Pasta alla Gricia: Roman Pasta Specialty

This is a simple dish and one of the common pasta dishes of Roman cuisine. Guanciale (like gwahn-key-ahlay by some, like gwahn-chee-ahlay by others, I've heard both) is cured fatty pork jowl, unsmoked, it is not always easy to find, although if you live near an Italian grocery store or like ordering online, give it a try; otherwise, you can use pancetta (unsmoked, cured Italian pork belly/bacon), which is much easier to find. I don't recommend using regular bacon, because it is smoked, and that will give the dish a very different taste.

 

Ingredients:

 

3/4 pound rigatoni 

2/3 cup chopped guanciale

(optional) 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano 

1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper (to be used in 2 stages)

pasta cooking water, 2 cups, plus a little more, if needed

 

Heat a skillet over medium heat and add the chopped guanciale and immediately turn heat to low (before adding the guanciale or pancetta, you can add like a teaspoon of olive oil, if you feel the need, but I doubt you'll actually need it). Let the fat render from the guanciale by sauteing over low heat for about 12 to 15 minutes, turning or stirring around the guanciale periodically. Remove the guanciale to a plate. Still over low heat, add 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, saute for about 45 to 60 seconds. Heat salted water in a separate pan over high heat and when boiling, add rigatoni. After about 5 minutes, remove pan from heat and take 2 cups of pasta cooking water and add it to the skillet. Turn heat to high to bring water and peppered guanciale fat to a boil. Transfer the pasta to the boiling water in the skillet, stirring often. Reduce heat to medium and cook rigatoni for a total of 6 minutes in the skillet, then return the guanciale to the skillet and mix it in with the pasta and sauce. Add small amounts of remaining pasta water to the skillet, but only if the rigatoni and sauce are too thick. Once the rigatoni is al dente, add half of the Pecorino Romano and mix it in, then add the remaining cheese and combine, along with other 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper.     

 

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Magnum-This word is related to quite a number of words, for example: to "master," a word from Germanic that had been borrowed from Latin, to "magistrate," "magnify" and "mayor," Latin words borrowed by English from Latin-based French (although "magistrate" came with heavy reinforcement from Latin itself), to the prefix "mega-," which is from Greek, and to "maestro," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English from Italian.  "Magnum" goes back to Indo European "meg," which meant "great;" thus also, "big, large." This gave its Old Italic offspring "magnos," with the same meaning, and this gave Latin "magnus," with the same main meanings, but with extended meanings like "strong, mighty, grand." "Magnum" was the neuter form of "magnus," and English borrowed the word as "magnum" in the 1780s, meaning "larger than normal bottle of wine." American gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson had the registered trademark for a powerful handgun in the mid 1930s they called the "Magnum." "Magnum opus" means "great work" and is directly from Latin (seems in the 1790s?).

Pasta Dish From the Rome Area: Bucatini all'Amatriciana

Amatrice is a town in the Italian region of Lazio, the region of Rome, and the town is about 65 to 70 miles northeast of Rome. (Amatrice is pronounced like: ahm-ah-tree-chay) This rustic dish passed into the cuisine of Rome itself, where "seemingly" some Romans added onion and/or dry white wine to the original Amatrice ingredients (note: I don't use onion).

 

Guanciale (like gwahn-key-ahlay by some, like gwahn-chee-ahlay by others, I've heard both) is cured fatty pork jowl, unsmoked, it is not always easy to find, although if you live near an Italian grocery store or like ordering online, give it a try; otherwise, you can use pancetta (unsmoked, cured Italian pork belly/bacon), which is much easier to find. I don't recommend using regular bacon, because it is smoked, and that will give the dish a very different taste. This dish is not supposed to be smoky tasting at all. I like to often mix in some fresh tomatoes with canned tomatoes in a lot of dishes, so I've done that here, too. Bucatini is a spaghetti-type pasta with a hole in the middle. It is sort of like a drinking straw. If you can't find bucatini, you can certainly use spaghetti. The tough part to this recipe is initially cooking the bucatini in the water to a point that it is not quite done, because then it is added to the sauce to briefly cook some more. The best thing to do is to read the cooking instructions on the packaging of the bucatini you use to see the cooking time, but then to stop cooking the bucatini about two minutes before the recommended cooking time and then add the pasta to the recipe. By cooking the pasta in the sauce briefly, it has a chance to take on the flavors of the dish. 

