Sicilian Pesto Bruschetta

What many people likely think of as pesto is green and it originated in Genoa (Italian: Genova) in northwestern Italy; thus, it is called "pesto alla genovese." The pesto for this bruschetta is called "pesto alla trapanese;" that is, pesto of Trapani, a city in western Sicily, where it is often used as the sauce for a twisted style of pasta called "busiate." Bruschetta is made with whole slices of bread grilled or otherwise toasted, that is immediately rubbed with garlic and brushed with olive oil, then often sprinkled with salt or topped with other items, like with this pesto, and it is served while still warm. Bruschetta's little sister is crostini, made from smaller slices of bread, that are then grilled or toasted and given various toppings. Baguettes or similar are often used for crostini, as they are of a smaller diameter than regular loaves of bread. 

 

Ingredients:

 

For the Pesto:

 

1/2 cup skinless almonds, toasted lightly

1/2 cup Roma tomatoes, blanched, peeled, cored and chopped

1 cup grape tomatoes, skin on, rinsed and drained, then dried on paper towels 

1 loosely packed cup fresh basil (about 20 to 25 leaves)

12 to 15 fresh mint leaves

4 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes or 1 small whole red chili pepper

1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese (this is a sheep's milk cheese)

1/2 teaspoon salt (or more, but remember, the cheese is salty) 

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (more if you want a thinner pesto)

Toast almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat until some light browning starts to show. To a blender or a food processor, add the almonds and processor for just a few seconds to get started, then add the Roma tomatoes and the grape tomatoes, garlic, basil, mint, red pepper flakes or chili pepper, salt, and process for about 20 seconds, then drizzle in the olive oil while processing slowly until the pesto is combined (continue until smooth, if you like it that way, or stop when it retains some chunkiness). Empty into a bowl or jar and stir in the Pecorino Romano by hand. 

 

For the Bruschetta

 

bread or rolls (sliced)

garlic

extra virgin olive oil

 

Toast the bread or sliced rolls, rub with garlic and add some extra virgin olive oil, then spread on some of the "pesto alla trapanese," top with some tomato slices and olives, serve immediately while still a little warm.

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Pesto-This word is related to "pestle" and to "pistil," words of Latin derivation borrowed by English via French. "Pesto" goes back to Indo European "peis," which meant, "to crush." This gave Latin "pinsere," meaning, "to beat, to pound, to stamp, to crush." This then became "pistare," meaning "to crush, to pound," which then became "pestare." The noun "pesto" comes from either a short form (or common spoken form? or dialect?) of the past participle of "pestare," which is "pestato,"^ or from the first person singular form which is "pesto;" thus, "I crush" or "I crush (by pounding)." English borrowed the word in the late 1930s from Italian.

^ This would make the literal meaning of the noun, "that which has been crushed."

Gnocchi With Herbs & Tomato Sauce

Ready made gnocchi are generally available in supermarkets and in any Italian grocery store. Here in the Cleveland area, gnocchi are available from "Ohio City Pasta," which has a stand at the "West Side Market," located on W. 25th Street in Cleveland, and their products are also available in some supermarkets. You can also use penne pasta for this. 

Ingredients:

1 pound potato gnocchi
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can (28 ounce) crushed tomatoes, or diced tomatoes in juice
1/2 chili pepper, finely chopped
2 teaspoons rosemary 
1 tablespoon sage
1/2 pound Gorgonzola cheese cut into pea-sized pieces*
3 tablespoons heavy cream, half and half or canned milk 
fresh basil, chopped (garnish)

Heat the oil in a skillet or a sauce pan over low heat. Add the onion and saute for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic, rosemary, sage and chili pepper. Saute until the onion and garlic are just softened. Add the tomatoes and let the sauce gently cook over low heat until it thickens from reduction.** Now add the cream or milk and stir to mix. Meanwhile, cook the gnocchi in some salted simmering water, drain it, add it the sauce and gently mix it into the sauce. Top with the small bits of Gorgonzola, which will melt somewhat. Sprinkle some fresh chopped basil leaves over the gnocchi.      

* Gorgonzola is an Italian blue cheese, which is sold as "dulce;" that is, sweet and creamy, or as "piccante," which is sharper in taste and firmer in texture, as it is aged longer. I tend to like stronger flavors, so I use piccante. 

