Chicken Hearts & Gravy

Serve with ... what else? MASHED POTATOES! (but also potato pierogis, noodles, pasta or rice are all good choices.)

 

 

Ingredients (about 5 servings):

 

1 pound chicken hearts

1 tablespoon butter + 1 tablespoon olive oil

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon homemade adobo seasoning* 

1 1/2 teaspoons rubbed sage

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed in the palm of your hand

2 1/2 cups chicken stock (low sodium is fine)

1/4 cup flour mixed well with 1/3 cup cold water 

 

Rinse the chicken hearts in cold water, drain them and dry them with paper towels. Heat the oil and butter in a skillet over medium heat, then saute the chicken hearts for just a couple of minutes until they begin to lightly brown. Reduce the heat to low, add the minced garlic and stir well as the garlic begins to cook. Stir in the adobo seasoning, rubbed sage, crushed thyme leaves and the chicken stock; stir well and bring mixture to a simmer, then cover. Cook for 45 to 60 minutes, or until the hearts are tender. Gradually stir in the flour and water mixture, stirring constantly. You can adjust the amount of flour and water until the gravy thickens to your preferred degree of thickness.

   

* Here is the recipe for adobo seasoning:  https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/11/adobo-seasoning.html

 

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Leather-This word, meaning "animal hide treated to prevent decomposition," goes back to Indo European "lethrom," which meant "leather." This gave Old Germanic "lethran," with the same meaning, and this gave Old English "leþer" (þ=th), which then became "lether," before the modern version. Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German "Leder," Low German "Ledder," West Frisian "leare," Dutch has both "leder" and the contracted form "leer," Danish "læder," Norwegian "lær," Icelandic "leður" (=lethur"), Swedish has "läder," all meaning "leather."

German Batter Fried Sage Leaves: Salbei Mäuse

More plainly known in German as "Salbeiküchlein" (little sage cakes), but popularly known to many in German as "Salbei Mäuse," literally "sage mice," with some dialect forms also (hey, this is German!), with the name coming from the batter fried leaves with stems looking like mice and their tails. These leaves are known in many of the German cultural and language areas. Try to use the largest sage leaves you can get. Good along with tea or coffee, as a snack, or as an appetizer. 

 

Serve with plum, cherry or apricot jam. 

Ingredients (2 to 3 servings): 

8 to 12 large fresh sage leaves with their stems

1/2 cup flour

3 tablespoons sparkling mineral water or club soda

3 tablespoons dry white wine

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt 

oil for frying

 

Over medium heat, heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a skillet with about 1/4 inch of oil. Rinse the sage leaves and pat them dry with paper towels. In a bowl, mix together the flour, mineral water, dry white wine, sugar and salt (the batter should be thick enough to hold to the sage leaves, so adjust the amount of liquid/flour to achieve that outcome). Drop a few of the sage leaves into the batter and coat them and carefully place them into the hot oil. Turn the leaves to brown them on both sides, then add some new leaves, and do the same (you can then say, "I'm turning over a new leaf"). Drain any excess oil from the leaves on paper towels. 

 

 

I made these a couple of times recently, but the first time, I couldn't find really good size sage leaves, which are shown in the top two photos. By the second time I made them, the warm weather helped my own sage plant to produce some nice leaves, which are shown in the bottom two photos. 

 

 

WORD HISTORY: 

Dwarf-The ultimate origin of this word is unclear, and it seems to only be present in the Germanic languages. It is likely related to an Indo European form "dhwergwhos," with a meaning of "something small, something tiny," which had a related form "dhvarás," which referred to "spirits and demons." Old Germanic had "dwergaz," meaning, "an atypically small being with special powers," and this gave Old English "dweorh" and "dweorg" (dialectal forms) meaning, "uncommonly short person." The original ending sounds in English were guttural, and words with these sounds have proven to be problematic in English, as English speakers seem to have searched for smoother, less guttural, sounds; thus, we have seen changes in pronunciation like "enough" going from a guttural ending to being as if "enuf(f)," "through" being as if "threw," "draught" being as if "draft" (with this spelling even being adopted, especially in American English) and "cough" being pronounced as if "coff." The Middle Ages saw "dweorh" and "dweorg" go to "dwerth," "dwergh," "dwerke" and others. The Old English plural was "dweorgas" which then morphed into "dwarrows" in the Middle Ages, and it then came to be pronounced as if "dwarrevs/dwarves," which seemingly brought about the singular pronunciation as "dwarf," with the spelling also following suit. The early 1600s saw the development of the verb form, with the meaning, "to be or appear to be smaller in comparison." Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Zwerg" (once spelled "twerg/twerc," and the German 'z' is pronounced 'ts'), Low German "Dwarg," West Frisian "dwerch," Dutch "dwerg," Danish "dværg," Norwegian "dverg," Icelandic "dvergur" and Swedish "dvärg." All of the Germanic forms mean "dwarf," a meaning that goes back to the mythology of the Germanic tribes.

