Black-Eyed Pea Spread

Dips and spreads made with ground beans, peas, nuts and seeds have been eaten by humans for many hundreds of years, and likely longer; after all, the ingredients for these dishes were all around long, long before anything like modern times, and just because they didn't have a Cuisinart food processor, didn't mean they they didn't know how to process food without such a device. By the way, Cuisinart food processors didn't go public until the early 1970s, although some electric blenders, the forerunners of actual food processors, began to make their public appearances not long after the end of World War One, and blenders gradually began to be enabled by add-on accessories to make them more like food processors, especially after World War Two.  

 

Black-eyed peas are really a type of bean originally from Africa and brought to the New World by African slaves. They are commonly eaten in several African countries like Senegal, Nigeria and some others, as well as on many of the Caribbean islands, in India and Pakistan, and they are popular in the American South and in parts of Brazil, especially in the Bahia region there. The Portuguese likely took black-eyed peas back to Portugal from Africa and also from Brazil, which was a colony of Portugal for over 300 years until the 1820s. This spread is "similar" to hummus.   

 

Serve with lightly toasted sliced baguettes, crackers, flatbread (pita or naan) and sliced vegetables. Certainly using the toaster is quick and easy, but sometimes I like to toast bread in a skillet, either dry, or with a little oil or butter. The baguette slices in the photos below were dry toasted in a skillet, as was the naan bread. The small amount of ground red pepper won't set your mouth afire; in fact, if you like "heat," you can toss a fresh chili pepper into the mixture before processing.  

 

Ingredients:

 

1 can black eyed peas (15 ounce), drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (after processing, if it's too thick add another tablespoon oil)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 inch piece of fresh lemon zest

2 large cloves garlic

1 slice (1/4 inch thick) from a medium red or white onion

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (like cayenne)

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves (needles)

1/2 to 1 teaspoon teaspoon salt (per your preference)

(optional) if you like heat, 1 fresh whole chili pepper, like serrano

(optional) you can top the finished spread with a teaspoon or two of extra virgin olive oil   

 

Put all ingredients into a food processor/blender and process until smooth.

 

 

Black-eyed pea spread with some toasted baguette and cut up Indian naan flatbread ...

WORD HISTORY:

Furnish-"Furnish" is related to "from" and "frame," both from the Germanic roots of English, and it is distantly related to many of the words with the prefix "per," like "perform" and "permit," for example, and also distantly related to words like "proceed" and "produce," with all of these distantly related words being of Latin derivation and with "produce" borrowed by English directly from Latin, and "proceed" likely borrowed from Latin, but with French influence and reinforcement, "permit" a borrowing from French, but with Latin influence, and "perform" a borrowing from French. "Furnish" goes back to Indo European "per," which had the idea of "forward, before, in front;" thus also, "main, chief, first." This had the variant form "pro" meaning "to or toward the front, forward," and this had the suffixed version of "promo," with the same meaning. This gave Old Germanic "frumjanan" meaning, "to advance, to go forward" (Germanic rendered Indo European "p" as "f"). The Germanic form was borrowed by Latin as "fromire," and then altered to "fornire," which passed to Latin-based Old French as "furnir" (meaning "to carry out, to accomplish;" thus also, "to provide, to equip," all from the idea of "going forward, advancing"), which then became "fornir," the stem of a participle form of which was "furniss/forniss." English borrowed this in the middle 1400s as the verb "fornisshen/furnysshen," meaning "to provide, to equip," and when English began to conjugate verbs differently, the "en" ending was dropped and the spelling became the modern form "furnish," and the infinitive form "to furnish." 

Rosemary Sloe Gin Fizz

About 50 years ago sloe gin was a common liqueur in American bars and restaurants. Back then a "sloe gin fizz" was known all over the U.S., even though not everyone made it the same way, as I recall, with some adding club soda to the sloe gin, while others added either Sprite or ginger ale. Nowadays it's still around, but when I went to the liquor store to buy a bottle recently, I had to explain to the clerk what I meant, because I didn't immediately see it on the shelves. She finally got the drift, but she too had a hard time locating it; so, you might say the whole thing was a "sloe" process. Obviously sloe gin is not as well known today. By the way, "sloe" is pronounced like "slow." Sloe gin typically has an alcohol content of 25% to 30%. For a little more, see the "Word History," below.     

