[1] An impressive party dish or appetizer: cooked store-bought pesto with kalamata olives and pesto sauce. We adderd ciliegene, small mozzarella balls Here’s the recipe (both photos © DeLallo).

[2] Here, pesto is a salad dressing on this baby arugula, snap pea and burrata salad. Thin the pesto to desired consistency with olive oil. Here’s the recipe.

[3] Pesto is a great sauce for grilled or roasted fish, meat and poultry. This is an arugula pesto (photo © Sun Basket).

You may enjoy pesto on pasta, but what about beyond?

Pesto sauce traditionally* consists of basil, garlic, olive oil, pine nuts, Parmesan and Pecorino cheeses. Salt is added for seasoning.

Here’s a recipe for homemade pesto. If you’d like to try other ingredients—cheeses, greens, nuts, oils—here’s a list of options.

Pesto originated in the Italian province of Liguria, where plots of sweet basil were plentiful. (The capital city of Liguria, Genoa, is the home of Christopher Columbus.)

Ligurians invented pesto sauce, crushing the ingredients with a mortar and pestle into a paste (pesto means paste in Italian).

Varying the amount of olive oil created a thinner sauce or a thicker spread.
 
 
MAKE YOUR OWN PESTO

It’s easy to make pesto at home. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle†, you can pulse the ingredients in a food processor.

Note: We tried it both ways, and the ground mortar and pestle version actually tasted more vibrant than the pulsed pesto.

We prefer it, unless we don’t want to take the extra time.

Here’s the classic recipe, plus tips to make a better pesto:

 
Extra pesto can be stored in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, for up to one week.

Or, freeze it.

 
 
BEYOND PASTA: 14 NON-PASTA WAYS TO USE PESTO

 
 
RECIPES: NON-PASTA WAYS TO USE PESTO

15 Pesto Use Recipes
21 Pesto Use Recipes
Asparagus & Pesto Lasagna
Broccoli Rabe & Pistachio Pesto With Burrata
Pesto Cheese Spread
Polenta & Pesto Lasagna

*Today, cooks switch out the ingredients to make modern pestos: different herbs or green vegetables, nuts and cheeses.

†The mortar is the bowl, the pestle is the grinding tool. They were used to make both medicine and food. Ancient mortars and pestles found in Southwest Asia date back to approximately 35000 B.C.E. If that seems like a ridiculously long time ago, Homo sapiens evolved in Africa 300,000 years ago [source].

The English word mortar derives from classical Latin mortarium, meaning, among other things, both receptacle for pounding and the product of grinding or pounding. The classical Latin pistillum, meaning “pounder,” evolved into the English pestle [source].

For those who like things hot and spicy, here’s a variation on the Dirty Martini: Add black pepper heat!

You get the salty brine from the olives, and heat from the pepper.

You can purchase pepper-infused vodka like Absolut Peppar (photo #2), or infuse plain vodka with peppercorns (instructions below).

(Pepper vodka is also great in Bloody Marys.)

The olives in the photo are Lindsay Small Organic Olives, but if your crowd likes to pile on the heat, look for chile-stuffed olives (there are plenty on Amazon).

Stuffed olives tend to be green olives; but use black olives

Ready to spice things up?
 
 
RECIPE: BLACK PEPPER DIRTY MARTINI

Ingredients For 1 Drink

 
To Infuse Your Own Pepper Vodka

 
Preparation

1. INFUSE the vodka. Place the vodia and the crushed peppercorns in an airtight container and seal. (Or, make an entire 750ml bottle’s worth with 2 tablespoons of peppercorns.)

[1] A pepper-infused Dirty Martini (photo and recipe © Lindsay Olives).

[2] Absolut Peppar vodka, infused with black pepper (photo © Absolut).

3. MAKE the martini: Start by rimming a coupe or martini glass. Place the ground pepper in a small dish, run lemon wedge along edge of the glass, then dip the glass into the pepper and twist to rim. Set aside.