** Use a splatter screen to keep from having tomato sauce all over your stove, your walls, your floor, your ceiling, and maybe even your front porch. I swear, cooking tomato sauce is messy, but the screen allows the sauce to properly reduce, while containing the bubbling sauce. 

WORD HISTORY:
Gnocchi-This word is the plural of Italian "gnocco," which is a type of small dumpling. It is related to a number of words from Germanic including, "knuckle," "gnarl," "knoll," "knurl," "knock," "knot." Old Germanic had variant forms that produced the words I've listed above.^ Lombardic, a Germanic dialect/language of the Germanic Lombards who settled in northern Italy (the region of Lombardia/Lombardy is named for them), had "knocha," which meant, "bone, joint, bump," which was borrowed by Latin/early Italian and became Italian "nocchio," meaning, "a bump on a tree;" thus, "a knot on a tree." From this came Italian "gnocco" ("a bump, a lump"), which was then used for the small lump of dough used for dumplings. German has dialectal "Nock," meaning, "a small hill," which then came to be used in parts of Bavaria and Austria for a type of "flour dumpling," with its more common diminutive form, "Nockerl," literally meaning, "little dumpling."     

^ There is a theory that these words all go back to an Indo European form of, "gn/kn/gen/ken," which had the notion of "press, pinch into a compressed form or a ball." 

Tomato Tart

I think you'll love this wonderful tomato tart. You can serve it warm or cold. You can certainly make your own pie dough, but store bought pie dough is fine. When I went to buy the pie dough, they were out of the pie dough you find in the refrigerated case, but they had frozen 9 inch deep dish pie shells in aluminum pans, so that's what I used for this article. I've made this before with the refrigerated pie dough in my own pie dishes. Naturally, you may have to adjust the amount of the ingredients somewhat, depending upon the size pie dish/pan you use. While this is my own recipe, I must credit certain aspects of it to Clarissa Dickson Wright, an English food author and cook, who partnered with Jennifer Paterson for the BBC produced television cooking series, "Two Fat Ladies," from the late 1990s.* 

Ingredients (approximate amounts for one 9 inch deep dish tart):

pie dough/pre-made pie shell, or your own pie dough, if you're feeling ambitious
3 large tomatoes seeded, with any tough core removed, and then cut into 1/3 to 1/2 inch slices
1 cup onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
4 tablespoons tomato sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup basil, finely chopped
1/3 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream 
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup mix of pitted black and green olives
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2/3 teaspoon salt

Heat the oven to 400 F. Bake the pie shell until it begins to brown (or follow the instructions on the pie crust package), then remove it from the oven, but keep the oven hot. Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, saute for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the garlic and cook until both the onion and garlic soften. Add the tomato sauce and stir to mix; cook until the sauce is thickened. Add the mixture to the bottom of the browned pie crust to form a base. Top the base with the tomato slices (you needn't use either end of the tomatoes). In a measuring cup, pour in 1 cup heavy cream, then add the beaten eggs, mix very well, then mix in the basil. Pour the mixture over the tomato slices in the pie shell. Add the chopped Cheddar and the olives to the top; season with salt and pepper. Bake the tart until the edges are golden brown and the custard is set (see Word History, below). Generally, the time can vary from anywhere from about 45 minutes to an hour. If you plan to serve it warm, let the tart cool a bit before slicing. If you plan to serve it cold, let it cool considerably before putting it into the refrigerator.
   

* For more about the television series, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/11/two-fat-ladies-were-delight.html

Always one to give truth to the saying, "No one's perfect," when I took the tart out of the oven, I broke a small piece of the crust off. Hey, no one's perfect.

WORD HISTORY:
Custard-This word is related to "crust," a word borrowed by English from Latin. It goes back to Indo European "krus/kreus," which had the notion, "to form a crust, to begin to solidify, harden or freeze." This gave Latin "crusta" which meant, "crust, tree bark, scab, shell." This gave Old French "crouste" (crust), which produced Provençal "cro(u)stado," which meant, "a pie, a tart (food prepared with a crust as a covering)," which was taken by French as "croustade," and it was borrowed by English in the second half of the 1300s, initially as "crustade," but within a century the word had become "custard," but exactly why the spelling changed is unclear, although the change in positions of a vowel and "r," called metathesis, has happened, as in "bird," which once was "brid." Not only did the spelling change, but the meaning also changed, circa 1600; perhaps (?) from the use of boiled or baked tart fillings of milk or cream and eggs, and usually flavored and/or sweetened, the meaning it still has today.      

