blue cheese dressing, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/07/homemade-blue-cheese-dressing.html

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the baloney and brown it on both sides. Remove the meat to one slice of bread, add 1 or 2 lettuce leaves, a large slice of tomato and some bread and butter pickle slices (also called "chips" by some). Add the blue cheese dressing to the other slice of bread and top the sandwich with it.  

The Italian Leaning Tower Mortadella Sandwich 

 

Italian bread rolls

3 or 4 slices of mortadella (folded)

1/2 to 1 teaspoon oil for frying the mortadella

thick Italian dressing

tomato slices

2 provolone cheese slices 

green Italian olives (I use Castelvetrano), halved

chopped fresh basil leaves

 

Fold the mortadella pieces, heat the oil in a large skillet over low heat, lightly brown the meat on both sides, split the rolls, drizzle dressing over one part of roll, put the browned mortadella on the roll, add the provolone slices (I fold them too), add the tomato slices, add the olive halves and basil leaves. Drizzle on a little more Italian dressing before adding the top part of the roll. Easier to eat by cutting into sections (secure sections with toothpicks)  

 

 

 

 The French Riviera Fried Baloney Sandwich

 

sausage roll

2 or 3 slices baloney

1 teaspoon oil for frying the baloney

Niçoise olives, halved

red onion, chopped

lettuce, chopped

tomato, chopped

red bell pepper, cut into thin slices/strips

2 anchovy fillets

4 or 5 teaspoons store bought French or Country French dressing, homemade Country French dressing, 2 teaspoons for bottom roll, 2 or 3 teaspoons for the top roll  

(Note: to make homemade country French dressing, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/07/homemade-creamy-country-french-dressing.html  )

 

Heat the oil over low heat in a large skillet; fry the baloney until lightly browned on both sides. Split the roll, if it isn't already split, and spread 1 or 2 teaspoons of dressing on the bottom part of the roll. Add the baloney slices, then add the chopped red onion, chopped lettuce, chopped tomato, red bell pepper strips and lay the anchovy fillets on top. Add 2 or 3 teaspoons of the dressing to the top portion of the roll to top off the sandwich, which will require a little pressure, but be careful. 

 

 

 

Fried Baloney Breakfast Sandwich

 

2 slices toasted bread

1 or 2 tablespoons mayonnaise 

1 or 2 slices (depending upon thickness) fried baloney

1 fried egg

homes fries 

ketchup 

oil or butter for frying

Add some oil or butter to a skillet and fry the baloney until lightly browned on both sides. Remove the fried baloney to a plate. I used home fried potatoes I had already made and I only needed to heat them briefly. Remove the warmed potatoes to the plate with the baloney. Add more butter or oil (presumably it will be needed), then fry the egg. I leave the yolk runny (see photo below), but you can fry the egg until the yolk is totally cooked. Toast the bread slices, spread some mayonnaise on the bottom slice, add the baloney slices, add a layer of home fries, add some ketchup on top of the potatoes, add the egg (break the yolk and spread it around a bit, or you'll likely have yolk dripping all over you. Top with the other slice of toast.

Barbecuey Fried Baloney

 

2 slices white bread (or whole wheat)

2 or 3 slices baloney

1 teaspoon olive oil (vegetable oil, canola oil)

1 tablespoon butter

2 slices onion (tennis ball or baseball size onion, slices about 1/2 inch in thickness)

2 or 3 tablespoons of your favorite barbecue sauce

Heat oil and butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cut the onion slices from the center of a tennis ball or baseball size onion, then cut the slices in half and separate these into half rings. Add the onion to the skillet and saute until "softening," then add the baloney slices and fry until the meat is lightly browned on both sides, and the onion is softened and browned. Remove the baloney to one slice of bread and add the barbecue sauce to the skillet with the onion and mix it in. Once heated, add the barbecue/onion mixture to the top of the baloney, top with the other bread slice and you're ready to eat. 

 

 

 

Spicy Barbecuey Fried Lebanon Baloney

 

round roll/bun

5 slices regular Lebanon baloney (or 2 or 3 somewhat thicker slices)

1 teaspoon oil (like peanut or vegetable oil)

1 tablespoon butter

2 slices onion, cut into half rings

1 clove garlic, minced

1 chili pepper, chopped

2 tablespoons barbecue sauce

1 or 2 tablespoons coleslaw  

 

Add butter and oil to a large skillet over low heat. Add the meat and fry it for a couple of minutes, turning the slices once or twice (it will shrink). The oil/butter in the skillet will be somewhat darkened. Add the onion half rings and saute them until softened and browned. When the onions are about one minute from being done, add the chopped chili pepper and minced garlic. Add some barbecue sauce to the bottom of the roll/bun, then place the meat on top of that (stack the slices on the round bun/roll), spoon the onion/garlic/chili pepper mixture into the meat, then drizzle on some barbecue sauce and then add the coleslaw followed by the top of the bun/roll. Don't push down too hard, but you'll need to add a little pressure. Have the napkins close by.   