Sage Sausage Patties

I like sage sausage, and I frequently just buy some regular bulk sausage, or fresh sausage links and remove the sausage from the skins, then season the meat myself, because I like a lot of sage flavor. I make the sage sausage into patties for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or I put the patties onto buns, add some tomato, onion, lettuce and mayonnaise, and I've got "sage sausage burgers."

 

Ingredients (4 patties):

 

1 pound pork sausage

2 slices white bread (sandwich size), torn into pieces

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 medium garlic clove, minced

8 to 10 fresh sage leaves, chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons rubbed sage

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt 

 

Mix the ingredients together very well in a bowl. It's best to cover the bowl and refrigerate the sausage for an hour or two (several hours is better). Form into patties and bake, fry or grill.

 

WORD HISTORY:

Crave-This word seems to be derived from the ancestor of "craft;" thus "craft" is naturally its close relative. Forms of "crave" are not in all of the other Germanic languages. It goes back to Indo European "ger," which meant "to pull together, to gather up, to fit or put together, twist, wind (long 'i')." This gave Old Germanic "kraf/kreb," which meant "strength, might;" that is, "the energy or force put together from within, manifested in physical strength." This "apparently" developed an offshoot in North Germanic as "kref/krav," meaning, "to demand, to implore" (perhaps from the idea of "to ask strongly, forcefully"), and this was borrowed by Old English as "crafian," meaning, "to demand, implore;" thus also, "to inwardly long for, yearn" This then became "craven," before the modern form. The noun was formed with the common "ing" ending in the mid 1600s. While "craven," the Middle English form of the verb, may have had some influence on the meaning and spelling of the adjective of that spelling, they are NOT really the same word, and they are almost certainly unrelated. Germanic relatives: Norwegian has "kreve" (to demand, to claim, in the sense, "the captain's poor judgment claimed many a life"), Icelandic has "krefja" (to demand) and "krefjast" (to ask for), Danish has "kræve" (to demand, to require, to long for), Swedish has "kräva" (to demand, to require). 

Scallops & Polenta with Herbs

Like many types of seafood, scallops are pretty expensive, with sea scallops being larger and more expensive than bay scallops. Sea scallops are able to stand up to the hot oil and cooking process better than the small, more tender and sweeter tasting bay scallops. The cooking process is done to sear the sea scallops a bit, but without overdoing it, and the amount of ground red pepper should not leave your mouth smoking like a furnace; rather, the red pepper and the paprika should just provide a tad of seasoning, later topped by a sprinkle of fresh lemon juice. If you prefer, you can replace the red pepper with ground black pepper.

 

Ingredients (4 servings):

 

24 large sea scallops

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground red pepper (like cayenne) to dust the scallops (or ground black pepper)

1/2 teaspoon sweet Spanish paprika (smoked)

4  tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons lemon juice

For the polenta:

1 cup quick cooking polenta (also called instant)

2 1/2 cups milk

1 1/3 cup water (more if needed)

2 tablespoons butter

3  tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

1 heaping tablespoon fresh sage leaves, chopped

1 heaping tablespoon parsley or cilantro, chopped

 

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spread the scallops out on a plate or platter. (If the scallops are particularly moist, dab them lightly with a paper towel to remove any heavy amount of moisture). Lightly sprinkle the scallops with ground red pepper (or ground black pepper) and sweet paprika, then place the scallops in the skillet, seasoned side down. Now add the butter and let it melt as you season the top side of the scallops (you may have to do all of this in two batches). Turn the scallops over (after about 2 1/2 minutes, and they and the red pepper/paprika should be lightly browned) and cook them on the other side for about another two minutes, but allow whatever time is needed to cook the scallops through. When the scallops are cooked through, remove the skillet from the heat and sprinkle on the lemon juice.