I'm not much for shaken and strained drinks, so I use a tall glass with some ice cubes. Of course, you can always adjust the amounts to suit your own taste.

Ingredients (per drink): 

 

1 1/2 to 2 ounces sloe gin

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 1/2 ounces rosemary syrup*

club soda (fresh, with lots of fizzzzzzz)

ice cubes

rosemary for garnish

 

In a tall glass (10 to 12 ounce), add the sloe gin, lemon juice, rosemary syrup, then stir well. Add some ice cubes, but don't fill the glass with ice. Add the club soda to nearly fill, then carefully stir a little to mix (if the soda is really fizzy, the drink may bubble up or even run over, so be careful). Garnish with a sprig of rosemary. (You: Hey, what's that stem with the green needles?  Me: That's rosemary.  You: What's that little stem with needles next to it?  Me: That's "rosemary's baby." YIKES!)    

* Real easy to make, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2020/03/herbal-syrup-rosemary.html

 

WORD HISTORY:

Sloe-This word is distantly related to "livid," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English via French. "Sloe" goes back to Indo European "sleihuo," which had the notion "blue, bluish, dark blue/purple." This gave Old Germanic "slaihon/slaihwon," which meant "sloe, the dark blue fruit/berry of  the blackthorn bush/small tree." (Note: Blackthorn bushes are related to hawthorns and plum trees, among many others.) The Germanic form gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "slah" (long a), with the same meaning, and this then became "sla," then "slo," before the modern form. The sloe berry is a tart, mouth-drying fruit that is common to parts of Europe, especially to England. The English began adding alcohol, one of those being gin, and sweetener to the berries and this became "sloe gin." Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Schlehe," Low German once had "sle," Dutch has "slee," but now more commonly used in the compound "sleedoorn," literally "sloethorn," as the hedge-like bush has many thorns, Danish has "slåen," Norwegian has "slåpe," but now used in the compound "slåpetorn" (sloethorn), Swedish has "slån," more common in the compound "slånbär" (sloe berry), Icelandic "sló" (?).    

Herbal Syrup: Rosemary

If you like rosemary as I do, you'll like this; you may even LOVE this. It is great in certain cocktails and added to green tea (I add a little lemon juice too). Remember, this is not a drink in itself, but rather a concentrate used to flavor other beverages; thus, it is meant to be very sweet and heavily flavored with rosemary, as it will be diluted in the drinks you make. I consulted the article at this link to do this article:
https://www.foodandwine.com/cocktails-spirits/rosemary-syrup-cocktails

Of course, you can make a smaller amount by reducing the amounts of the ingredients.

Ingredients (for 1 cup +):

6 to 8 stems (each about 5 to 6 inches long) of fresh rosemary
1 1/3 cup fresh water
1 cup sugar

Put the rosemary into a pan with the water, bring to a light boil, then reduce to a simmer for 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the sugar, stirring as best you can to make sure the sugar dissolves. Let the rosemary steep for about 20 to 30 minutes, then remove the rosemary stems and strain the liquid through a sieve into a pitcher or a jar, cover it and store it in the refrigerator. 


Picture is of green tea with rosemary and lemon ...

WORD HISTORY:
Theme-This word is related to a number of words including "do" and "deed," both from the Germanic roots of English, and "thesis," a word borrowed by English from Latin, which had borrowed it from Greek. It goes back to Indo European "dhe," which had the notion, "to make, to bring about (later in English, as in, "to do harm"), "to be engaged in an activity (later in English, as in, "they got ready to do battle"), to put." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "théma," meaning, "that which is set down;" thus, "a statement or assertion that brings further discussion about a matter;" thus, "a subject, a proposal, a topic." Latin borrowed this as "thema," with the same meanings, which passed to Latin-based Old French as "tesme" (seemingly the 's' was silent) also with the same meanings. English borrowed the word as "teme" (seemingly in some cases) and "theme," in the first half of the 1300s, from French, and with reinforcement by Latin. German, a close cousin of English, borrowed the word directly from Latin as "Thema" (pronounced "tay-mah"), and it is the standard word in German for "subject."    