Oh ... THIS IS SO GOOD!

Ingredients:

1 pound bucatini (or spaghetti)

2/3 cup chopped guanciale (or pancetta)

1 small red chili pepper, chopped (or 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes) 

1/4 cup dry white wine

6 or 8 grape tomatoes or 1 fresh roma tomato

1 can (14 to 15 ounces) of peeled whole tomatoes, crushed/squished by hand, with juice

1 small can (8 ounces) tomato sauce (I use the no added salt type)

2/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano

good pinch only of salt

pasta water, if needed

Put 5 or 6 quarts of water with 1 heaping tablespoon of salt in a large pot; stir to mix in the salt. Begin gradually heating the water by putting the heat on medium. You don't want the water to boil too quickly, as you need to get the sauce started first. In a skillet over medium heat, add the chopped guanciale and immediately reduce the heat to low. Slowly render the fat from the guanciale, then add the chili pepper (or chili flakes) and the fresh tomato pieces, saute 2 minutes. (You can now turn the heat to high for the pot of water.) Back to the skillet, turn the heat to medium for the guanciale mixture, add the white wine and then the canned tomatoes and tomato sauce; stir to mix. Bring to a steady simmer, and adjust the heat to maintain that steady simmer for about 6 minutes. Stir in the grated pecorino romano and the pinch of salt. Meanwhile, when the pasta water boils, add the bucatini and cook until the bucatini is not quite tender; I'll say 6 to 7 minutes (this is the tricky part, as generally dried bucatini takes about 8 to 10 minutes to cook, and it will cook a bit longer in the sauce, so you don't want it completely cooked before you add it to the sauce. Check the cooking instructions on the bucatini packaging for cooking time and adjust your cooking time accordingly, if need be.) Remove the bucatini from the water (save some of the pasta cooking water) and add the bucatini to the sauce, mixing it into the sauce; if the sauce is too thick, add some of the pasta water a little at a time until the preferred consistency is reached. When the bucatini is tender, you've got it! You can serve with a little sprinkling of some more pecorino romano, if you'd like. And don't forget the wine!

 

Bucatini all'Amatriciana with a glass of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo ...

WORD HISTORY:

Tenacity (tenacious)-"Tenacity" is related to quite a number of words, including to "tension," "tenant" and "tenure," Latin-derived words borrowed by English from French (with both "tenant" and "tenure" specifically from Anglo-French), to "tendon," a word of Greek origin borrowed by Latin and then borrowed by English from Latin. "Tenacity" goes back to Indo European "ten," which had the notion "to stretch, to extend out, to draw out." This gave Latin "tenere," meaning, "to grasp, to hold," which produced the adjective "tenax," meaning, relating to "holding fast or firmly, clinging persistently, steadfast," which gave Latin the noun "tenacitas," meaning "the act of holding fast, firmly, persistently, steadfastly." This passed to Latin-based Old French as "ténacité" and English borrowed the word in the early part of the 1400s, initially as "tenacite." The adjective "tenacious" was formed in English in the early 1600s from Latin "tenax" (see above), and with the "ious" suffix (meaning, "having the characteristics of, full of, with an abundance of") from French "ous" and "eux," both from Latin "osus," with the same basic meanings as listed for the English form. 

Swiss Potato and Cheese Soufflé: Kartoffel und Käse Auflauf

German "Auflauf" means "casserole," in general, but it can also mean the more specific "soufflé," a type of casserole; and indeed, the dish uses egg whites to be "puffed up." It is often accompanied by watercress or garden cress. There are variations to the general recipe in Germany and Austria, where the potatoes aren't usually mashed, but rather sliced or diced, and other ingredients are often layered in as another type of casserole.