 

Meanwhile, in a heavy bottom sauce pan over medium heat, heat the milk and water until it just starts to boil, then stir in the polenta little by little (initially using a whisk is recommended; it will help to prevent lumps), then continue stirring (I usually change to a spoon) until the polenta is nice and thick (4 to 6 minutes?). Stir in the butter and cream, then add the thyme, sage and parsley/cilantro. Mix together well. 

To serve: add some polenta to a shallow bowl or to a plate, then top with some scallops and a little of the butter/oil from the pan, along with a little chopped parsley or cilantro. Add a lemon wedge for those who want more lemony flavor.

 

WORD HISTORY:

Scallop-This word is related to "shell," "scale" (patches of skin), "scale" (weighing device), all from Germanic, but only "shell" is an original English word from its Germanic roots, as "scale" (patches of skin) was borrowed from French, which had it from Germanic Frankish, the word "scale" meaning "weighing device" is really simply from the Old Norse form of "shell," but this specific meaning came to English from Old Norse. "Scallop" goes back to Indo European "skel," which had the notion "to cut, to split, to chip." This gave Old Germanic the root "skal/skel," with the meaning, "to split, to divide," which gave Frankish, a Germanic dialect/language, "skala," with the meaning, "husk, shell," and this was absorbed into Old French as "escale, meaning, "shell," which then produced "escalope," meaning, "the shell of a nut." English borrowed the word in the later 1300s or very early 1400s, initially as "scalop," but the second 'l' was added not long thereafter. Originally it meant "shell of the sea creature (a scallop)," but that designation quickly transferred to the sea creature itself, and thus, to the creature's interior flesh (abductor muscle). The larger shells of the scallops were used as baking dishes, and the bright colored wavy shells were also used to pattern decorative designs. These brought about the verb usage beginning in the late 1600s for the idea of "designing something to look like the curves of a scallop shell," and then a few decades later to mean "to cook in a scallop-shaped dish." English had borrowed French "escalope" (see above) circa 1500, meaning, "the edge of something shaped like a scallop shell." The French word had developed the meaning, "the way to cut veal into pieces" in circa 1690, perhaps from the idea of cutting the veal into pieces resembling scallop pieces, then later, "to cut meat or fish into thin slices," but why this meaning developed is uncertain (perhaps just a further development of cutting the meat?). "Escalope" is not a terribly common word in the United States, where you are more likely to see it on a menu in an upscale restaurant, but the average American is likely not all that familiar with the word, although they might well connect it with "scallop." How commonly it is used in England or in other English speaking countries or regions, I don't know.     

Middle Eastern Black Tea & Sage

Tea is a common drink in area of the Middle East and North Africa. This black tea and sage is pretty common in parts of the western Middle East, including part of Jordan, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. I like tea and I like sage, so this is a drink made for me.

 

Ingredients (per serving):

1 teaspoon black tea (or 1 teabag)

3 or 4 sage leaves (or 1 heaping teaspoon crumbled dried sage leaves, NOT rubbed sage)

1 cup boiling water

honey(or sugar)

Bring the water to a boil in a pan. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately add the tea and the sage leaves. Cover the pan and allow the tea to sit for about 3 1/2 to 5 minutes, depending upon how strong you like your tea. Add honey (or sugar) to sweeten the tea to your preference. (Note: some people add the sweetener, typically sugar, right in the pan to dissolve as the water heats up.)

 

Milder tea (reddish in color) ...

Darker and stronger tea...