Farmer's Salad With Yogurt Dressing

"Farmer salads" have been often and naturally thought of as mainly having ingredients many farming households might well have on hand: cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, garlic, bell peppers and eggs. In addition though, some farming families made their own head cheese, as well as their own cheese, and these could be used to make a salad more substantial. In German areas of Europe, the homemade cheese was/is called by a variety of names, but in Hessen, it is called "Handkäse," * literally "hand cheese," because the whitish/light yellowish cheese was shaped by hand, while in the region of the Harz Mountains it is called "Harzer (Käse)," and in Austria it is often called "Quargel," a word "I believe" German derived from Slavic. In modern times head cheese and cheese (by whatever name) are more often commercially produced, but that doesn't mean that some individuals or families have abandoned making them at home. "Souse" is an American term for head cheese made with vinegar. In Britain, head cheese, with or without vinegar, is called "brawn."  
   
I "patterned" this recipe after Bavarian/Austrian salad recipes, and in Austria and Bavaria such salads are often served with rolls called "Salzstangen" or "Salzstangerl," which are rolls coated with coarse salt and (usually) caraway seeds. Certainly in the past, such a dressing for the salad would have been more likely to have been made with sour cream; again, a product readily available to farmers.   

Ingredients (5 or 6 servings):

1/2 medium red onion, chopped
1 seeded or seedless cucumber, peel on, or peeled, or partially peeled (your preference)
4 chopped Roma tomatoes (also called 'plum tomatoes'), or 20 to 25 grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 chopped red or green pepper
1/4 cup pitted black olives (Kalamata or niçoise), halved
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Toss all ingredients together well. 

For each serving:
1 or 2 thin slices of souse, cut into small pieces
1 or 2 thin slices Emmentaler cheese (Swiss cheese),** cut or torn into small pieces
1 hard boiled egg, halved 

For the yogurt dressing:

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons oil (olive, canola, vegetable or even give extra virgin olive oil a try)
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons rosemary, chopped   
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients together well. If the dressing is too thick for you, add a little more oil. If you add more vinegar, you may have to consider adding more honey, but that depends upon your own taste.

* "Handkäse" ("Handkäs" is the common form in Hessen) is one of the specialty dishes of Frankfurt-am-Main in Hessen, where it is served in a dressing of cider vinegar, oil, hard apple cider, pepper, caraway seed and chopped onion, and called, "Handkäs mit Musik" (Hand Cheese with Music). It is "traditionally" accompanied with a glass of hard apple cider (in standard German called "Apfelwein," but called "Ebbelwoi" in the Hessian dialect of Frankfurt). "Handkäse" is not exclusive to Frankfurt, but rather it is common in other parts of Hessen as well. And I'm sure you're hanging by your thumbs wondering what the "with music" means. Well, there are two stories tied to the meaning, the most prominent of the two, but perhaps not originally the meaning, has to do with the onions causing intestinal gas; thus, "music," if you get my drift. This led to a little joke when people from outside of Frankfurt or Hessen would ask, "What and where is the music?" The standard answer became, "Die Musik kommt später" (The music comes later). The other story is that the oil and vinegar were kept in glass bottles for the person to pour on the desired amount of each. The bottles clinked together; thus, "music." When I've had "Handkäs mit Musik" in Frankfurt, it was always served that way, with the oil and vinegar bottles brought to the table with the onion topped hand cheese.

** In the U.S., "Swiss cheese" is the type of cheese in Switzerland and German cultural areas in Europe called "Emmentaler," after the area of its origin; the Emme River Valley (German: Emmental), near the city of Bern.