Veggie Fritters with Basil Cream

I found making these fritters with adobo seasoning gives them a little more flavor, rather than just using plain salt. These are very easy to make, but you want to be sure to grate or very finely chop the vegetables so that they will cook relatively quickly. You also may find you want a "little more" flour (either whole wheat or all purpose), but I would add it just a tablespoon at a time. You can always make one fritter and fry it to see how the texture is, before proceeding with the rest of the fritters. Myself, I don't like the fritters if they have too much flour; just a coating of flour mixture on the vegetables is sufficient for me. Of course, you may like the fritters to be more like vegetable pancakes. Rather than just using sour cream with the fritters, the basil cream adds a nice touch with its mild basil taste.   

Ingredients (approx. 8 fritters):

1/2 cup grated zucchini
1/4 cup grated yellow squash
1/4 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup kale, thinly sliced
1/3 cup grated or finely chopped red onion (or white onion)
2 teaspoons marjoram (or oregano)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons adobo seasoning* (for those controlling salt intake, this is about 1 teaspoon of salt)
oil for frying

To a bowl, add the vegetables, the marjoram and the adobo seasoning; mix everything together. In a cup or small bowl, mix together the whole wheat flour and the all purpose flour. Add the flour to the vegetables, then add the beaten eggs and the oil. Mix well. Over medium heat, heat enough olive oil to just about thinly cover the bottom of a frying pan. Take enough of the vegetable dough to make about a golf ball size round, then flatten the ball into a patty. Add some patties to the hot oil and fry until golden brown on both sides. Serve with a dollop of basil cream** on each fritter.

* "Adobo" seasoning is available in many supermarkets or Latino markets in commercial brands, or you can make you own. Here's the recipe:  https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/11/adobo-seasoning.html  

** For the easy recipe for "basil cream," here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2019/06/basil-cream.html

WORD HISTORY:
Crust-This word is related to "crystal," a word borrowed long ago from Latin (reinforced by French?), which Latin had borrowed from Greek. "Crust" goes back to Indo European "krus/kreus," which had the notion, "to form a crust, to begin to solidify, harden or freeze." This gave Latin "crusta" which meant, "crust, tree bark, scab, shell." English borrowed the word circa 1300 from Latin, reinforced by French "crouste" (the form taken by Latin-based French from Latin), or perhaps the other way around; it's difficult to say. German has "Kruste," borrowed way back in the 800s from Latin, which perhaps gives some support to English having borrowed the word directly from Latin.   

Basil Cream

Basil Cream is fairly common in a number of areas of the world, including in Germany and Austria, where it is known as "Basilikum Creme." You can use sour cream or creme fraiche* as the base, or you can use Mexican Crema, which is more neutral in taste, as both sour cream and creme fraiche have varied amounts of tartness. Mexican Crema is also not usually as thickened as either of the other two. Basil Cream is used as an ingredient in several dishes, often to make a sauce for chicken or fish, but it is also used as a topping for some fruit and vegetable dishes. There are variations to recipes for Basil Cream, and this is mine.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup sour cream, creme fraiche, or Mexican Crema
15 medium basil leaves, chopped or torn into smaller pieces
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Add all ingredients to a non reactive bowl or jar. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate the basil cream for at least a couple of hours prior to use to allow the flavor to develop. Stir before using. 