 

WORD HISTORY:

Algebra-When I was in school, "algebra" was like a dirty word; in fact, I'd have rather said, "heck," "darned" or "dang it," than utter the word "algebra." The word "algebra" was borrowed into English in the mid 1500s from the Latin word of the same spelling. Latin had borrowed the word in the 1100s with the Latin translation from Arabic of transliterated, "al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa al-muqabala" (The Compendium of Calculation by Restoration and Balancing," which has other translations^). Transliterated "al-jabr," a noun, is from the verb "jabara," meaning, "to set, to restore," from Semitic "jbr/gbr," meaning,  "to become strong, to strengthen;" thus also, "to gain, to triumph."

  

^ By the way, the book also helped immensely in the adoption of Arabic numbers into Europe, an adoption that gradually replaced the use of Roman numerals as the main way to write and display numbers.

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." 

Cornmeal & Sage Dumplings

"Generally," cornmeal dumplings are associated with the southern part of the United States, and there are variations to recipes; in fact, I've had a southern cookbook for about 45 years with a recipe for cornmeal dumplings; but it isn't the recipe I'm presenting here. The book is so old and worn, a couple of years ago I had to apply heavy packing tape to hold it together, something I may soon have to do with myself. Cornmeal dumplings are often served with greens, like collards or kale, but they are also a great accompaniment to roasted chicken; and of course, cornmeal dumplings are also used in soup. 

Ingredients:

2/3 cup yellow cornmeal (you won't turn into an iceberg if you use white cornmeal)
2/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons finely chopped onion, sauteed in a little butter, about a teaspoon
2/3 teaspoon ground black pepper 
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup buttermilk (a little more, by the tablespoon, if needed)
3 tablespoons chopped sage 
4 to 5 cups chicken broth for cooking

In a small skillet, saute the onion until it softens. While the onion is cooking, mix together all of the dry ingredients (cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, pepper). Using a fork, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it forms bits of coarse meal. Add the sage, softened onion and buttermilk, then mix as little as possible to just bring everything together into a dough. Heat the chicken broth in a sauce pan and bring to a gentle, but steady, boil. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough into the hot broth. You can cover the pan, but I don't. Cook the dumplings for about 12 to 15 minutes, just checking to make sure the dumplings don't stick.

After removing the dumplings, I strain the broth and use it to make gravy.

Cornmeal dumplings with gravy, roasted chicken and corn...

WORD HISTORY:
Bucket-This word is distantly related to "bulk," a word from Germanic, but the specific form "bulk" was borrowed by English from the North Germanic branch of Germanic. "Bucket" is also closely related to the now UK dialectal word "bouk," which means "belly," and also, "torso." "Bouk" is an original English word from its Germanic roots, and it has relatives in other Germanic languages, including German "Bauch" ("belly," "torso"). It goes back to Indo European "bheu," which meant, "to swell, to puff up/out" (a variant form was "bhel," which also meant, "to swell"). The Indo European form gave Old Germanic "buka," meaning, "main part of the body, the trunk, the torso;" but with that part of the body having the abdomen, it also came to be used for, "belly," and this gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "buc," meaning "belly," but also figuratively, "jug, container," "likely" from the idea of a "waterskin," an animal bladder or stomach used to carry water or other liquids, which "bulged out when filled." This meaning "seems" to have been melded into the closely related Frankish form, "buk," meaning, "belly," and this was absorbed into Old French with the added diminutive suffix "et," as "buquet," but meaning, "container for carrying water or liquids, a pail." This "returned" to England with the Normans with that meaning and it was borrowed into English (and blended with the existing English form), initially as "buket," in the mid 1200s.      

Apple & Celeriac Soup

This is a good soup for this time of year. It's best if you can use a blender, but a stick (immersion) blender could work too, although it might take a little time to get the soup to a smooth consistency. If you use tart apples, and you find the soup to be too sour, just add a little honey or sugar, but I doubt it will be a problem.  