4. COMBINE the remaining ingredients (except garnish) In a mixing glass with ice, add vodka, olive brine, and vermouth, and stir until chilled. Strain into prepped glass and garnish with an olive.
 

THE HISTORY OF THE DIRTY MARTNI

While the Dirty Martini may seem to have arisen in the last 20 years, it actually is much older.

There are at least two claims, one from the East Coast and one from the West Coast; and both stories may be true.

According to David Wondrich, cocktail historian and author, Dirty Martini’s history begins in 1901, when John E. O’Connor served a Martini with muddled olives at the Waldorf Astoria.

However, using olive brine doesn’t appear in the written record until 1930. The drink, called the Perfect, consisted of half gin, half vodka, dry vermouth, three types of bitters and one teaspoon of olive brine.

The Perfect dropped out of sight until after World War II, transforming into a Dirty Martini recipe requiring two parts gin, one part vermouth and a teaspoon of olive brine [source]. That’s our modern Dirty Martini.

But where did it go? We hadn’t heard of it until about 20 years ago, when a colleague ordered it at a bar. We, an olive lover, ordered one of our own.

The garnish, then and still, is blue cheese-stuffed olives. Some like it hot, and opt for jalapeño-stuffed olives.

Don’t like blue cheese or chiles? Classic pimento-stuffed olives do just fine.

Here’s the history of the original Martini.

We found a more fanciful story on Leaf TV.

The story credits Jerry Thomas, a famous 19th century bartender and author of the 1862 volume, The Bartenders Guide, as the inventor of Martinis, and subsequently the Dirty Martini.

Thomas worked at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco. One day, he was supposedly asked to mix up “something special” by a prospector who was about to journey to Martinez, California.

There is scant detail, but Thomas purportedly added olives to the drink. The prospector paid using a gold nugget.

The truth is out there!

Have you ever had a cucumber sandwich?

It’s an English tradition that was likely arrived in the U.S. in the 1800s, along with the concept of afternoon tea, a formal light meal, traditionally served at 4 p.m.

The high-class snack, meant to tide over wealthy people who didn’t eat dinner until 8 p.m. or later.

Cucumber sandwiches were served at Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887, were enjoyed by the Raj of India in the late 1800s, and were referenced in Oscar Wilde’s play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” as a “reckless extravagance” (cucumbers were pricey before they became more available in the Edwardian era).

The traditional cucumber sandwich is composed of paper-thin slices of cucumber (no peel) placed between two thin slices of crustless, lightly buttered bread.

You can make the traditional dainty tea sandwiches (photo #2), smaller canapés, or full-size luncheon sandwiches (some people leave the on the crusts for those).

You can cut the sandwiches into triangles, squares, fingers, circles or other cookie cutter shapes.

> More cucumber recipes.

> June is National Cucumber Month. June 14th is National Cucumber Day.

> The history of cucumbers.
 
 
AMERICAN VARIATIONS

Some Americans replaced the butter with cream cheese (the latter invented in 1872 in New York), some leave the peel on the cucumber and some don’t cut the cucumbers paper-thin (egad!).

The English traditionally use bread from a Pullman loaf—a whole loaf sliced thin (photo #5; called pain de mie in France).

There are numerous variations below.

Our personal cucumber sandwich is made on Pepperidge Farm Very Thin Bread, which is available in White and Whole Wheat. We use the best butter (Finlandia, Plugra, Vermont Creamery) and snipped dill, the perfect herb to complement cucumbers.

Other Americanizations include:

 
 
IT’S CUCUMBER SANDWICH SEASON

Warmer weather beckons to cool-as-a-cucumber sandwiches for:

 
 
CUCUMBER SANDWICH RECIPE

It’s a no brainer, but we give you the traditional recipe plus ways to modernize it.

First, a note about the cucumbers:

English cucumbers were bred in the U.K. to create a cucumber more desirable for cucumber sandwiches.