Ingredients:

2 pounds potatoes, peeled and chopped, then cooked in salted water
4 tablespoons flour
4 egg yolks
1 cup Gruyère, shredded
1 cup Pecorino Romano, grated or shredded (the Swiss often use "Sbrinz"*)
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
4 egg whites, whipped to peaks
2 tablespoons butter
oil or butter for the casserole/baking dish

Simmer the potatoes until tender. Drain the potatoes and mash with a potato masher or use a hand mixer. In a bowl, mix together the egg yolks, flour, cheeses, nutmeg, salt, milk. When mixed, add the potatoes to the mixture and mix everything together, then fold in the egg whites. Butter or oil a casserole or baking dish, then add the potato mixture and smooth it out. Flake the 2 tablespoons of butter and top the casserole with the butter flakes. Bake at 325 F for 70 to 90 minutes, until set in the middle.

* "Sbrinz" is a hard cheese produced in central Switzerland from cow's milk. It is frequently used in place of Parmesan or Pecorino Romano by the Swiss, either of which can usually be more easily found in stores outside of Switzerland than Sbrinz. I use Pecorino. 

 

Swiss Potato and Cheese Soufflé with watercress ...

WORD HISTORY:

Wipe-This word is closely related to "whip," a word derived from the same Germanic source as "wipe," but seemingly borrowed by English from Dutch and Low German, and it is more distantly related to "waive" (to forgo legal claim or right to something), a word borrowed from French, which had it from Germanic, and to "vibrate," a Latin word borrowed by English from that language. "Wipe" goes back to Indo European "weip/weyp," which had the notion "to turn, to wind (long 'i'), to rotate, to shake." This gave Old Germanic "wipjan(an)," meaning "to move back and forth quickly," which gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "wipian" meaning "to clean by rubbing with a back and forth or rotating motion." This then became "wipen," before the modern form. "Wipe" and "whip" are so closely related, it can be difficult to separate some other Germanic forms, but here are some relatives in some other Germanic languages: German has "wippen" (to move up and down; thus also, "bob, seesaw"), which was borrowed from Low German in the 1500s, but earlier, German had "wifan,"^ then "wifen," which meant "to move back and forth," but then also, "to rotate, to swing," Low German has "wippen," meaning "to move up and down," Dutch has "wippen" with the same meanings as German, except it also means "whip." 

^ A common difference between Low German, English, Frisian and Dutch versus German has been the change of "p" in those first languages to an "f" or "pf" in German; thus, English has "pipe," but German has "Pfeife," which shows both changes in one word. 

Beets, Kale & Fennel Salad

A great salad!

 

Ingredients:

 

3 roasted beets (tennis ball size), sliced into about 1 inch length and 1/4 inch thickness *

1 1/2 cups fennel, raw, chopped

some fennel fronds 

2 1/2 cups curly or lacinato kale leaves, torn or cut into bite-size pieces, not fine pieces

2 1/2 cups beet greens, torn or cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup pecorino romano shavings

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

homemade blue cheese dressing for serving** 

                               or

homemade ranch dressing***

In a large bowl, add the cut beets, fennel, fennel fronds, kale, beet greens, pecorino romano shavings, ground black pepper and salt; toss to mix everything well (I do it by hand). Serve topped with homemade blue cheese dressing. You can serve the salad with a side dish of extra pecorino romano shavings for those who like more cheese.  

* For oven roasted beets, here is the recipe: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/06/roasted-beets.html 

 

** The recipe for homemade blue cheese dressing:  https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/07/homemade-blue-cheese-dressing.html

 

*** The recipe for homemade ranch dressing:  https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/06/homemade-ranch-dressing.html

 