Ingredients:

4 to 5 green onions, with some green, chopped
2 apples, cored, peeled or unpeeled, chopped (I leave the peel on)
2 1/2 cups celeriac, peeled and chopped
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
2 cups apple cider (or apple juice)
5 to 6 sage leaves chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tablespoons butter + 1 1/2 tablespoons oil
1 cup milk (I prefer canned milk in cooking, but it's certainly not mandatory)
plain yogurt or low fat sour cream for garnish

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the oil and melt the butter over medium low heat. Cook the onion, apple, celeriac and ginger until the celeriac, especially, is just softening (this will take a little time). Stir it occasionally to prevent any major browning of the ingredients. Then add the apple cider/juice. Let the cider come to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes until everything is tender.  Pour the mixture into the blender and blend until smooth. Pour the blended mixture back into the pan. Add chopped sage, thyme, salt. Bring the soup to a bare simmer. Gradually stir in the milk until it is all mixed in. When the soup has returned to a bare simmer, that's it. Serve with a dollop of plain yogurt or low fat sour cream on top of each serving. 

WORD HISTORY:
Slit/Slice-These closely related words go back to Indo European "skel," which meant, "to cut, to cut off," which then produced "skleid," which meant, "to tear off, to tear apart, to cut off, to split apart;" and thus also, "to use up" (likely from the notion of "cutting or breaking off parts until used up"). This gave Old Germanic "slitan(an)," meaning, "to tear off, to tear apart, to split," as well as the figurative "use up" meaning. This gave Old English "slitan," with the same main meanings, but also, "to cut into pieces." This then became "sliten," which kept many of the same meanings, but also, "to wear out or wear down," which likely had been retained in some areas of England as a meaning for the original English form "slitan." This then became "slit." The noun was derived from the verb in the 1200s, with the meaning, "a generally long cut or tear in clothing, which is purely an opening and doesn't detach any part from the main object," but also then, "a long cut in general." The Old Germanic form also gave Frankish, a Germanic dialect, akin to English, "slitan," which also meant, "to split, to split into pieces." This was absorbed into Old French as "esclicier," meaning initially, "to split," and the more figurative "to break or smash into pieces." French also had the noun "escliz/esclis," meaning, "a fragment, a splinter, a piece." English borrowed the noun as "slice" in the early 1400s, and it borrowed the verb, also as "slice," in the second half of the 1400s. The noun and the verb are both examples of Germanic based words being borrowed into Latin-based French, and then borrowed by English, itself a Germanic language. English had its own form in what is modern "slit" (above), but German had "slizan," in Old High German, which then became the more modern (but now not in every day use) "schleissen," pronounced kind of like "shlice-n," and properly spelled "schleißen" and meaning "to split, to wear down, to wear off, to peel off." It is spelled with the double "s" in the Swiss and Liechtenstein spelling systems, but with the "ß" in German spelling elsewhere. Dutch has "slijten," meaning, "to use up, to wear down or away," Icelandic has the noun "slita" (a tear), Danish "slide" (work very hard; that is, wear down or wear out with work), Swedish "slita" (wear out, wear out with hard work).

Beef Heart with Dressing

In times now past, I would make this as "Stuffed Beef Heart," where I put the "dressing" ("stuffing")* inside and then tied it to hold it closed, but because this was a relatively small beef heart, I just decided to cut the heart open, and cook it that way, with the "dressing" on top. It turned out GREAT!

Ingredients:

1 beef heart
2 teaspoons olive or canola oil
2 cups stale bread, cut or torn into bite size pieces
1/4 cup bread crumbs (I use panko)
2/3 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1/3 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 cup beef stock

Trim off the fat from the beef heart and rinse the heart well, then cut the heart open and trim away any vessels. In a pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 1 minute, then add the garlic and mushrooms. After about another minute or two, add the thyme, the fresh sage and the parsley. Add the bread pieces and sprinkle on the rubbed sage. Mix everything together and then gradually add the beef stock, allowing the bread to absorb the liquid as much as possible. When the beef stock has been added, add the bread crumbs a little at a time and mix them into the other ingredients to see how wet the mixture is. You may not need to use all of the bread crumbs, because they are really only used to help sop up excess liquid, but you also don't want the mixture to be too dry. Remember too, you needn't cook the dressing until the onion and other ingredients are totally softened, because it will be subject to more cooking. In a baking dish or a deep sided pan, spread out the open beef heart and spoon on the dressing to form a nice smooth layer. I put just a little water in the bottom of the pan, like about 1/4 cup, but by no means should the water be anywhere near high enough to touch the dressing layer. The steam produced by the small amount of water will keep everything moist. Cover with lid or foil and bake at 325 degrees F for 2 1/2 hours. Let the heart sit for about 5 to 10 minutes after removing it from the oven. You can slice servings off with the dressing right on them (see photo below).  