WORD HISTORY:
Shift-This word is distantly related to the verb "shed" ("to give off something, to get rid of something"), a word from the Germanic roots of English. It goes back to Indo European "skei(t)," which had the notion, "to cut, to cut off, to separate (from)." This gave Old Germanic "skiftjanan," meaning, "to put into order by separating, to arrange." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "sciftan," meaning, "to separate, to divide up, to arrange, to place in order." This then became "schiften," then "shiften," before the modern version. The meaning, "to move from one place to another," as in, "The corporation will shift its headquarters from Dallas to Denver," came from the idea of "arranging, allotting" (but actually "rearranging, reallocating"). It also took on the meaning, "to be able to take care of oneself," as in the expression, "shift for oneself," perhaps from the idea of "to keep one's life in order?" The noun developed from the verb circa 1300 and with numerous meanings, including "a set time for work;" as in, "I work the day shift from 7 until 3," and this meaning seems to date back in time, as it is also in some other Germanic languages, and it remains as a primary noun meaning in English, along with "movement, change," as in "a shift in public opinion." Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has the verb "schichten" (to stack, to layer), which was borrowed from Low German and the noun "Schicht" (a level, a layer, and also, a group of people doing the same general work during a given period of time, also sometimes rendered as "Schichtarbeit;" that is, "shift work"), Low German has the verb "opschichten" (to stack up, to build up; the base word was once spelled "schiften"^), West Frisian has the noun "skift" (classification, category), Dutch has the verb "schiften" (to divide or stratify), Danish has the noun "skifte" (a change over) and the verb "skifte" (to alternate, to exchange), Norwegian has the noun "skifte" (a change or turn) and the verb "skifte" (to switch or change), Icelandic has the verb "skipta" (to divide up, to switch or exchange), Swedish has the verb "skifta" (to change, to shift, to divide) and the noun "skift" (set working period).  

^ While I'm uncertain of this, when German borrowed the word from Low German, it "seems" the standard German spelling and pronunciation as "schichten" may have eventually transferred to Low German; thus, no "f" in modern Low German and modern standard German. 

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." 

Tomatoes Filled With Seasoned Cottage Cheese

Added two photos 6-19-22

 

I recently came across this "general" recipe among some German dishes. It grabbed my attention, especially with warm weather upon us. To my knowledge, I had never seen this dish, and I looked it up, even under its German name, "Gefüllte Tomaten mit Hüttenkäse" (Hüttenkäse= literally, "hut cheese," hut... cottage... käse=cheese, get it?). Anyway, I found several variations, with some using feta cheese, others using herb seasoned cheese, and still others using no cheese at all, but rather a variety of herbs and spices. So this recipe is the basic recipe, but with my own touches to it.

Ingredients:

4 large (baseball to softball size) ripe tomatoes
2 1/2 cups cottage cheese (large or small curd, low fat is fine)
1/4 cup of your favorite crumbled blue cheese, like Stilton, Roquefort, Gorgonzola or some other 
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
3 green onions, with the green, chopped
2 teaspoons chopped rosemary
3 tablespoons tomato paste, thinned out with a tablespoon of white wine or just water
1 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika
1 teaspoon Hungarian hot paprika (generally, Hungarian hot paprika is not really all that "hot")
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon white or black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional, as the cheese has salt)

Cut the tops off of the tomatoes, cut out the tough core and scoop out the seeds and center of the tomatoes, so they can be filled. Mix the rest of the ingredients together well. The mix will have an orange or red like color. Fill each tomato with the mixture and serve with some crackers, chips or bread.  


I served the tomato with a slice of multi-grain bread

And with whole wheat bread ...

WORD HISTORY:
Strain (2)-There is more than one word of this spelling in English, but this is the one with a variety of specific meanings, among which the most common are: 1) "to injure a muscle by tightening that muscle too much, due to overexertion (also used of voice)" 2) "to filter something, typically through some type of sieve" 3) "to lift an object to the point of injury or physical endurance" 4) "to press a matter to what is seen as an extreme position." It is distantly related to "strait," which is used both as a noun and as an adjective, and is a word of Latin derivation, but borrowed by English by way of Latin-based French; and to, "stringent," a word borrowed by English directly from Latin. It goes back to Indo European "streygh," which had the notion, "to press, to exert pressure on;" thus also, "to pull with force." This gave Latin "stringere," meaning, "to pull tightly, press together." This was passed to Latin-baased French as, "estreindre," meaning, "to hold, press or tie tightly." This was borrowed by English in the early part of the 1300s as "streynen," which then became, "straynen," before the modern form. The noun form was derived from the verb in the early 1400s to mean, "an injury to muscle by overexertion (straining)." The noun "strainer" (a filter) was also derived from the verb in the first half of the 1400s (it has peacefully coexisted with the native English word "sieve" since the 1400s, so there is no "strain" between them). 