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Balm (Balsam)-"Balm" goes back to transliterated Hebrew "basam," which meant "spice, pleasant smell." Greek borrowed the word as "balsamon" meaning "the Arabian balsam tree, or the oil of this tree," which was used for perfume, and Latin borrowed this as "balsamum," with the same meanings. Old French rendered the word as "basme," and English borrowed that form circa 1200, but also "baume," a form from Anglo-Norman, also spelled "bawm/bawme" in English, and this later became "balm" (1500s?) in imitation of the Latin spelling with "l". The meaning also moved from "perfume," seemingly to a parallel meaning, "annointing oil used to soothe," to "oily substance used to treat pain or wounds;" thus also "any person or anything that soothes someone's emotional pain." The word "balsam" is from the Latin "balsamum," mentioned above, and indeed, it was used in that form by English more than a thousand years ago for "soothing oil of some plants," and later it was also used for "the resin of these plants," which was chewed. By about the mid 1500s, the word was whittled down to "balsam," where it has remained ever since, but the meaning for the resin died out, but the "soothing oil" meaning expanded to many types of "ointment used to soothe wounds, injuries or certain inflammatory conditions;" thus it is really synonymous with "balm."    

Creamy Brazilian Cornmeal Cake: Bolo de Fubá

Brazil is the largest Portuguese speaking country or region in the world. The basic recipe for this cake was given to me by my friend Gustavo of Brazil, whom you can just call "G." Over the years I have helped him with his language, which has left him as one of the few people to speak "Klingon." The problem is, I was helping him with English! Hahahaha  The Brazilian name for the cake is "Bolo de Fubá," in Portuguese, and it is common throughout Brazil, although with many recipe variations, some of which do not include cheese. Those without cheese are very much like American cornbread, although the Brazilian form tends to have more liquid and more sweetener (some use sweetened condensed milk). I read some articles about the cake, including one from a Brazilian cookbook I have, and most note that this cake is often served at breakfast or later in the day, on both occasions with a cup or two of coffee. I also found different pans/dishes used for the cake, and I chose a round pie/cake dish (10 inches x 2 inches), and G uses a round cake pan (Hm, I wonder what 'cake pan' is in Klingon?). I used Pecorino Romano cheese, although Parmesan cheese is traditional. G used a blender/food processor to mix his cake batter, but I just used a hand mixer. The thing is, the batter will be runny, but that is okay; it's supposed to be that way. When poured into the baking pan and put into the oven, the milk and the melting cheese will form a layer of creaminess on the cake (see top 2 photos, below). You do need to keep track of the time or set a timer for this cake, as you can't insert a toothpick to see if it's done, because of the creamy layer. Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake the cake for about 50 to 55 minutes. Since this was the first time I made this cake, I baked it 55 minutes, although slightly less would likely have been fine. The top should be nice and golden brown (see photos, below). I would have just put G's recipe here, but I figured none of you know Klingon. Hahaha  Actually, his English is very good, no thanks to me! But if anybody wants to pretend to learn English while actually learning Klingon, I'm your guy! 

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1/4 cup butter
2 1/2 cups of milk
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 cup of yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (I LOVE Pecorino Romano)
1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder

In a blender or a bowl, add all the ingredients (except the baking powder). Mix in the blender or use a hand mixer to mix the ingredients together very well. Add the baking powder and mix it in with a spoon. The batter will have a pretty liquid consistency. Preheat your oven to 350 F and let your cake bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the cake has a "golden" surface. Let the cake cool down about 30 minutes before slicing.

WORD HISTORY:
Jaguar-This word for "a large cat of prey of the Americas, especially in parts of South America." It goes back to Tupi, also called Tupian, a language family of some of the indigenous peoples of South America, particularly in Brazil. The early 1500s saw the Portuguese colonize Brazil and they took the transliterated Tupi word "yaguara/jaguara," which seemingly meant "a large meat eating animal," and therefore also used for the big cat, which was rendered as "jaguar" in Portuguese (also as yaguareté and jaguareté). English borrowed the word from Portuguese as "jaguar" around 1600. It was used as the name for a British automotive company and their line of luxury and sports cars beginning in 1935, later often shortened by the public to the trendy sounding "Jag."    

Zucchini Fritters/Patties

Summertime means zucchini comes to market, or from your garden. A good way to serve these patties is with horseradish sauce ( http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/08/horseradish-sauce.html ), or with some tzatziki sauce (link to the recipe: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/01/greek-tzatziki-turkish-cacik-sauce-dip.html ). 