It has tender flesh, with a thin, edible peel and tiny or no seeds. Some stores sell it as a burpless cucumber, European cucumber, hothouse cucumber or seedless cucumber.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PEEL or score lengthwise the dark green peel of the cucumber. If you have an English cucumber or other thin-skin variety, cut a thin slice and see if you enjoy it with the peel on. You can easily get very thin slices using a mandoline. It’s all up to you.

2. PLACE the cucumbers between paper towels and tamp them to allow some of the moisture to drain. You can then salt them lightly—which also removes moisture—the longer the better (30 minutes to 3 hours). When ready to prepare the sandwiches:

3. THINLY BUTTER the slices of bread all the way to the edges. This edge-to-edge technique prevents the bread from becoming damp with cucumber moisture. NOTE: If you have an unsliced loaf, freezing it before you cut it helps you make even slices.

4. TOP the bottom slice with cucumber and any other ingredients. If using smoked salmon, chicken salad, sliced egg, etc., it should go on the bread first. See the modern variations below.

5. SLICE the sandwiches as you like: crusts off, triangles, fingers, squares, etc.
 

MODERN VARIATIONS

 
 
DON’T FORGET THE TEA

Any tea goes with cucumber sandwiches; brew your favorite hot or iced tea.

But if you prefer a Sauvignon Blanc or an IPA, go for it.
 
 
TEA PARTY IDEAS

[1] Square-cut cucumber tea sandwiches (photo © James Petts | CC-BY-SA-2.0).

[2] Triangle-cut cucumber tea sandwiches ( photo © B. Hofack | iStock).

[3] Whole wheat is a better-for-you option (photo © Nata V. Kusidey | iStock).

[4] Cucumber and chicken salad tea sandwiches sliced in fingers (photo © Olgna | iStock).

[5] English cucumbers. You can grow your own with seeds from Burpee (photo © Burpee).

[6] The British use a pullman loaf for their sandwiches (photo © King Arthur Flour).

[7] Use the best butter you can find (photo © Plugra).

Know how to hold ‘em, fold ‘em, or eat ‘em (photo © Woodhouse Chocolate).

For the poker player, two edible chips from Woodhouse Chocolate, an artisanal chocolatier in the Napa Valley.

Actually, their Poker Chip Peanut Butter Cups.

Specially decorated in a card suit motif and presented in a poker chip styled box; as the chocolatier says: The perfect snack whether you hold ’em or fold ’em.

Each set of two peanut butter cups is $8.00.

Get them at WoodhouseChocolate.com.

Don’t tarry: These are a limited edition item for Father’s Day.

There are also boxes of chocolates that are special for Father’s Day.

Who took the two missing doughnuts?> A larger version of the photo is below (photo © Brooke Lark | Unsplash).

You don’t have to create doughnut art, as in the photo, photographed by Brooke Lark.

You can simply buy some plain doughnuts and decorate them yourself. Or, set up a DIY doughnut tray for snacking or dessert and let everyone garnish his/her own.
 
 
DONUT TOPPINGS

Pick up toppings for the doughnuts, such as:

We took the path of plain doughnuts from the store, plus blueberries, raspberries and homemade cream cheese icing (recipe below).

Instead of piping the icing as in the photo, we had butter knives on the table so each person could spread as much or as little icing as desired.

If you make your own icing, you can add a few drops of food coloring. For more fun, create two batches in different colors.

 
RECIPE: CREAM CHEESE ICING

This recipe can be made up to 5 days in advance and refrigerated. Bring it to room temperature before frosting.

The difference between frosting and icing is in the sugar.

Icing is made with confectioners’ sugar (also called icing sugar), frosting is made with granulated sugar (table sugar). The two words are often used interchangeably, but that doesn’t make it correct!

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. BEAT the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer, in a large bowl. When smooth….

2. ADD the sugar, vanilla, salt and optional food coloring. Beat on low for 30 seconds, then on high for 2 minutes.
 
 
DONUT HISTORY: WHO INVENTED THE DONUT / DOUGHNUT?

Check it out.

You’ll also discover the difference between donut and doughnut.