Rosemary Potatoes

Two new pictures added and some slight text editing 6-30-22 

"Rosemary Potatoes" are fairly common in Germany and Austria (in German they are "Rosmarinkartoffeln"), maybe too in the other German speaking areas of Europe. There are many variations in recipes, most of which call for the skins to be removed from the potatoes. I choose to leave the skins on and to coat the cut sides of the potato halves with breadcrumbs, and the potato halves are then fried until nicely browned. The seasonings are added later in the cooking process to prevent burning. I love both garlic and rosemary, so these potatoes are a favorite of mine.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt (according to your taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
fine breadcrumbs (see in instructions below)

Put potatoes into a pan with sufficient water to cover them. Simmer potatoes until softened, but not mushy. Drain and let the potatoes dry and cool a bit. In the meantime, heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cut the potatoes in half and put them, cut side down, into a plate or bowl with bread crumbs. Put the potatoes into the heated oil in the skillet, breadcrumb side down. Let the breadcrumbs brown lightly, turn them over and then add dabs of butter to the skillet, let it melt. Scatter the garlic and chopped rosemary into the potatoes. Reduce heat slightly. Add the salt and pepper and let cook just a minute or so longer, stirring the garlic and rosemary around to prevent burning and to mix the rosemary and garlic flavors into the butter/oil to season it.

WORD HISTORY:
Morning-This word goes back to Indo European "merek/merk," which had the notion, "to flicker, to sparkle." This gave its Old Germanic offspring, "murganaz," which meant, "morning," in the sense, "beginning of daylight, time around sunrise," but also, "tomorrow," from the idea of, "the next sunrise." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "morgen," with the same general meanings. The "g" sound died out in English, which left the contracted form, "morn." This was then given the "ing" suffix, but English is the only Germanic language to have added this suffix. "We awake and say, 'Good morning.' " Just to show the close relationship of English with German, the West Germanic cousin of English, here is the same sentence in standard German: "Wir erwaken und sagen, 'Guten Morgen.' " ("Say" once also had a "g," as its German cousin still does.) The other Germanic languages have: German "Morgen," Low German Saxon "Morgen," West Frisian "moarn," Dutch "morgen," Danish "morgen," Icelandic "morgunn," Norwegian "morgen," Swedish "morgon." 

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).   

The 'Thyme' Of My Life

I love herbs of all kinds, but my favorite is thyme, followed by sage and rosemary. If you aren't much of a gardener, or if you live in a situation where you don't have access to a little plot of soil to plant your own herbs, it has been fairly easy to find fresh herbs for a number of years now, as supermarkets carry them in the produce section in small plastic containers. Of course, dried herbs are good too. For some good recipes using all sorts of herbs, fresh and dried, check out: "Fresh Herb Cooking" by Linda Dannenberg, with photographs by Ellen Silverman, published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang, New York, 2001. Whether the book is still for sale, I have no idea, but it may be available from your local library.

This is my own recipe for herb butter, developed after trying various recipes over the years. It's great on chicken or beef, or just on some good bread.

2 sticks of softened butter, preferably unsalted, but the world won't stop turning if you use salted butter, but with unsalted, you can control how much salt you then want to add
3 tablespoons of fresh thyme, finely chopped
3 tablespoons of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
a pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of salt, if you use unsalted butter, but if you use salted butter, I wouldn't add anymore salt

You simply mix all of the ingredients together, cover the dish and let it sit out for about a half hour, then refrigerate for at least an hour, preferably a couple of hours, to allow the butter to firm up and absorb the flavors. Then, as the great Julia Child used to say, "Bony Aperteef," or whatever the hell she used to say.

Herb butter on a half roll, along side liverwurst on a half roll, some blue cheese stuffed olives (larger) and some anchovy stuffed olives and tomatoes. 