* To make creme fraiche, here is the recipe. It is very easy: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/07/make-your-own-creme-fraiche.html

WORD HISTORY:
Horde-This word's exact history (the specifics) is a bit shaky, but that history seems to be close to the meaning of the word, as it seems to have traveled from Asia into eastern Europe and then further westward, as its less specific history is likely correct. By the way, it is not related to the word "hoard," the spelling of both the noun and the verb in English, which is a word from the Germanic roots of English. The ultimate origin of "horde" is far from certain, although there are theories that are just too loose for me to accept. Anyway, it seems to go back to Mongolian "ordu/ordo," meaning, "the residence or encampment of a ruler." (Note: It's important to remember that through much of history, "rulers/leaders" often literally led their armies in military actions; thus, a ruler was often in a camp with their military forces, which were often frequently on the move.) This was borrowed into Turkic as "ordu," meaning, "army force, army camp, military command camp." This was then borrowed into East Slavic languages, either from Turkic or Mongolian, as Russian has transliterated "orda," originally meaning "the Khan's military command camp," a little later identified with the Mongol, and then Mongol/Turkic area of eastern Europe/western Asia ruled by a Khan, and known as "the Golden Horde." As this area began to break up, groups traveled off, giving a twist to the meaning of the word as, "group of related nomads traveling about and living off the land" (and all that really meant, such as plunder and slaughter). Polish borrowed the word as "orda" from Ukrainian, which also had "orda," but the word also added an identification with the Tatars/Tartars, either from Ukrainian or Polish, as the Tatars had risen in military power as allies of the Mongols of Genghis Khan and then Timur, better known to English speakers as Tamerlane. German borrowed the word from Polish, as "Horde," but it's unclear whether the "h" had already been added in Polish, or whether this was a German insertion. Latin had borrowed the word as "orda," "seemingly" from Turkish in the Balkans? French had the word as "horde," "apparently" borrowed from German, but perhaps from Latin, with a French added "h?" English borrowed the word in the mid 1500s, but from French? German? Its meaning expanded in English to mean just about any group of people, usually unruly, but not always, and its older meaning is also still around. Examples: (broader meaning) "The soccer game drew a horde of fans as spectators;" but also, (derogatory) "After the local team won the soccer game, a horde of fans surged along the streets breaking windows, smashing doors and overturning cars;" (historical) "The roads were clogged with panicked people from the town as a horde of Tatars approached." The Nazis used the word to try to scare Germans into continuing their support of the war and of the regime to resist the Russians later in World War Two.       

Caprese Salad (Insalata Caprese)

This famous Italian salad, called Insalata Caprese in Italian, is so simple it requires only one thing, the best ingredients you can get. The salad seemingly originated on the Italian island of Capri, which lies off the western coast of Italy, not far from the mainland city of Sorrento, and with Naples not far up the coast. The three main ingredients, tomatoes, mozzarella and basil leaves, represent the colors of the Italian flag.
 
Ingredients:

3 large ripe tomatoes, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 pound of mozzarella, also cut into 1/4 inch slices
10 to 12 large fresh basil leaves, torn in half
about 1 teaspoon coarse salt or to taste
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Arrange the tomato slices on a platter, sprinkle each slice with a little salt, then put the mozzarella slices onto each tomato slice, followed by the basil pieces. Add a very little bit of both pepper and dried oregano, then give a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

I put some Sicilian olives on the plate too ...

WORD HISTORY:
Pestle-This word, related to "pesto," goes back to Indo European "peis," which meant, "to crush." This gave Latin "pinsere," meaning, "to beat, to pound, to stamp, to crush." This then gave Latin the noun "pistillum," meaning, "pestle" ("tool used to pound and crush"). This was passed to Old French, a Latin-based language, as "pestel," and English borrowed the word in the 1300s as "pestle."

Tuna & Cannellini Bean Salad

This is an Italian dish, which is quite common in Italy, from my understanding. 

Ingredients:

1  6 ounce can tuna in olive oil, drained (oil reserved), tuna broken up into small pieces
1 15 to 15.5 ounce can white cannellini beans, rinsed in cold water
4 tablespoons capers, drained
3 tablespoons lemon juice
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
(optional: pinch of sugar)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 small onion (traditionally red onion, but use what you have), chopped
10 grape tomatoes, halved, or 2 to 3 regular tomato slices, chopped
5 basil leaves torn into smaller pieces

In a bowl, put the rinsed beans, the broken up tuna, the capers and the onion; mix well. Add the tomato pieces, the basil pieces, the lemon juice, the olive oil, the reserved oil from the tuna,* the salt and the pepper; mix well. Chill for a couple of hours, or better yet, several hours, before serving.

