RELATED LINKS Try this smooth chocolate martini

Enjoy this spin on the the classic dry martini we know and love today.

Ingredients:

1/8-oz. Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
2-1/2 oz. Boodles English Dry Gin
1 large Maytag blue-cheese stuffed Spanish olive

Directions:

1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
   
2. Season the ice by rinsing with dry vermouth and pouring off the excess.
   
3. Add Boodles, then shake briskly until the shaker is itself ice cold.
   
4. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a Maytag blue-cheese stuffed Spanish olive.

Maytag Blue-Cheese Stuffed Spanish Olives

Directions

1. Start with excellent quality jumbo Spanish olives, discard the brine and remove any pimentos.
   
2. After allowing the Maytag blue cheese to soften, transfer it into a pastry tube or bag, with a tip size appropriate for the olive cavity, and fill.
   
3. Store in an airtight container inside the refrigerator for up to three days. Remember, do not attempt to reintroduce these newly stuffed olives into their original container's brine. Keep in mind that one olive is elegant, two is acceptable and three becomes a meal.

Recipe courtesy of Tony Abou-Ganim, www.themodernmixologist.com

Next: The Manhattan