Crab Louie

"Crab Louie" is a salad that "seems" to be from the early 20th Century, perhaps in San Francisco, or at least first really established there, even if it came there from elsewhere. The dressing is similar to "Thousand Island Dressing,"* although not exactly the same, and this dressing has a little kick, but the hot sauce or cayenne pepper won't fry your tongue, it just adds some "zip." of course, if you like really spicy hot food, go for it, and add more hot sauce or cayenne pepper. You can certainly use Thousand Island and add a little hot sauce or cayenne pepper to it, but this actual dressing is not hard to make. 

As I've gotten older, I'm more sensitive to sour flavors, so I tend to add sweeteners to some foods now, and I do that for the dressing in this dish. I listed honey as "optional" for the dressing, but I made a big spread in the amount from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon, but some folks may not prefer any honey. 

 

Ingredients (4 servings):

 

12 to 16 ounces lump crab meat or imitation chunk crab meat

4 to 8 romaine lettuce leaves (I prefer a couple of leaves, myself)

4 roma tomatoes, cut into quarter wedges

8 asparagus spears

16 olives, whole or halved

8 green onions (scallions)

4 hard boiled eggs, cut into wedges

 

For the dressing:

 

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup chili sauce

1/2 teaspoon chili powder (I use ancho chili powder)

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon hot sauce or ground cayenne pepper (or other ground red pepper)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 heaping tablespoon sweet pickles (or gherkins or sweet relish), finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground black or white pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt  

(optional) 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon honey

 

In a bowl, mix all of the dressing ingredients together. Cook the asparagus in salted water for 3 to 3 1/2 minutes, drain, let cool. In a glass bowl or glass cup (I actually use one of my glass measuring cups), add all of the ingredients, except the honey, if using. Mix everything together well, then give it a little taste to see if you want to add any honey; if yes, I suggest starting with just one teaspoon, mixing it in, then tasting the dressing again to see if it needs more honey. Use the same procedure until you get to the taste level you prefer. You can arrange the component salad parts into separate segments (as I have for the photos below), or you can mix them in together. Each serving gets: 3 to 4 ounces of crab/imitation crab, 1 or 2 romaine lettuce leaves, 1 quartered Roma tomato (or chopped, if you'd prefer), 2 asparagus spears (can be cut into pieces; I left them whole for the photos below), 4 olives (can be halved, if you'd like), 2 green onion, cleaned and trimmed (can also be cut into pieces, if you'd prefer), 1 quartered hard-boiled egg; some dressing on the crab or in a separate ramekin. 

 

* Thousand Island Dressing is easy to make at home, here is the link to the recipe: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/04/homemade-thousand-island-dressing.html

 

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Ape-The origin of this word is unknown, and there is naturally a good possibility that the word is from some language where monkeys and apes were common animals. What is known is, Old Germanic "apo" was used as a general word for non-human primates of any size. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "apa," with the same meaning, and it wasn't until circa 1600 that the meaning came to be used for the larger primates, as by that time English had borrowed the word "monkey," which was then used for smaller primates. The spelling "ape" had taken place a few hundred years before that time. The other Germanic languages have forms all meaning "ape, monkey": German "Affe." ^ Low German Saxon, Dutch and West Frisian  "aap," Danish "abe," Icelandic "api," Swedish "apa," Norwegian "ape" (pronounced "ah-pa").

 

^ The high dialects of German often experienced a sound shift of "p" to "f," or sometimes to "pf;" thus English has "pipe," but standard German has "Pfeife" (pronounced like "pfeye-fah"), English "ship," but German "Schiff," English "sleep" (noun), but German "Schlaf." 

Asparagus Salad: Spargelsalat

White asparagus is common in German cultural areas in Europe, but they do also use green asparagus, and "Asparagus Salad," known as "Spargelsalat" in German, is pretty common, but in various forms. Myself, I prefer green asparagus. Watercress was once pretty readily available in many parts of the U.S., but it is not always as easily found nowadays, depending upon your location. You can substitute arugula. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, I knew a couple of guys who LOVED watercress seasoned with a little salt. The one guy was a cousin of mine and the other was a neighbor, and he would sit on his front porch eating salted watercress from a bowl, drinking beer and often listening to a baseball game on radio.   