* In the U.S. it likely depends upon the place where you grew up as to whether you say, "dressing" or "stuffing." In much of the southern US, "dressing" is most often used, while in much of the northern areas, "stuffing" is the preferred word, while many other areas are mixed in their usage. Some requiring more order in their lives, like the Sheldon Cooper character of television's "Big Bang Theory," have tried to apply the logic of, "if it is cooked inside a bird or part of another animal, it is 'stuffing,' but if it is cooked in a pan or dish separate from the meat, it is then called 'dressing.' " The thing is, logic does not always prevail in our regional terminology, and, to be quite honest, that keeps things interesting (see note **, below). Well, when I was a kid, it was called "dressing" in my area, but in the early 1970s a version with dried bread and packets of seasoning in a box was heavily marketed in television ads as, "Stove Top Stuffing," and that term came to at least be recognized nationally, but it didn't stop "dressing" users from the use of their term.

** In my neighborhood when I grew up, the name for a "sweet, flavored fizzy non alcoholic drink" was "pop," a shortening of the term, "soda pop," but as I got older and I met people outside of my own little world, I found some others called it, "soda," another shortening of the same term mentioned above. Now to me, "soda" was a powdered substance that came in a box with a picture of an arm with a hammer in hand on the box. Some powder was mixed with water and drank to help with heartburn or a stomach ache, an idea that these people didn't find very amusing, bringing them to often tell me to "stuff it," a term I never figured out, but which I assumed meant they used "stuffing" instead of "dressing." Hm?


Click on photo to enlarge it... I had the beef heart topped with dressing and some gravy, as well as with some mashed potatoes and gravy and fresh corn, which I had just cut off of the cob.

WORD HISTORY:
Dress-This word traces back to a compound form, with the first part having been a prefix. The main body of the word is related to a number of other words, including Latin-derived "direct," and also to "right," a word from the Germanic roots of English. The original prefix goes back to Indo European "dwhis/dwis," which had the meaning "twice, again, two ways;" thus also, "aside (from), away." This gave Latin "dis," which meant, "apart, in two separate parts, asunder." The main body of the original word goes back to Indo European "reg," which had the idea of "move in a straight line;" thus also, "direct in a proper way." This gave its Latin offspring "regere," which meant "to guide, to direct;" thus, "to rule/govern." Together these forms gave Latin "directus" (straight, direct), the participle form of Latin "dirigere" (to direct, to arrange, to set in order). This produced an "assumed" Latin form "directiare" (to make or set straight). This was passed to Latin-based Old French as "drecier" (straighten, direct, to serve food, to arrange, to prepare;" thus also, "to put on clothing" (to prepare/arrange oneself), and also, "to decorate." This then became "dresser." English borrowed the word in the first part of the 1300s as, "dressen," with essentially the same meanings, which also expanded to "add seasonings to food." The noun was derived from the verb circa 1600 with the general meaning, "clothing," and the more specific meaning, "woman's apparel," came about in the mid 1600s. The noun "dressing" came from the verb in the mid to late 1300s and was applied to "the process of preparing;" thus then to, "putting on clothing," then in the 1500s to, "season food," then in the first half of the 1700s to, "put a bandage onto a wound." The "seasoning process for food" meaning led to, "seasoning elements put inside fowl and animal parts," but also later to, "seasonings or sauces used for salads."        

Game Hen with Herbed Rice & Squash

In place of acorn squash, you could also use some cut up pumpkin or butternut squash. Make sure to use a pan or baking dish that is large enough to hold the ingredients, as the rice will naturally expand as it cooks.

