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."         

Danish Sandwich with Egg & Shrimp: Smørrebrød med æg og rejer

This open-faced sandwich uses Danish rye bread (rugbrød), which is dark, but unfortunately it is not available to many people outside of Denmark, unless you check online, or if you happen to have a local bakery that makes this as a specialty bread. So... you can substitute the much more easily found pumpernickel, and German or German-style pumpernickel is more like Danish rye, but any good pumpernickel should be fine. Extra small cooked shrimp of 61 to 70 per pound or small cooked shrimp of 51 to 60 per pound are best for this, but the day I went to the seafood shop, they were out of extra small shrimp, so the choice was made for me. In Sweden, they do a very similar shrimp sandwich, but they often use cucumber slices as one of the ingredients, but I don't believe they use watercress or arugula. In the U.S., depending upon where you live, watercress might be difficult to find, but arugula is a good substitute and easier to find. Watercress was once sold in many produce markets, but its availability has declined in the U.S. 

Ingredients (4 servings):

4 slices pumpernickel bread or Danish rye bread (rugbrød)
4 lettuce leaves (head lettuce or romaine lettuce)
4 hard boiled eggs
extra small or small cooked shrimp(s) * (see preparation below for amounts)
juice of one lemon
2 tomatoes, cut into quarters
some arugula or watercress, rinsed and drained on paper towels  
4 pats of butter (at room temperature, to spread easily)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
black pepper to taste
salt to taste

Boil the eggs for 7 minutes, pour off the hot water, rinse the eggs in cool water, and let them cool, then remove the shells. Slice the eggs (if you have an egg slicer, that's perfect). Butter each slice of bread with a pat of butter, then cover each bread slice with a leaf of lettuce. Put the egg slices of one egg onto each slice of lettuce. Put some mayonnaise on top of the egg slices, add some shrimps to each slice of bread,** then add 2 tomato quarters to each sandwich. Sprinkle a little lemon juice onto each open "sandwich," then add a little watercress to each and finish with salt and pepper to taste.

*  In the U.S., the plural "shrimps" is seldom heard, as "shrimp" is overwhelmingly used as both singular and plural.  

** If you get the extra small shrimps, with 61 to 70 shrimps per pound (often called "salad shrimp" in the U.S.), use about 8 or 10 per slice of bread, or the small shrimps, with 51 to 60 shrimps per pound, use about 6 or 7 per slice of bread.

 This is German-style pumpernickel bread...similar to Danish rye bread... 

WORD HISTORY:
Weir-While not all that commonly used today in American English (it might still be used more often in some parts of Britain), it is still around in place names, although sometimes spelled "war(r)," as in "Warwick" (meaning "settlement by a weir"), and also as a family name.^ It goes back to Indo European "wer," which meant "to cover, to shut off." The notion of "cover/shut off" gave Old Germanic "warjanan," which meant "protect;" thus also, "defend." This same meaning continued in the various Germanic dialects, including Old English, which had "awerian" (to defend against) and "bewerian" ("to guard, to protect"), but it also often took on the meaning in the West Germanic languages (English is West Germanic) of "dam up;" that is, "protect from water by shutting it in." In Old English this was represented in the verb form "werian,"^^ ("to dam up") and there was the noun "wer," which meant "a dam, an embankment, an enclosed area of water;" as well as the noun, "wering," meaning "the process of damming up water." Related forms in the other Germanic languages are numerous, but some are: German noun "Wehr," meaning, "military force, weapon, shield, enclosed water area for keeping fish, a dammed off area of water;"^^^ the noun "Abwehr," meaning "defense;" the verb "bewehren" meaning, "to arm with weapons, to reinforce;" the verb "wehren" meaning, "to defend, to offer resistance to"; Low German has the verb "wehren" meaning "to defend, to offer resistance to," the noun "Wehr" meaning, "dammed off area of water"; Dutch has the verb "weren" meaning, "to fend off, to repulse;" the noun "weer" meaning, "defense, a dammed off area of water"; West Frisian "ferwaarje" meaning, "to defend, to offer resistance to," the noun "ferwar" meaning "defense, dike"; the Danish noun "værge" meaning "guardian"; the Swedish noun "värja" meaning "sword," and the verb "värja" (same as the noun) meaning "to defend, to protect"; Icelandic verb "verja" meaning, "to guard, to defend."