Ingredients (4 servings):

12 to 15 asparagus stalks, remove the tough bottom parts of the stalks
1/2 cup watercress or arugula
1 medium tomato, chopped
3 radishes, thinly sliced 
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil + 2 tablespoons
3 to 4 tablespoons honey, to desired sweetness
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt (divided use)
2 slices pumpernickel bread, cut into crouton size pieces

Rinse the asparagus well, cut off the tough bottom parts of the stalks, then cut the asparagus into about 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces. Cook the asparagus in water seasoned with 1/2 teaspoon salt until the asparagus reaches the desired tenderness, which should be with a little crunch/crispness to it; you don't want it mushy. Drain the asparagus and let it cool, and in the meantime, in a skillet, saute the bread pieces in 2 tablespoons olive oil until a gets a little crispness. To a bowl, add the asparagus, chopped tomato, radish slices, and watercress/arugula. In a cup, mix together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and honey. Pour the balsamic dressing over the salad mixture, tossing to coat the salad. Let the salad sit for a few minutes, then season with 1/2 teaspoon each of black pepper and salt. Add some of the pumpernickel croutons to the top of each serving.  

WORD HISTORY:
Cress-This word for various, but similar, plants of the mustard plant family, is distantly related to "gastro," a word derived from Greek, and to "gastric," a word borrowed from Latin, which had derived it from Greek. It goes back to Indo European "gras/gres," which meant, "to eat, to devour." This gave Old Germanic "krasjon," which seems to have meant, "edible (plant)." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "cærse" (the 'r' and the vowel sound were transposed, see some forms in other Germanic languages below), and then "cresse" (which took the word back to the 'r' plus vowel sound).^ As the pronunciation of the ending 'e' disappeared, the spelling became modern "cress." The development of the Indo European form into a meaning for a plant was something that purely happened in Germanic, although some Latin-based languages borrowed forms from Germanic; for example, French "cresson." Relatives in the Germanic languages: German has "Kresse," Low German Saxon "Kars," Dutch "kers," Danish and Norwegian "carse," Swedish "krasse," Icelandic "karsi." 

^ The ending 'e' was pronounced "eh/ah," making some spellings "cressa."         

Alsatian/German Flatbread: Flammkuchen

"Flammkuchen," literally "Flame Cake," but actually more of a tart, got its name long ago from being put into wood burning ovens while the flames were still burning and the oven was extremely hot. This added browned or even blackened spots to the topping, and the "Flammkuchen" baked very quickly. As the flames died down and the temperature dropped a bit, loaves of bread were then baked, as the bakers naturally didn't want the bread to be burned. One of my German ancestors was a baker in the city of Siegen in the 1500s (in modern times, Siegen is in the German state of "North Rhine-Westphalia"). "Flammkuchen" was developed in Alsace (see "Word History" below), but it is also a part of various regional cuisines of southwestern Germany, like in parts of Baden and Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate),* and in a few others, including I believe, in parts of Switzerland. As with many German dishes, there are several dialect names and spelling variations; for instance, "Flammenkuchen," and in its home region it is called "Flammekueche," in Alsatian German dialect ("Elsässisch"). While toppings certainly vary, "traditional Flammkuchen" uses onion and bacon. Some people make the dough using yeast, like for a bread or pizza dough, while others use no leavening agent at all, making the dough "similar" to a pie dough. They actually sell already made "Flammkuchen" dough in packages in parts of Germany and Alsace (maybe in parts of Switzerland? Austria?).   

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup flour (a little more if needed)
2 tablespoons oil (I use regular olive oil)
1/3 to 1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 ounces smoked salmon, thinly sliced, then torn into pieces
8 to 10 stalks of asparagus, tough bottom section removed, then cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces
1/2 cup creme fraiche ** (or sour cream)
1/4 cup dry cottage cheese or Quark/Topfen***
2 to 3 tablespoons dill, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 

Add the flour to a bowl. Make a trough in the middle of the flour and add the oil, salt and 1/4 cup of water to the trough, reserving the remainder of the water. Begin mixing the ingredients into a dough, gradually adding water as you mix. I've found 1/3 cup of water to be good, but you might need a little more, or even a little less. "Need" the dough.... ah, "knead" the dough (I wish we still pronounced the "k" in such words) until the dough is smooth and not sticky. Wrap it in plastic wrap, or cover it in a bowl (it is not going to rise, as there is no yeast in it, but you don't want it to dry out) and let the dough rest as you get the topping ready. Put the asparagus pieces into a pan with water and cook them for just a few minutes. The asparagus should be tender when pierced with a knife or a fork, but still remain firm. Drain and dry the asparagus (I put it onto paper towels). Mix the creme fraiche and the dry cottage cheese together. Use a baking sheet: I use an 18 inch by 12 inch baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and remember, the Flammkuchen doesn't have to perfectly cover the entire baking sheet, nor does it have to be a perfect rectangle. Roll out the dough thinly, then get it onto the baking sheet. Spread the creme fraiche/dry cottage cheese mixture in a thin layer over the dough. Place and press into the creamy topping the pieces of asparagus and smoked salmon. Sprinkle on the black pepper and the finely chopped dill as evenly as possible. Heat the oven to 450 F and bake the Flammkuchen for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the bottom is firm. If the top is not browned in places, you can place the Flammkuchen under the broiler (about 10 inches from the broiler) for a brief time, with your undivided attention, as this is not "Holzkohlenkuchen" (charcoal cake). 