Ingredients:

2 Cornish hens, each rubbed with olive oil, sprinkled with salt,  black pepper and dried sage leaves
1 acorn squash, peeled, seeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
4 scallions, chopped (with some of the green)
1 cup rice
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
10 to 12 fresh sage leaves, torn or chopped
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 300 F. In a baking dish or pan, put the rice, the acorn squash, the chopped garlic, the chopped scallions, the sage leaves, the thyme, the black pepper and the vegetable broth. Mix the seasonings in throughout the rice. Rub the olive oil on the Cornish hens and add the seasonings to the hens, as given in the ingredients, above. Place the hens on top of the rice/squash mixture. Place in the oven, uncovered. Bake for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the rice and squash are tender. If the liquid is absorbed, but the rice is not quite done, you can add a little more broth, or even a little water. Carefully remove the hens from the top of the rice and squash, then stir the rice a little to mix in the juices from the cooked hens.

Click to enlarge the photo...

WORD HISTORY:
Acre-This word goes back to Indo European "agerh," which had the idea "open land, field," but also, "forest land." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "akraz," which meant, "field." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "æcer," meaning, "field, land sown with seed to produce food, tilled land, a measurement of land that could be tilled in a day." This then became "aker," then "acre" (by influence of the French spelling),^ and eventually it took on the most prominent and specific measurement meaning, "4840 square yards of land." Forms in the other Germanic languages: German and Low German Saxon have "Acker" (field used for farming),^^ West Frisian "eker" (field, land for farming), Dutch "akker" (field for farming), Danish "ager" (field), Icelandic "akur" (field), Norwegian and Swedish "åker" (field typically used for farming).

^ Old French borrowed the word from Old Norse "akr," with reinforcement by Old English "æcer."

^^ Just as its English cousin, German also used the word for a specific measurement of land, although that is not its primary meaning in modern times. 

Acorn or Butternut Squash & Sage Tart

This was my own idea, so if anything goes wrong, blame someone else. That may not sound right, but I'll get Sarah Huckabee Sanders to explain it to you later. I used an acorn squash about the size of a softball. Actually... I checked and found that the diameter of a softball is typically 3.8 inches or 9.65 centimeters. Just before I put the squash mix into the pie shell, I had a brilliant, very brilliant, idea. I'll have Sarah Huckabee Sanders explain how brilliant I am later and she'll tell you with a totally straight face. That girl can lie without batting an eye. Anyway, I added some mushrooms to the ingredients. You can use whatever you have, but use only one portabello (also spelled, "portobello") mushroom, as they are so big. I happened to have a few shiitake mushrooms, so I used those.    


Ingredients:

1 acorn or butternut squash
1  9 inch pie shell
about 10 fresh sage leaves, torn into 3 pieces
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
3 mushroom caps, chopped 
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 egg, beaten

First, heat the oven to 325 F. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Place the squash cut side down in a shallow ovenproof pan or on a baking sheet (foil or parchment paper lined makes for easier clean up). Bake for about 1 hour, or until a knife or fork can be easily inserted into each half. Scoop out the flesh of the squash into a bowl and let it cool a bit. Put the pie shell into your preheated 375 F oven for about 6 or 8 minutes, just to firm it up. Mash the squash flesh and then add the sage leaves, the dried sage, the chopped mushrooms, the cayenne, the salt, the pepper, the flour, the cream and the beaten egg. Mix very well with a large spoon. The mixture should be very thick. Fill the pie shell with the squash mixture and bake it for approximately 45 minutes, but check it at the 30 minute mark. The tart can be served warm or cold.

WORD HISTORY: 
Squash-English has more than one word of this spelling, but this is the noun for the general name of the vegetable, of which there are a number of varieties. This is a shortening of a compound word, "askutasquash," from Narragansett, a language of the Algonquian languages of North America.^ The word meant, "thing eaten raw," with the "askut" part meaning, "green;" thus also, "raw," and  "asquash" meaning, "eaten."   

^ Some of the best known other members of this language family are Shawnee, Cheyenne, Cree and Arapaho, but there are many others. 

