Beyond the green salads and fruit salads, we began playing with summer-specific tartness, the French word for open-face sandwiches.

Tartine is the French word for an open-faced sandwich with a rich spread or fancy topping; the word actually refers to a slice of bread. Tartine is the French diminutive of the Old French and Middle English tarte, derived from the Late Latin torta, a type of bread. Here’s more about tartines.

Tartines have faded from fashion in the U.S. After World War II, hearty open face roast beef or turkey sandwich with gravy were popular fare, eaten with a knife and fork. Ladies’ lunch rooms served more delicate versions, with smoked salmon and sliced cucumber or a lighter version of beef or turkey.

But with much better bread available to us, it’s time to revisit the tartine. The ingredients can be seasonal: topped with melted cheese in cooler months, and with arugula, mesclun or sprouts in warmer ones.

In fact, the vegetable bounty of summer calls out for tartines. The combinations are vast:
 
PICK A BREAD

Begin with choosing a bread that gives character to your tartine. You can serve it toasted or untoasted. Consider:

 
PICK A SPREAD

Anything spreadable goes on top of the bread. You can season any of the dairy products to taste.

 
PICK A TOPPING

 
PICK A GARNISH

[1] Tartine of ricotta, radishes and chives (photo courtesy King Arthur Flour). [2] Hummus and fat sliced asparagus, topped with pine nuts (photo © Hannah Kaminsky| Bittersweet Blog). [3] Heirloom tomato tartine (photo courtesy Quinciple. [4] Goat cheese, gravlax and figs (photo courtesy Vermont Creamery).

Spa water—water seasoned with fruits and herbs—is the perfect complement to a summer tartine. Use at least a trio of these aromatics for flavor and fragrance.

Here’s a recipe from Sunset Growers, which used its mini cucumbers:
 
RECIPE: CUCUMBER, LEMON & MINT SPA WATER

Ingredients For 8 Cups (2 Quarts, 1/2 Gallon)

 
Preparation

1. ADD the ingredients to a large pitcher and fill with water. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

2. SERVE over ice in large glasses or wine goblets, with a slice of cucumber and lemon in each serving.

Of course, it’s easy to head to the freezer, store or scoop shop to celebrate. But we thought you might like something special.

Like a wineshake, a wine milkshake. Wine + ice cream = wineshake.

Does it sound unusual? Well: The first printed reference to a milkshake dates to 1885, and referred to an alcoholic drink, a “sturdy, healthful eggnog type of drink, with eggs, whiskey, etc., served as a tonic as well as a treat.”

By 1900, the whiskey and eggs were gone, and the term “milkshake” referred to “wholesome drinks made with chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla syrups.”

Yet, the milkshake still contained no ice cream until 1922. Here’s more history of the milkshake.
 
 
THE DAWN OF THE WINESHAKE

The folks at California-based Winc winery have whipped up delicious ice cream and wine milkshake recipes, combining their wines with Van Leeuwen ice cream. But you can use what you have on hand or other substitutes.

Winc has an online store where you can purchase the wines and send gift cards. We want them just to display the names and label designs: a work of art in wine bottles, so to speak. The wines are well-priced, so this is art we can afford!
 
 
RECIPE #1: COOKIES & CREAM WINESHAKE

Ingredients Per Shake

 
Preparation

1. BLEND the ice cream, wine, and big drizzle of chocolate syrup until you reach the desired consistency of your shake. We mixed ours in the blender, but you can use an immersion blender, cocktail shaker or whatever you have at hand.

2. POUR the shake into a glass. Top with more chocolate syrup and add the Oreos. Drizzle the top with more chocolate syrup and top with whipped cream as desired.

[1] Shake it shake it baby: Wineshakes from Winc Winery (all photos © Winc Winery).

Ingredients Per Shake

 
Preparation

2. BLEND the ice cream and wine until you reach your desired consistency.

2. POUR into a glass, drizzle with chocolate syrup and top with chocolate chips, then the cherries.

[3] Au-Delà Sparkling Dolcetto*, a dry sparkling red wine. Au-delà means “beyond” in French (photos courtesy Winc).

Ingredients Per Shake

 
Preparation

1. BLEND the ice cream, wine, and a handful of strawberries to taste, until you reach the desired berry flavor and shake consistency.

2. POUR into a glass. Top with whipped cream and garnish with more strawberries.
 
RECIPE #4: VANILLA SPARKLING SHAKE

Ingredients Per Shake

 
Preparation

1. BLEND the ice cream, wine, a big handful berries to taste, until you reach desired berry flavor and shake consistency.

2. POUR into glass. Top with whipped cream, and garnish with more mixed berries.

 
FLOAT, MALTED MILK, MILKSHAKE: THE DIFFERENCE

 
MORE FOOD HOLIDAYS

National Vanilla Milkshake Day is June 20th; National Chocolate Milkshake Day is September 12th.

See all the food holidays.
 
ALSO SEE FROSÉ: ROSÉ & SORBET
 
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*Dolcetto is a red wine grape from the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. It is now planted in Australia and the U.S. as well. Other sparkling red wines include Brachetto d’Acqui, Lambrusco and Sparkling Shiraz, among others.

†Malted milk is a powdered gruel made from a mixture of malted barley, wheat flour, and evaporated whole milk. It was originally developed by a pharmacist, James Horlick, as a nutritional supplement for infants. Soon enough, parents discovered how tasty it was…and the rest is history.

We thank PeanutButterLovers.com, the consumer website of the Southern Peanut Growers for this recipe. It makes a dozen creamy pops, with hardly any effort.
 