Ingredients:

Zucchini Patties/Fritters (5 to 6 servings):

2 medium zucchinis, shredded + 1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/3 cup Pecorino Romano cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup flour
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme 
oil for frying 

Put the shredded zucchini into a sieve, add the salt, mix it around a bit, and put the sieve over a bowl to let the liquid drain for about about 20 to 30 minutes. Give the zucchini a squeeze to remove excess liquid before adding the other ingredients. Mix well. I use about 2 to 3 tablespoons of regular olive oil in a nonstick skillet to fix four fritters, then I use fresh oil to fix the next batch. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry the patties until nicely browned on both sides.

WORD HISTORY:
Fritter-This word, closely related to "fry," a Latin derived word borrowed by English from French, goes back to Indo European "bher/pher," which "seems" to have had the notion of "fire, heat;" thus also, "cook or roast." This gave Latin "frigere," meaning, "to fry, to roast," two forms of cooking for which we now have separate terms. "Frigere" gave Latin the noun "frictura," which meant, "a frying, the process of frying." This passed into Latin-based Old French as "friture," and meant, "a pancake, a fried food product." English borrowed the word in the late 1300s as "fritter," for a "pancake or patty that is fried." It is also related to Italian "frittata," which is a type of omelette. The verb "fritter," meaning, "to waste something, usually time or money, little by little," is "likely" from a different source. I hope to do its history in the near future.

Breaded Asparagus With Tartar Sauce

This is great as an appetizer or just as a snack. Asparagus is a common vegetable in the German speaking regions of Europe, where this dish is usually called, "Gebackener Spargel." 

1 pound asparagus
1/3 cup flour
2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup breadcrumbs (Panko style, if you like really crunchy)
1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese 
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika 
1/2 teaspoon salt (the cheese will have plenty of salt)

Tartar Sauce*

Cut or break off the tough ends of the asparagus stalks. Put the flour on a plate, mix in the pepper and salt. In a shallow dish, beat the eggs. On another plate, mix the breadcrumbs, the Pecorino Romano and the paprika. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Heat the oven to 400 F. Rinse the asparagus and leave the stalks a bit damp. Roll each piece of asparagus in the seasoned flour. Then dip each piece into the beaten egg and then roll them in the breadcrumbs. Place the breaded asparagus spears on the baking sheet and bake for about 15 to 17 minutes. Serve the asparagus with tartar sauce.

* This is the link to my recipe for homemade tartar sauce: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/09/homemade-tartar-sauce.html

WORD HISTORY: 
Asparagus-This word for the plant used as a vegetable goes back to Indo European "speregh," which had the notion, "move or hasten upwards." It is related to "spring" (move upward). This gave Greek "aspáragos" for the name of the plant, from the idea, "shoots of the plant moving upward so prominently from the ground." This was borrowed by Latin as "asparagus," but often rendered also in the clipped form, "sparagus." This was borrowed into the latter period of Old English as "sparage," which then became "sparagi." Close English relative, German, also borrowed the clipped form, which has carried into modern times as "Spargel." The English form was altered to "asparagus" from the proper Latin form in the second half of the 1300s.

Pasta With Cheese and Pepper (Cacio e Pepe)

Excellent in its taste and in its simplicity. This is an Italian dish, most especially associated with Rome. The dish is meant to have a spicy taste from the black pepper; so if you like spiciness, you can add even more pepper. 

Ingredients:

6 quarts water, with 2 tablespoons salt
1 pound spaghetti
1/4 cup Pecorino Romano + extra for sprinkling on top
1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano
5 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup freshly and coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 cup hot pasta cooking water (you may not need to use all of it) 

Heat water to boiling with the salt added. Cook spaghetti about 8 or 9 minutes, making sure it is not too soft or mushy. In a skillet or pan over low heat, add the pepper, the olive oil and the butter. Let butter melt, stirring to mix the ingredients. Drain the spaghetti, but keep 1/2 cup of the hot cooking water. Add the cheeses to the warm oil/butter/pepper mixture. Stir well, then add one half of the hot pasta water, stirring further to mix well. Add the pasta to the skillet and stir to coat the pasta, adding tablespoons of hot pasta water to thin the cheese and pepper sauce, if needed. Sprinkle some cheese on top of each serving.  