^ The family name "Weir" isn't exclusively derived from the word "weir," as some families have the name from a different source.

^^ Old Saxon, the Saxon dialect/language that remained in northern Germany after part of the Saxons went to Britain, where they helped to found England, also had "werian."

^^^  For history buffs, "Wehr" is the same word in German "Wehrmacht," the term Hitler used for his armed forces; with the "macht" part being the close relative of the English noun "might" (strength, power, force).  

Kochkäse, German Cooked Cheese

This cheese is common in the German state of Hessen, where I have relatives, but also in other parts of the German language area. It is not at all sophisticated, as it came from rural areas and farms, where dairy products were readily available in times gone by, before refrigeration. It was a great way to use an abundance of dairy product, and to preserve it for an extra bit of time. It is a great cheese spread or a topping for boiled potatoes. While once made exclusively at home, now it is also made commercially. This is not a low calorie, low fat dish, but if you treat yourself to it occasionally, like every 3 or 4 days.... sorry doctors and nutritionists, just joking here a little; a couple times or so a year, hey, you've got to live life. A little philosophy here, and I'm sure it will not please everyone, but anyway, moderation is a key, in my opinion, something I'm not claiming to have done all the time, but if you live to diet and exercise, you are going to lie on that death bed and say, "Well after all of my dieting, deprivation and exercising, I'm about to kick the bucket. Why didn't I eat that delicious looking piece of chocolate cream pie in 2016? Hey, that was just last year?" There are so many variables that go into our lives and our health, some of them "baked in," to use a food expression, in that our genetics have much to do with our health and life span. If you enjoy a few "vices" once and awhile, that makes life worth living. If you spend your life worrying that "this dish has ten more calories than my allotment, and this one has 20 calories more, damn, I'm going to die from these 30 extra calories," you likely won't die from the calories, but the stress on your mental health may just edge you closer to the grave. Having self discipline is fine, but like anything else, it can go too far on some things. (Hey! What's the matter? What are you doing on the floor? .... Damn! He did die from those 30 calories. So much for that theory. Well at least he didn't eat any chocolate cream pie, so extra for me. What a way to go!) 

Ingredients:

24 ounce container 4% milk fat small curd cottage cheese,* pushed through a sieve (not a real fine sieve)
1 tablespoon baking soda
3 egg egg yolks
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup or less of milk or cream (I use canned evaporated milk, but I have used heavy cream on occasion)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 or 2 teaspoons caraway seeds (your preference on amount)

Put the cottage cheese into a flat-type dish, add the baking soda, mix and then spread the mixture out, cover with a clean dry towel, or paper towels, and leave the dish sit in a warm area to "ripen." The cheese will look .... ah, unappetizing, to be quite honest, but a bit shiny or glassy. Put the cheese into a heavy bottom sauce pan, over medium low heat. Then add the butter and gradually add the milk or cream, stirring to keep the cheese from sticking or browning on the bottom. Bring barely to a boil, reduce heat to very low, and don't be afraid to lift the pan off of the burner for a few seconds, as dairy products can stick/burn pretty easily. You may not need all of the milk/cream, which is fine, as less is great. Add the pepper and the caraways seeds stirring well.** Remove from heat and allow to cool down somewhat. Lightly beat the egg yolks in a bowl or cup, add one tablespoon of the cheese mixture to the eggs stirring constantly, so as not to cook the eggs and to blend together. Add a second tablespoon of the cheese to the egg yolks with the same process. Gradually stir the egg yolks into the cheese mixture. Allow to cool a bit, then refrigerate, and the cheese should be thickened after an hour or two. This should not be runny, but it is not likely to be anywhere near solid, rather more like commercial processed cheese in a jar. There will also likely be a yellowish color to it.  

* I've tried low fat cottage cheese and it just didn't work as well, but give it a try, if you'd like; maybe you'll have better success than I have had, especially if you let much of the cottage cheese liquid drain off. Secondly, if you have a regular brand of cottage cheese that is drier; that is, not all runny, use it, as the runny type also doesn't work as well, or you can put the cottage cheese into a large sieve or cheesecloth, if you have it, and let it drain.

** You don't have to add the caraway seed to the heated cheese, but rather you can just sprinkle some caraway seeds on the cheese when served, as I did in the photo below. Of course if you add the seeds when the cheese is warm, they will soften, if that is important to you. 

