Noodles Romanoff

Back in the 1960s "Noodles Romanoff" was a fairly popular dish, because there was a boxed version that was mass marketed by General Mills under its "Betty Crocker" brand and there may have even been other brands too. There are variations in recipes, but they all have the same basic idea; that is, creamy noodles and cheese. Apparently "Noodles Romanoff" was invented at "Romanoff's," a restaurant in Beverly Hills in suburban Los Angeles, and thus had nothing to do with Russian royalty, although the restaurant's owner, who went by the name "Michael Romanoff," did nothing to discourage patrons from believing the dish was somehow connected to the long ruling and last Russian imperial family. In truth, the only connection to "royalty" was in the sense that many of Hollywood's "royalty" patronized the restaurant, thus promoting both the place and the dish. The owner was actually born in Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire, but for a time he successfully fooled many into believing him to be a cousin of the last Tsar.     

Ingredients:

10 to 12 ounce package egg noodles (I used wide noodles, but use whatever you prefer)
3 tablespoons butter 
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3 to 4 tablespoons canned (evaporated) milk 
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2/3 cup grated Romano cheese (or Parmesan)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cook noodles in salted water until "almost" tender, then drain well (they will cook briefly again soon). Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a sauce pan over low heat, then add the onion and garlic. Cook over low heat until softened. Keep the heat low, and add the Worcestershire sauce, pepper, salt, sour cream and milk. Mix together well, then add the drained noodles, and then most of the cheese. Gently mix everything to get the noodles well coated with the sour cream mixture. Add the last tablespoon of butter, let it melt and sprinkle the small amount of remaining cheese on top.    
     

WORD HISTORY: 
Vapor-This word goes back to Latin "vapor" meaning, "steam, heat, breath," but where Latin got the word is unknown. This passed into Latin-based Old French as "vapor," which became "vapour" in the French dialect established by the Normans in England. English borrowed the word as "vapour" circa 1400, with likely reinforcement from Latin. American English changed the spelling to "vapor." The meaning of "mist" is from about 1800 (?). The verb form "vaporize" developed from the noun in the first half of the 1600s, meaning, "to convert liquid into vapor, to become vapor," but also initially, "to smoke tobacco," which was still a relatively new activity in Britain in those times, but that meaning died out.