* If using a pinch of sugar, mix the olive oil, the reserved tuna oil, the lemon juice and the sugar in a separate cup or bowl to make sure the sugar dissolves; then pour all of it into the bean mixture.

With some sliced Italian bread

WORD HISTORY:
Hurry-This word, distantly related to "horse," has a sketchy history, but it goes back to Indo European "kers," with the meaning "run." This then gave Old Germanic "hurzanan," meaning "to run  or move quickly, to hasten, to rush" (thus, "apparently," also applied to insects, as the result of quick movement, "to buzz or hum from quick movement"). I could not find a form in Old English (that doesn't necessarily mean there wasn't one), but it appears later as "hurren," with the "buzzing" meaning, along with its relative of that time, German "hurren," which meant "rush, move quickly,"  and also "hurre" in North Germanic, meaning "whirl;" thus also with the "quick movement" notion. By the 1500s, the English word took on the more specific modern meaning, but whether this was under the influence of the German form (which is now archaic), or whether that specific meaning had remained in some dialect(s) in England, which then overtook the "buzzing" meaning, with perhaps "buzzing" simply reinforcing the "rush" meaning. In spite of its archaic relatives, the English word has remained alive and well and; thus, continues to "buzz" along.  

Herb Cream Cheese Filled Peppers

These are great as an appetizer, or even as a snack, and they are simple to make, especially if you use store bought "whipped" cream cheese. I buy the one pound packages of multi-colored mini sweet peppers, which have red, orange and yellow peppers.

Ingredients (I use two different filling mixtures, see below):

1 pound package of multi-colored sweet peppers
2 eight ounce containers of "whipped" cream cheese  (reduced fat is fine)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons red onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped (coarsely or finely)
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
3 tablespoons fresh sage leaves OR fresh basil leaves (chopped or torn into smaller pieces)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon seasoned salt (1/2 teaspoon for each mixture)
 
First, rinse the peppers well, then dry them. Cut off the stem tops, cut the peppers in half and remove and discard the seeds. Set the pepper halves aside.
Take one of the 8 ounce containers of whipped cream cheese and stir in 2 cloves of minced garlic, the red onion, the rosemary, the thyme, the white pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of seasoned salt.
Take the other 8 ounce container of whipped cream cheese and stir in 2 cloves of minced garlic, the sage leaves (or basil leaves), the black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of seasoned salt.
Fill some of the sweet pepper halves with the first mixture, then fill the remaining pepper halves with the second mixture. Cover the filled peppers with plastic wrap and chill, or serve them up straight away, but of course, without the plastic wrap. Trust me, I've tried it, and yuk, too chewy.
  

WORD HISTORY:
Full (Fill)-The word "full," as an adjective, seems to be the original word from which the noun "full" and the verb "fill" were derived. It is distantly related to "plenty." It goes back to Indo European "pel/pleh," which had the notion of "sufficient, full, enough, complete." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "fullaz," with the same meanings, and as was often the case, Indo European "p" became an "f" sound in Old Germanic. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "full," meaning "complete, whole, filled." The Old Germanic form spawned the noun form, "fulli," meaning "full, complete/whole, sufficient." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "fyllu," which meant "filled up, sated." This later became "fulle," before the modern form. The Old Germanic form produced the verb form "fullijanan," meaning, "to fill up, to make full, to make enough/complete." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "fyllan," meaning the same. This then became "fillen," before the modern form "fill." Besides the English forms, forms are common throughout the other Germanic languages:
German has "voll" (adjective, "full," the "v" is pronounced "f"), "gefüllt" (adjective, "filled, stuffed"), "Fülle" (noun, "fullness, abundance, wealth"), "füllen" (verb, "to fill"); Low German Saxon "vull" (adj), vüllen" (verb); West Frisian "fol" (adj), "folje" (verb); Dutch "vol" (adj), vullen (verb); Danish "fuld" (adj), "fylde" (noun, "abundance")  "fylde" (verb, same spelling as noun); Icelandic "fullur" (adj), "fylling" (noun), "fylla" (verb); Norwegian "full" (adj), "fylde" (noun, "fullness"), "fylle" (verb); Swedish "full" (adj), "fylle" (noun), "fylla" (verb).