Greek Inspired Fried Baloney Sandwich

 

pita bread

2 or 3 slices of baloney, folded

1 or 2 teaspoons olive oil for frying

2 teaspoons olive oil for sandwich

chopped lettuce 

chopped red onion (raw)

grape tomatoes halved or chopped tomatoes

kalamata olives, whole or halved

little brine from the olives

crumbled feta cheese 

tzatziki*

 

Heat 1 or 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a large skillet over low heat. Lightly brown the folded meat on both sides. Cut the pita bread in half. Add the meat, then add whatever amounts of the various toppings, add a little sprinkle of olive brine, add some crumbled feta and then spoon on some tzatziki. 

 

* Tzatziki is sold in many supermarkets and shops, but to make your own, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/01/greek-tzatziki-turkish-cacik-sauce-dip.html   

 

 

WORD HISTORY: 

Bread-For a word for such an important substance, the origins of "bread" are uncertain, although there are some theories about it. One theory has it originating from Indo European "bhreuh," meaning "to boil;" thus also, "to seethe, to cook, to bubble." This would make it a relative of "brew," a word from the Germanic roots of English. Part of the idea behind the theory is that the yeast makes the dough "bubble." Another theory has "bread" going back to Indo European "bhreg," which meant "to break." The idea here is, some researchers believe the long, long ago in Old Germanic was "small piece of food, a fragment." The idea is that bread is typically broken into pieces when it is served/eaten (we even say "break bread" in English, generally giving the idea of sharing bread together), and it certainly crumbles (breaks) easily when dried. This would make it a relative of "break," a word from the Germanic roots of English. Still another has it coming from Indo European "bhreus," meaning "to crush or break up (into pieces)." This would make it related to "bruise," another word from the Germanic roots of English. There are likely other theories, but the thing is, there has never been a theory strong enough to garner the overwhelming support of researchers.    

 

What is known is, Old English had "bread," although it was not pronounced like the modern word, but rather it had a more prominent 'e' sound (bree) and a less emphasized 'ad' sound. It then did mean "piece of food, morsel, fragment," but also "bread," "perhaps" only in reference to "leavened bread." With bread being so important to human beings, eventually the word came to mean all types of the specific food made from a dough of some type of flour, typically baked, but also sometimes made in a skillet or other pan set onto a heat source. "Bread" gradually became the exclusive word used for this type of food, which by 1200 bumped the original word for this food, which was "loaf" (then spelled "hlaf"), to its meaning of "a mass portion of bread." Whatever the source of the word "bread," it came to English from Old Germanic (it had some various other spellings in the Middle Ages, like "breed" and "bred") and it is widespread in the Germanic languages: German has "Brot," Low German "Broot," West Frisian "brea," Dutch "brood," Danish and Norwegian "brød," Icelandic "brauð" (=brauth), Swedish "bröd."   

3 Cheese Macaroni & Meat Sauce Casserole

 

 I'd say this is "Italian-American," rather than truly "Italian."

 

 

Ingredients:

 

2/3 pound sweet Italian sausage (removed from the casing)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (divided use)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup shredded carrot

1 can (28 ounces) peeled tomatoes, crushed

1 can (14 to 15 ounces) regular tomato sauce

1 teaspoon Gravy Master or Kitchen Bouquet mixed with 1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon dried oregano (crushed in the palm of your hand)

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes 

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup dry macaroni, cooked in lightly salted water

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup shredded fontina

1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano

In a skillet over medium heat, add 2 teaspoons of olive oil and then add the chopped onion and the sausage and keep stirring and breaking up the sausage as it cooks. Cook until the sausage is lightly browned, then add the carrot and garlic and cook for another 90 seconds. Add the crushed tomatoes and bring to a simmer for 3 minutes, stirring a little. Add the tomato sauce, Gravy Master/Kitchen Bouquet and water mixture, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, sugar and salt, stir well to mix. Turn the heat to low (or you'll have sauce spattered all over everything, including your outdoor doormat), and gently simmer the sauce for about 15 minutes, stirring often. If the sauce is too thick, add a little water to thin it out. Meanwhile, cook the macaroni in some lightly salted water until it is almost done. Drain the macaroni and stir it into the sauce. Swirl 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil in a casserole dish, then empty the macaroni mixture into the casserole. Drizzle another 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the top, then distribute the shredded mozzarella over the top, followed by the shredded fontina and finally sprinkle on the grated Pecorino Romano. Put the lid or aluminum foil on the casserole and bake in a preheated 350 F oven for about 40 minutes, then remove the lid and bake at 400 F until the cheese browns lightly.     