* Baden was long a separate German state, but in the early 1950s it became part of the state of "Baden-Württemberg." It's good to remember, that over the centuries, the boundaries of the various German states often changed, as "Prince So and So," married "Duchess What's Her Name," and lands were combined from such marriages. Of course too, boundary changes from wars also played a big part. Generally speaking, some well known cities in the Baden region are Heidelberg (I have been there), Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden (that's right, that's right).

** "Creme fraiche" is easily made at home, but it has a ton of ingredients: heavy cream and buttermilk. (Damn, that IS a ton of ingredients! hahaha). You can also buy it ready made, or you can use sour cream, including the reduced fat type, if you'd like. For the recipe: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/07/make-your-own-creme-fraiche.html  

*** "Quark" is a soft white cheese VERY common in German areas in Europe. In Austria and some parts of Bavaria it is commonly called "Topfen." It is "similar to," but not the same as, American cream cheese, and it is "similar to," but not the same as cottage cheese. I've seen some German recipes in the U.S. call for "drained cottage cheese put through a sieve," as a substitute for Quark, but years ago, German immigrant friends of mine said that procedure doesn't make it the same. Look, you're not going to win these kinds of arguments outright, so I use "dry cottage cheese," and unless you have an unusually sensitive palate, you won't have missed a thing by not using Quark. If you have your heart set on Quark, you'll likely find it in German shops or in some cheese shops. I use dry cottage cheese and I haven't turned into a pillar of salt, although I must admit, to make a brine, I just stick my hand in some water, and it works fine. Hmm...  

WORD HISTORY: 
Alsace-This name developed centuries ago (I've seen the 700s and 800s mentioned) in Old High German, the ancestor of modern standard German, and a close relative of Old English. It is a compound, with its component parts related to English "else" and "sit," both words from the Germanic roots of English. Old High German had "ali sazzo," which literally meant, "sitter on the other," with "the other" meaning, "the other side of the Rhine." "Ali" goes back to Indo European "aljaz," which had the notion, "from/of the other, another;" further, "beyond a given point;" thus, "other side." This gave Old High German "elles," meaning, "other, otherwise," which then produced "ali" (mentioned above). "Sasso" goes back to Indo European "sed," which meant, "to sit." This gave Old Germanic "sitjanan," also meaning, "to sit," which then produced the verb "sizzen," also meaning "to sit," and then the derived Old High German noun "sasso," meaning, "sitter;" thus, "dweller, one who sits, dwells."^ Combined, the parts gave German "Elisasz," which then became modern "Elsass." Latin borrowed the German term in the Middle Ages as "Alsatia," and English borrowed the word from Latin. Historical note: The history of Alsace is very complex, but as the Roman Empire declined, the entire region (not just modern Alsace) was taken by the Germanic tribe the Alemanni. To this day, the German dialect in Alsace and the overall region traces back to the Alemanni. The Franks, another powerful Germanic tribe, took over the area, and it became part of the Holy Roman Empire, which was not Roman, but German (German "Reich" #1), where it remained until the 1600s, when it was conquered (sort of incrementally), by France. When German Prussia and other German states defeated France in 1870-71, this brought the declaration of the founding of the German Empire #2, and it included about 90% of what had been Alsace. After World War One, France got Alsace, which was then taken by Germany in 1940, under Hitler and German Empire #3. The end of that war saw Alsace go back to France, where it remains to the present (and if you followed all of that). It continues with a mixed Franco-German culture.      

^ As with English "he sits" (present tense) and "he sat" (past tense), German has "er sitzt" and "er saß" (="sass"). Another German word from the same source is the noun "Gesäß" (kind of literally, "seat"), meaning, "butt, rear end, backside, behind," or "bum," more common in England and other parts of Britain. My guess is, many Americans would not know what that word means.        

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.