WORD HISTORY:
Thyme-This common herbal plant name, distantly related to the word "fume," goes back to the Indo European root "dhu," which had the notion of "to cause a cloud of smoke, dust, vapor." This gave its Greek offspring "thuein," meaning  "burn, burn as an offering." This produced Greek "thumon" for the plant name, as the Greeks burned it as incense. Latin borrowed the word from Greek as "thymum," and this gave Old French, a Latin based language, "thym." English then borrowed the word in the late 1300s.

Marinated Rosemary Steak

This is my adaptation of a recipe that I saw in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in perhaps the mid 1990s. Where they got the recipe, I do not know, as I only have the notes for this, and as I already mentioned, this is MY adaptation, not the exact recipe from the newspaper.

I use about 2 lbs sirloin steak
1 medium onion, chopped
2 to 3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 to 3 tablespoons of fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 cup Heinz 57 Sauce
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
 1 teaspoon salt

Mix the 57 Sauce, onion, garlic, rosemary, salt and oil together on a large platter or in a baking dish. Coat the steak on both sides with the mixture, then cover the platter or dish and refrigerate for several hours, preferably overnight. Remove the steak from the refrigerator a little while before cooking to let it warm a bit. Preheated oven to 375 degrees (F), bake steak for about 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 300, continue baking another half hour, or until desired doneness. You will need to check the steak after about every 10 to 15 minutes, as the sauce can burn, so if it begins to burn, reduce the heat immediately to 300, but still check the steak, and reduce the heat further, if necessary, and just lengthen the baking time.

Served with roasted potatoes, sprinkled with Puerto Rican adobo*

* "Adobo" is a common term in regions with Spanish as the main language, but it means different things in different areas. In Puerto Rican cooking, adobo is a dry seasoning, homemade or commercially produced, usually consisting of salt, granulated garlic, onion powder, dried oregano, and pepper, although recipes vary.

WORD HISTORY:
Herb-This word goes back to Indo European "gher/ghre," which had the notion of "to become green;" thus, "to grow (as a plant or grass)." This gave its Italic/Latin offspring "herba," which meant "plant, grass," plus by extension, "herb." This gave Old French, a Latin-based language, "erbe/herbe." English borrowed the word as "erbe" in the early 1300s. By the 1400s, under the influence of the Latin spelling with an initial "h"(many scholars and religious people used Latin), English too began to spell the word as "herb," bringing two pronunciations: "herb," where the "h" is pronounced, and which "tends" to be fairly common in Britain and "often" among some cooks or chefs in North America, and the "h-less" pronunciation, which has "generally" been more common in North America.

Fried Potatoes Sicilian Style

I cut this recipe out of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, apparently in 2002, as they took it from what they call "a good new book" by Clarissa Hyman called "Cucina Siciliana," which means "Sicilian Cuisine," and it was published by Interlink, 2002. The dish is called "Sauteed Rosemary Potatoes With Cherry Tomatoes and Black Olives," and if you want the recipe, that WAS the recipe! Just joking. I love fried potatoes and when I tried this, I was just completely sold. I fix it fairly often. I rarely follow recipes to the letter, and I don't completely follow this one either, as I slice the potatoes, like home fries, rather than use "chunks," which is what the recipe calls for, and I add some fresh hot peppers, like serranos, as well as the black pepper. You certainly could use some hot pepper flakes as a substitute, although fresh hot peppers are now commonly sold in most supermarkets. 

8 medium red-skinned potatoes (you can use other potatoes)
2-3 tablespoons olive oil (I use extra virgin olive oil)
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
4 large cloves of garlic, peeled
pinch of salt
freshly ground black pepper or peperoncino (or any hot chili pepper, to taste, chopped)
12 cherry or grape tomatoes (see text below)
12 black olives, quartered (Kalamata olives are good for this, or Niçoise olives, halved or whole)
fresh parsley

While the author says to peel the potatoes, I don't, I leave the skins on. Cook the potatoes in water for about 12 minutes and drain them well. Slice the potatoes, or cut them into "chunks," as in the actual recipe. Add the olive oil to a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the potatoes, rosemary, garlic, salt, and the hot peppers + black pepper. (While the recipe doesn't say, I chop the garlic.) Stir the potatoes to make sure the other ingredients coat the potatoes. Cook for 10-15 minutes (I lean more to 13-15 minutes), stirring occasionally to keep the potatoes from sticking (I usually add a little more olive oil, too). Add the tomatoes and olives at about the 7-8 minute mark. Again, while the recipe doesn't call for this, after the tomatoes heat up, I usually take a large spoon and mash them down so the liquid mixes in, although sometimes they begin to split open on their own. When finished, the potatoes should be nice and browned and somewhat crisp. Add the parsley just before removing the potatoes from the heat.