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Tone-This word is related to quite a number of words. A few examples: it is really the same word as "tune" (collection of sounds into a song or melody), it is closely related to "tonic," a word borrowed from Greek, it is distantly related to "tendon," a word English borrowed from Latin, which had gotten it from Greek, to the adjective "tense" (also the verb), borrowed from Latin, and to "tense," the noun (used in reference to the time form of a verb, as in, "Do I use the present tense or the past tense in this sentence?"), a word borrowed from French, which had it from Latin, to "tender," the verb, borrowed from French, which had it from Latin, and "tender," the adjective, likewise borrowed from French, which had it from Latin (but from a different Latin word than the verb), and to "thin," a word from the Germanic roots of English. It goes back to Indo European "ten," which meant, "to stretch, to stretch out." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek the verb "teínein," which meant, "to extend, to spread," and this produced the noun "tónos," meaning "rope" (materials wound together and then extended to tie or secure something), which developed the secondary meaning, "tension," from the idea of "taut rope," and further, "accent, voice stress, intonation," from the sound made by various degrees of tension applied to rope or cords when plucked. Latin borrowed this as "tonus," with the same general meanings, but with "particular sound or pitch of something" gaining in prominence, with Latin-based Old French taking the word as "ton." English borrowed the word from French in the mid 1300s, but with influence from Latin, and that influence likely brought about the later spelling with the ending 'e' to signify the 'o' being long. The mid 1600s saw the use for "firm body" begin, and the mid 1700s brought the additional meaning "attitude expressed in spoken (later even in written) words." The idea of high and low pitch in sound came to be used figuratively for shades of color.         

Easy Spicy & Flavorful Spaghetti

Spaghetti sauce doesn't have to have 25 ingredients and cook for 10 hours. Sometimes... simple is more than adequate. This is my own recipe, but Italians have so many pasta sauce recipes, there is certainly a chance that this is a close match to some other recipe, but I use pitted Kalamata or Niçoise olives in brine, where Italians would likely use one of their own types of olive, of which they have several.

Ingredients:

1 pound spaghetti
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large cloves of garlic
1 chili pepper (seeded and chopped) or for more heat, 1 red chili pepper and 1 green chili chopped
8 to 10 pitted Kalamata olives with 1 teaspoon brine (halve the olives)
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 14 to 16 ounce can tomato sauce

Cook the spaghetti per the instructions on the brand you use. Don't let it overcook, but keep it with a little firmness when you bite into it; that is, "al dente," as the term goes. In a large skillet, heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Slice the garlic into pieces and add it to the hot oil (keep the garlic slices big enough that you, your family or your guests can use a fork to move it to the side of the plate if eating garlic directly is not desired). Let it cook for about 30 to 40 seconds (shake the pan a time or two), and then add the chili pepper (I use both red and green hot chilies, and the sauce was not mouth-scorching). (NOTE: If you don't like much heat, just add a little sprinkle of red chili flakes or a pinch of cayenne pepper.) Add the olives and the teaspoon of brine and 1/2 teaspoon of thyme. After about 1 minute, stir in the tomato sauce, and cook until the sauce is hot, about 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the spaghetti. I put it into the skillet and mix it with the sauce. While I'm a lover of grated cheese on pasta (I especially love Pecorino Romano), I don't use cheese on this spaghetti and I've found that I much prefer it that way with this sauce. 

WORD HISTORY:
Duo-This word is related to "two," a native English word from its Germanic roots, whose relationship to "duo" is from Indo European. "Duo" goes back to Indo European "dwoh/dwah/duwo," which meant "two." This gave Latin "duo," which also meant, "two." This continued into Italian as "duo," with the same meaning, and it was borrowed by French as "duo," but with the somewhat altered meaning, "two things together, two items combined." This was borrowed by English, with likely reinforcement from Latin, in the latter part of the 1500s, initially with the meaning, "song for two people, song written for two singers." The meaning expanded to just about any activity done by two people working together.