 
CREAMY PEANUT BUTTER-BANANA POPS

Ingredients For 12 Pops

 
Preparation

1. PLACE all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Pour into ice pop molds or substitutes. Freeze until firm. How easy is that?

2. TO REMOVE: Run the mold under warm water as needed to release the pops.
 
Find more peanut butter recipes—from appetizers and soups through mains and desserts—at PeanutButterLovers.com.

 
NO ICE POP MOLDS? TRY THESE SUBSTITUTES:

If you don’t want to invest in ice pop molds, how about Zip-A-Pop disposable plastic sleeves (third photo at right). We love them!

Otherwise, take a look around. Most likely, you have one or more of these:

 
If you don’t have ice pop sticks, here’s another great recycling opportunity:

 
If you’re not a peanut butter or banana lover, here’s a recipe from Pom Wonderful that trades the PB for pomegranate juice.
 
Prep time is 20 minutes, plus 4 hours freezing.

[2] Overripe bananas are an invitation to make banana pops (photo © Baking Library).

[3] Zip Pop bags (photo © ZipPops).

[5] Pomegranate seeds are called arils (photo © Good Eggs).

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. SCORE 1 fresh pomegranate and place in a bowl of water. Break open the pomegranate under water to free the arils (the seed sacs).

The arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the membrane will float to the top.

2. STRAIN and place the arils in a clean bowl. Refrigerate or freeze any extra arils for another use.

3. PREPARE the simple syrup (recipe).

4. PLACE all ingredients except the arils in a food processor; process until smooth. Then stir in the arils and divide the mixture evenly among the molds/cups.

5. FREEZE slightly; then insert an ice pop stick or plastic spoon into the center of each cup to be used as a stick. Freeze until solid.

When we were in college, we went often to the Brigham’s Ice Cream Parlor in Harvard Square for a Raspberry-Lime Rickey. The coffee shop craze that began in Seattle had not yet become a destination elsewhere. Rickeys were the Frappuccinos of the day.

To us, a Rickey was raspberry syrup mixed into club soda with a big squeeze of lime.

We had no idea that the Rickey (originally the “Joe Rickey”) was a fizzy highball, created in 1883 at Shoomaker’s bar in Washington, D.C. (the different types of fizzy water).
 
THE HISTORY OF THE RICKEY

The drink was named for “Colonel” Joe Rickey, a Democratic lobbyist from Missouri. Each morning, he went to Shoomaker’s for a Bourbon with Apollinaris sparkling water over lump ice (today’s cubes).

Cocktail history was changed one day when the bartender, said to be George A. Williamson, squeezed half a lime into the glass and tossed the squeezed lime in after it. The Rickey was born.

 
Omit the spirits altogether and you have a mocktail/soft drink that you can layer with other flavors. Omit the bitters in the cocktail and trade the simple syrup for fruit syrup, and you have the Raspberry-Lime Rickey of our youth (fondly referred to as a Razz-Lime Rickey. We had to have at least one a day).
 
MODERNIZE YOUR RICKEY

Create your signature Rickey: the [Your Name] Rickey instead of the Joe Rickey.

Soft Drink Variations

 
Cocktail Variations

 
RECIPE: THE RAZZ-LIME RICKEY: COCKTAIL

We turned our college favorite, the Razz-Lime Rickey soft drink, into a cocktail.

Ingredients Per Drink

[1] A Gin Rickey from from Elegant Affairs. [2] A Raspberry Lime Rickey soft drink rom CooksCountry.com. [3] A Blueberry Rickey with a blueberry cocktail pick (photo courtesy Essence Designs). [4] The original Rickey, made with bourbon (the mint must be left over from a Mint Julep (photo via Tumblr).

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the raspberry-lime syrup: Place the raspberries in a bowl, sprinkle the sugar on top and add the lime juice. Mash with a muddler or the back of a wooden spoon. Set aside and let the mixture marinate for 10 minutes. Strain it through a sieve to remove the seeds.

2. FILL a glass with ice and add the syrup add the sparkling water. Stir, add the vodka and stir again.

3. TOP OFF with sparkling water. Garnish and serve

You can make four drinks at a time with these proportions. In a pitcher combine as above:

 
Refrigerate until ready to serve. Stir again before pouring into ice-filled glasses.
 
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*The Brigham’s chain of ice cream parlors is defunct (along with its competitor, Bailey’s). The company closed most of its locations in 2008 and sold the rights to its ice cream brand to HP Hood. The chain declared bankruptcy in 2009, but Hood still produced quarts under the Brigham’s name, sold in supermarkets in New England.
  

Bacon hot dogs from Vermont Smoke & Cure, a craft producer of meat products (photos courtesy Vermont Smoke & Cure).

The dogs combine beef, pork and uncured, maple-brined bacon. They’re smoked with cob and maple wood and stuffed in a natural lamb casing. The result: a succulent snap and a sweet, mellow smoke flavor.

Here are tips for enjoying a bacon hot dog:

 
The hot dogs are $5.99-$6.99 at select Whole Foods and natural foods stores in the Northeast. Here’s a store locator.
 
ABOUT VERMONT SMOKE & CURE

Vermont Smoke & Cure makes bacon, ham, hot dogs, meat sticks, pepperoni and uncured summer sausage.

The products are made from premium, vegetarian-fed meat with no added hormones or antibiotics. They are free of dairy, gluten, nuts, preservatives and sodium nitrites.

The company sells most of its products on Amazon and its own website store, but not [yet] the hot dogs.

We did discover this tempting bacon gift basket that contains:

 
Put it on your gift list for bacon lovers.

In the interim, find a store, buy the bacon dogs, and make people happy.