Just a GREAT dish, with the browned potatoes, the hint of garlic and rosemary, a little heat, the brininess of the olives and the little tomatoes.

 

 

 

 

 

WORD HISTORY:  

Potato-First, potatoes, like true sweet potatoes (not yams, which came to the New World from Africa) and tomatoes, are from the New World and their popularity as a great source of food only spread to the rest of the world gradually, often by way of Spanish and Portuguese traders. Potatoes became one of the main sources of food in many countries, and in Ireland, the little nation was so dependent on potatoes, a blight on the potato crop in the mid 1800s cost the lives of hundreds of thousands from starvation. Between deaths and emigration (often to the United States), it is estimated that Ireland's population decreased by as much as one quarter during that era. To put that into perspective, imagine a decrease in the current U.S. population by about 80 million. Spanish got the word "patata" from "batata" from one of the Taino dialects of the Caribbean islands. Taino is now largely extinct, as other languages, primarily Spanish, replaced it on the various islands. Originally the word meant "sweet potato," but later the similarly looking (on the outside) white potato had the same word applied to it. English got the word from Spanish in the mid 1500s.

Good Provençal-Like Dip or Spread

Photo added 6/18/2016

If you like olives, you'll love this mixture, which can be used as a dip for veggies or chips, or you can spread it on toast or crackers. I took the basic recipe from "Fresh Herb Cooking" by Linda Dannenberg, 2001, which had a recipe "Provencal Olive-Rosemary Butter,"* but I substituted cream cheese and sour cream/mayo for the butter. I use the soft whipped cream cheese, because it's easy to mix with the other ingredients, but you could use the packaged cream cheese and let it sit out to soften. This is simple:

1  8 ounce tub of plain whipped cream cheese
1 tablespoon sour cream
1 teaspoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 to 4 tablespoons of chopped black olives, preferably Kalamata olives
splash of brine from the olives
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

To a tub of whipped cream cheese mix in about a tablespoon of sour cream and one teaspoon mayo. Add about a teaspoon of minced garlic, 3-4 tablespoons of pitted and chopped black olives (I use Kalamata olives in brine, and I add a splash of the brine to the mixture**), a tablespoon of fresh chopped rosemary (or you could add a little less of  dried rosemary), and about a teaspoon of freshly ground pepper. No salt is needed because the olives and brine have enough salt. Let it sit briefly, or put it in the refrigerator for an hour or two.

* Provençal means it comes from "Provence," a region of southern France with such well known cities as Nice, Cannes, Toulon, and Marseille. "Provençal" also is the name of the language from that region, which has several dialects, all now being overtaken by standard French, to which Provençal is related, as it too is Latin based, but with fewer influences from Germanic Frankish.  

** I use a brand of Greek Kalamata olives called "Krinos," which I buy in a small clear plastic container. In my opinion they have the best flavor for this recipe, because they haven't added all sorts of other spices to the brine as some other brands do. Those added spices then conflict with the recipe in my opinion; then again, you may like it that way.

On some toasted wheat bread and along with some potato chips.

WORD HISTORY:
Olive-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown, but it is assumed by many to have come from some ancient eastern Mediterranean language, where olive trees were indigenous, and where the oil from the olives was highly important, and this then provided a basis for the word "oil."^ Ancient Greek had "elaiva/elaiwa," which meant both "olive tree," as well as its fruit "olive." Latin borrowed the term from Greek as "oliva," which then was inherited by Latin-based Old French as "olive." English borrowed the word from French during the 1200s. 

^ For the history of the the word "oil," see: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/05/oil-debate-spills-over.html