Pumpkin Soup

A great soup for chilly or cold days. Be sure to buy "pure pumpkin," and not, "pumpkin pie mix," which has spices in it and will leave you with pumpkin pie soup, which may not be a bad thing, but it is not the same as this soup. The pure pumpkin is pureed and ready to use. As for the chili pepper, if you don't like "heat," use a little sprinkle of  ground cayenne pepper or a few red pepper flakes instead. For salt, if you use regular chicken broth, it likely will have a good deal of salt, so you should keep that in mind. 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon oil (your choice, except "crude" or "3-in-1")
2 cups chicken stock, low fat and low sodium is fine
1 15 ounce can pure pumpkin (pumpkin puree)
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1/2 inch piece of chili pepper, chopped
1 cup cream or evaporated canned milk (I used canned milk, remember, NOT condensed milk)
2 tablespoons sage, either fresh sage, finely chopped, or freeze dried sage, soaked per brand instructions
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground black pepper (to your own taste)

In a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat, heat the oil and then sauté the onion for about 3 minutes, then add the garlic and chili pepper. Sauté until all of the vegetables are well softened. Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes, then gradually stir in the pumpkin puree. If you like soup with the bits of vegetables in it, you can skip this next step; otherwise, use a stick blender (or a blender/food processor) and blend until the soup is smooth. Return soup to medium low heat. Season with salt and pepper, mixing well. Add the sage and stir again, then gradually stir in the cream/milk, taking care to just let the soup heat through and not to boil.

WORD HISTORY:
Pumpkin-This word, very distantly related to "cook," goes back to Indo European "pekwo," which had the notion, "to ripen, to become edible." This gave Ancient Greek "pépto," which meant, "ripen." This then gave Greek "pépon," meaning, "melon." Latin borrowed the term from Greek as, "pepo," also with the meaning, "melon." "Pepo" was the nominative form, and other forms of the Latin all contained an "n" (for example, "peponi," in the dative and "pepone" in the ablative). The word was passed onto French, a Latin-based language, "eventually" as "pompon," ^ English borrowed the word in the 1500s as "pompion," with the meaning "melon," but also, "pumpkin." By the 1600s, English had tacked on the suffix "kin," a diminutive (makes something smaller, or to express affection or dearness, as in "Daddykins" ^^), giving us the modern form of the word, along with the exclusive meaning for the squash type vegetable.

^ Initially there seems to have been other spellings in French, but they eventually led to "pompon."

^^ German has "-chen" and Low German and Dutch have -ken as diminutive suffixes, while the French for, "quin," was borrowed from Germanic. 

Sage & Cheese Stuffed Dates With Bacon

The idea for this simple recipe "seems likely" to have developed from Spanish tapas; that is, "snacks" of numerous types served at bars in Spain.

blue cheese (any type, including Gorgonzola, one of my favorite cheeses)
sage leaves
bacon
dates, pitted (large date types are naturally better for stuffing, but use what you have or what you can buy easily)

Heat the oven to 400 degrees (204 C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Soften the cheese a bit by mashing it down and stirring it, you don't want it too soft, and definitely not runny, so I wouldn't add any milk or cream. Slit open each date, then put a bit of the cheese inside, then put a sage leaf, or half of a larger leaf, on top of the cheese. Press the date together to close it somewhat, but it doesn't have to be totally closed. Cut the bacon slices about 3 inches, so that each slice wraps around a date just one time, with little overlap, then fix the bacon to the date with a toothpick. If you wrap the bacon double, it will not cook properly. Place the dates in the oven for about 12 to 15 minutes, checking to make sure they do not burn. If the bacon needs a little more time, keep the dates in the oven, but watch extra carefully.

WORD HISTORY:
Date-English has a couple words of this spelling, but they have different histories. This is the word for the fruit coming from a type of palm tree. The exact origin of this word is uncertain, but it most certainly seems to come from a Semitic language of the Middle East, as Hebrew has "deqel" and Arabic has "daqal," both meaning "date palm," the tree producing "dates." Greek applied the meaning to their word "daktylos," which meant "toe or finger," from the fruit's resemblance to a toe and the closeness of the Semitic word to their own. The Greek word is likely related to English "toe," going back to Indo European.^ Latin borrowed the word from Greek as "dactylus," and it was taken by French, a heavily Latin-based language, as "date." English borrowed the word from French circa 1300.

^ The Indo European root "deik" is the ancestor of "toe," but the meaning of the Indo European root had the notion of "point, show;" thus, the Old Germanic form was originally used for "finger," from the idea of "point, show," but then was used also for "toe." 

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).