If it's not clear by now that I go down food rabbit holes, you haven't been picking up on trends. The strangest things can provoke a deep dive. In this case, I got into flavored or infused waters because when I was pondering how to style my coffee table before a gathering on a very hot, smoky summer night, it struck me that a carafe or two of flavored waters would both look well and potentially hit the spot.  You know, the kind of artfully infused waters that are proffered to you in the sort of salon I no longer frequent. And then you find yourself with four carafes clearly in need of regular use and it's off in search of ideas to fill them.

The good news was that it seemed the simplest recipes yielded the best results. Just slice, pour and wait a few hours.

Strawberry lemon basil water 

Adapted from a number of inspiration sites, including Culinary Hill and That Salad Lady. I tried a number of variations, but I'm focusing here on my two favorites of those I tried.

Simple flavored waters

Strawberry lemon basil water

Ingredients

1 lemon, sliced crosswise
5 fresh basil leaves
½ cup strawberry halves
Filtered water

Method

Place lemon, basil leaves and strawberries in a quart pitcher or one-liter carafe.  Pour over enough water to mostly fill, leaving room for some ice at the top if desired later. Refrigerate for at least a few hours or overnight for best flavor. Shake it up a bit to even out the pinkish tone from the berries.

Rating: This was among the prettier variations I tried so if you're looking for guest presentation, this might be the winner. Pretty pink liquid color in a glass, and the lemon and basil flavors are refreshing. The original recipe indicated not to leave the infusing ingredients in longer than 24 hours but I blithely ignored that. I will say that if you refill this to get a second use, the strawberries will start to look mushy by the second day or so, so you only get so many pours out of the ingredients.

Blueberry rosemary lemon water

Ingredients

1 lemon, sliced crosswise
4 sprigs fresh rosemary (tender stems are best for this purpose rather than woody)
½ cup blueberries
Filtered water

Method

Place lemon, rosemary and blueberries in a quart pitcher or one-liter carafe.  Pour over enough water to mostly fill, leaving room for some ice at the top if desired for serving later. Refrigerate for at least a few hours or overnight for best flavor. Shake up to spread out the blue color evenly through the water before serving.

Rating: This one hits the sweet spot for a combination of flavor, looks and comparative longevity. The blue color is a little more subtle than the pink of the strawberry version, but the flavors of rosemary and lemon really come through and are a nicely refreshing combo pack. Since the blueberries are left whole, this one can last a bit longer and get more refills out of it, although with each refill the ingredients will deliver slightly less potent flavor. 

A few others to try: 1 sliced orange, 4 thyme sprigs, halved red grapes; 1 sliced lime, ½ sliced cucumbers, lemon grass sprigs to taste (or lemon balm is also interesting). Those are nicely flavored, but don't seem to lend themselves to multiple refills.

Cucumber agua fresca

From "Put 'em Up" by Sherri Brooks Vinton.

Note: If you're looking to avoid adding sugar, you can leave it out. It's still refreshing, but if you're including it in the martini recipe option, the sugar helps.

Ingredients

4 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
Juice of 1 lime

Method

Puree cucumber chunks in a food processor or blender. Drain well through a fine mesh strainer, pushing  to remove juice. Compost the solids.

Combine cucumber juice, water, sugar and lime juice in a pitcher and stir to dissolve the sugar. Serve over ice with a splash of seltzer if desired, or try in the cucumber martini, below.

Rating: If you've got a ton of cucumbers to figure out how to preserve, this can be useful, since you can freeze it. But if you're just looking to use up cucumbers in something refreshing, putting slices with limes in water is a lot faster and has a cleaner taste.

Cucumber martini

3 ounces cucumber agua fresca
1½ ounces vodka
Ice
Cucumber slice for garnish

Combine agua fresca, vodka and ice in a shaker. Shake to chill and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with cucumber slice.

Rating: I wouldn't go out of my way to make the aqua fresca just for this, but if you've got it on hand, this might be its highest use case; the vodka cuts through any off-putting texture.