I put this on some real German pumpernickel bread, with a few caraway seeds sprinkled on top

WORD HISTORY:
Yellow-This word, related to "gold," goes back to Indo European "ghelwos," a suffixed form of "ghel," (shine, be bright). This gave its Old Germanic offspring "gelwaz," meaning "yellow." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "geolu" and "geolewe," depending upon dialect. Like its close cousin Low German Saxon, the English "ge" combination was pronounced more like a "ye," and thus, later the word became "yeolwe," then "yeolou," before the modern spelling. The verb form in Old English, meaning "to become yellow," was "geolwian, seemingly taken from the adjective (which was also used as a noun). While not proper, at all, the pronunciations "yeller" and "yellah" are not uncommon in every day speech in the United States. Why "yellow" became associated with cowardly behavior is something I have not been able to find out, although "apparently," that usage dates from the mid 1800s. Related forms in the other Germanic languages: German "gelb" (originally "gelo"), Low German Saxon "geel," West Frisian "giel," Dutch "geel," Danish, Norwegian and Swedish "gul," Icelandic "gulur." All mean "yellow." Notice, that in most cases, the other Germanic languages no longer have an ending, but rather use the basic root word, where English has "ow," rather than just "yel."

Pumpernickel Bread

There are a couple of general types of bread made and sold as "pumpernickel," but the original pumpernickel bread was developed in the Westphalia (German: Westfalen) region of Germany, at least by the 1400s, if not earlier. Some refer to it as "black bread," for the types with an especially dark color, but Germans have a couple of types of whole grain dark bread that are sometimes referred to by that name. Pumpernickel is made with very coarse rye meal (cracked whole rye), and it is then baked (see "Word History") for an incredibly long time (12 to like 20 hours) at a low temperature, which is what gives it its dark color, as there are no coloring additives that darken it in the original recipe type. The finished bread is crumbly and anywhere from dark brown to nearly black in color. Bakers eventually learned how to cut down on the time needed to produce pumpernickel, but still have it very much resemble and taste like the original recipe. They add some coloring agents, which allow the baking process to be considerably shortened. Whether this is also commonly used in Germany, I'm not certain, as many production traditions for various products remain strong in Germany. Pumpernickel is typically sold in packages with maybe 10 to 12 slices. You may find imported packages from Germany in your supermarket, but there are some of these "near genuine recipes" produced right in the U.S., including by one bakery in suburban Cleveland, called "Reinecker's Bakery." Their products are sold in some supermarkets in Greater Cleveland, besides at their own outlet.

Other pumpernickel in America is much softer and its dark color comes from additives like molasses or cocoa (I actually have a recipe which calls for both cocoa and coffee). You often see it in fairly large round loaves, or sometimes as pumpernickel (bread) rolls. It is not uncommon to see recipes that call for the round loaves to be hollowed out and used as "bowls" for various vegetable or chip dips. The softer pumpernickel, when sliced, is also easily used to make sandwiches, as opposed to the "original" or "near original," which are far too crumbly; at least in my opinion. I can't verify this, but I was told many years ago that the softer type of pumpernickel came to America with Jewish immigrants from Russia in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

When I grew up, pumpernickel was common place in my neighborhood, which had a strong German tradition dating to German immigrants arriving not long before the Civil War, clear up until just before World War One began. Ham, mettwurst or cheese were common accompaniments with pumpernickel, including a favorite of mine, Limburger cheese, although caraway studded rye bread was also frequently used for the strong smelling cheese that my older brother simply could not stand. 

 Photo of German-style pumpernickel bread, which tends toward being crumbly ...

 

 This has the soft type of pumpernickel with some pimento cheese and sliced tomato ...

WORD HISTORY: 

Bake-This word goes back to Indo European "bheg/bhog," which had the meaning "to bake or roast." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "bakanan," which meant "to bake." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "bacan," which then became "baken," before the modern version. The noun form, as in "clambake," was simply derived from the verb, but seemingly not until the 1800s. The other Germanic languages have: German "backen" ('a' pronounced short as in 'father'), Low German "backen," Dutch "bakken," West Frisian "bakke," Icelandic and Swedish "baka," Danish "bage," and Norwegian "bake" (the "a" is like "ah," and the ending "e" is pronounced like "eh/ah").