The spaghetti and a glass of hard apple cider.* Hey, you Italians drink what you want, and I'll drink what I want, and I don't give a damn what Mussolini said; in fact, since he said it in Italian, I don't know what the hell he said anyway. And once I drink that big glass of hard cider, even if you translate, I still won't care! Just joking ... I don't want to find a horse's head in my bed... What's that? I won't find a horse's head, but I might find a horse's behind, if I look in the mirror? ... I don't get it, I don't even have a mirror in bed. 

* For those learning English, and for those unaware, in this case, the use of the word "hard" means it has an alcohol content, usually a fairly good percentage. In the U.S., while today, with high alcohol content beers produced by many craft breweries, in the past, beer was "seen" as being relatively low alcohol, as contrasted to what were then often referred to as "hard liquors;" that is, alcoholic beverages like various types of whiskey, with much higher alcohol content. 

WORD HISTORY:
Am-This word is part of a large and complex group of words connected into use with the composite verb "to be." ^ It goes back to Indo European "esme," which had the meaning "I exist;" thus, "I am." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "imi," with the same meaning. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "eom," which meant, "to be (in existence)." This then became "em," before then modern form. In the English of old(e), English speakers said, "ic beo" (I am). Why exactly "am" prevailed over the direct form of "be" ("beo"), I don't know, but "perhaps" it was by influence by Old Norse, which used "emi," which became "em" (am). Old Norse is another Germanic language, but from the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages; whereas, English is from the West Germanic branch. Old Norse came to England with Old Norse speakers collectively called "Danes" by the English in those times. Gothic, another Germanic language, which died out, is from the East Germanic branch of Germanic, had "im" (am). There are forms in some other non Germanic Indo European languages too.

^ I say "composite," because the component parts of  "to be" actually come from forms of more than one old verb; thus, its highly irregular conjugation. It is a verb of the utmost importance, as I can't imagine the language being able to function without its various forms.

Salmon With Parsley, Dill & Pecorino Romano

Ingredients:

1 lb. salmon filet
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons parsley
2 tablespoons dill
3 tablespoons Pecorino Romano, grated*

Coat the salmon with the oil and lemon juice mixed together, let sit while the oven heats to 400 F. Place the salmon on a baking sheet lined with foil. Mix the garlic, parsley and dill together and spread the mixture over the fish. Cover "lightly" with foil or parchment paper. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove foil/parchment paper, but keep for further use in a few minutes. Sprinkle top of salmon with grated Pecorino Romano. Return fish to oven, uncovered. Bake another 8 or 10 minutes. Remove salmon, cover with retained parchment paper, but more tightly. Wait about 10 to 12 minutes before removing the covering and cutting the fish into serving sizes. You do not need to add salt to this dish, as the cheese will supply enough salt.

* If you want your cheese to brown somewhat, and you grate your own Pecorino Romano cheese, make sure it is not too soft, because the retained moisture in the cheese will not be conducive to easy browning. Pecorino Romano is a sheep's milk cheese made in Italy, but pretty easily found in other countries, including in the U.S. Cheese in the U.S. simply called "Romano" is almost always made from cow's milk, but you can use it, or even the already grated type of Romano you buy in the shaker containers. Oh boy, the "cheese police" will be after me now. 

I served the salmon with home fried potatoes

WORD HISTORY:
Filet/Fillet/File-This word, related to "file:" that is, "file" with the meaning relating to "documents,"^ goes back to Indo European "gwislho," which carried the notion, "vein, sinew." This gave Latin "filum," meaning "cord, thread, wick." This gave Old French, a Latin-based language, "fil," meaning, "thread, string" (also a verb form, "filer," meaning "to arrange documents on a thread/string"). English borrowed the word circa 1450. From Old French "fil" also came "filet," which meant, "small piece of cord or string;" thus also, "band of string to tie the hair back, headband." And this was borrowed into English in the 1300s, and later still, the idea of tying meat and fish with string seems to have transferred the meaning to "cuts of meat and fish, especially deboned."     


^ Files were once documents put into some order on rope or string; thus, the connection to "fillet/filet."