Colorful appetizers: Roasted beet tahini dip, grape salsa, roasted red pepper artichoke tapenade

 

This post's theme: dips of a different, unexpected color. Hummus need not be limited to tannish, salsas need not be red or green, and tapenades don't have to be limited to olive colors. All of them help break up what can be a monotone color palette on the appetizer tray.

Dave insisted on dubbing this first dish beetini.

Tahini beet dip

Adapted from a recipe by Suzanne Zeidy, as published in Saveur magazine

Ingredients
1 pound beets
½ cut tahini
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 garlic cloves
3 ice cubes
Pine nuts for garnish

Method
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash beets and place in a roasting pan. Add water a third of the way up the pan. Cover pan with tin foil. Roast beets until tender enough to insert a fork, an hour or more, depending on the size and age of the beets. Let cool and remove skin.

Cut beets into large chunks and place in a blender or food processor. Add tahini, lemon juice, garlic, ice cubes and some salt and pepper, and process until very smooth. (I opted for a food processor, and I suspect it might have been faster dealing with those ice cubes (??) in the blender. It was very loud.)

Serve garnished with pine nuts.

Rating: This makes a very brightly colored dip that would really stand out in a vegetable platter. That's a plus and a minus, in some regards. Usually I use up little bits of hummus in a variety of ways, but there's no sneaking this vivid dish into anything. Flavor-wise it's fine. If I were to make it again, I'd use the blender and cut the recipe in half because it makes a ton so unless you're having a mega party you'll have leftovers.

I made this next recipe mainly because the tarragon plant is as healthy as it will ever be, and it hates life when I bring it inside for the winter so I know it won't last.

I also made it so I had something I actually made to take along with a cheese platter to a gathering when I didn't have a lot of prep time. Really didn't have the right accompaniment for it that evening, but since it makes a ton, I can attest that the leftovers were really good with Tostitos Hint of Lime chips, and as a side for grilled chicken breasts. But then I had the eureka moment where I thought, say, toss this with some mixed greens (including a smattering of arugula), top it with goat cheese crumbles and toasted pecans, and it made an absolutely killer salad.

Grape salsa with tarragon

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients
1 small shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups purple grapes, sliced into rounds
1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped (or a serrano if you want more heat)
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon leaves

Method
Mix shallot, vinegar and salt in a small bowl. Let sit 10 minutes. Drain, reserving soaking liquid. Rinse shallots.

Toss shallots, soaking liquid, grapes, chile and tarragon in a small bowl. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

Rating: As a chip topper, it's fine. It's nicer as a tangy, fresh counterpart to meat. But as a salad dressing, in effect, it's a major hit.

Artichoke tapenade

Adapted from “Super Tuscan” by Gabrielle Corcos and Debi Mazar

Ingredients
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons drained nonpareil capers
2 oil-packed anchovy fillets, drained and roughly chopped
1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts
¾ cup pimento-stuffed green olives
½ cup roasted red peppers
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 loaf French bread
Olive oil for drizzling

Method
Chop garlic clove finely in food processor. Add capers and anchovies. Pulse to chop. Add artichokes, olives, red peppers, olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, thyme leaves and crushed red pepper.  Blend until finely chopped but not pureed.

Remove to a serving bowl. Stir in mayonnaise. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, preferably at least a couple of hours so the flavors have time to marry. Serve with crostini.

To make crostini, heat oven to 350. Slice bread into ¼ -inch slices, Place on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Bake about 10 minutes or until golden brown. 

Rating: Super good. Pantry friendly. Keeps well, so it's a great make-ahead. Great for crostini, but also makes an admirable sandwich spread, pizza topping paired with thinly sliced salami, pasta sauce and more. 

This is very similar to a roasted red pepper artichoke tapenade recipe that I used to make with more frequency back in the early aughts. But unlike that one which seems to have fallen out of the recipe box but I'm was pretty sure was from Bon Appetit, this one I can find back, which is a definite plus. Like the first version of this recipe, it counts as a keeper (even if apparently I didn't manage to keep track of it properly).