9 recipes to cook (or not cook) during the hot summer months

A little bit of freezer trickery and a lot of assembling are the elements of cunning summer cooking. Thus, a collection that includes a no-cook berry showstopper, the best basil pesto and a vigorous watermelon salad. 

Peach Granita

The effortless wonders that can be accomplished with fruit and ice and sugar! Granitas are the worn-in jeans of the frozen dessert sphere: comfortable, easy-access, no-fuss, well-textured. This peach incarnation exclaims all that is good and right about summer. 

Tomatoes Simmered with Cotija 

Some warmth goes a wondrously long way with fresh tomatoes. Not quite a tomato sauce; definitely not a tomato salad, this preparation teases the tomatoes' essence in a Jacuzzi of olive oil, fresh oregano and green olives. 

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Sardine Omelette

On those scorching days when you want a bolstering breakfast but do not want to slave needlessly, peel back the tin lid from a can of sardines. Whisk some eggs, sauté shallots (or onion), combine. Take an inhale before you head out into the swelter.

Grilled Zucchini with Fresh Mozzarella  

A recipe in name only, this is more an assemblage of ingredients — which is precisely what you need during the heat of summer. Grill some zucchini planks, toss them with vinegar, garlic and parsley; throw them on a plate alongside a bunch of good fresh mozzarella. Call it a meal. 

Basil Pesto

Having a solid pesto recipe for the summer months is just good living. And if you are going to sequester a pesto recipe — of which there are endless variations with many an herb and nut — the northern Italian version with basil and pine nuts is a fine place to begin. 

Summer Pudding 

Berries are one of the vibrant marvels of the warm-weather seasons. One of the finest ways to watch them shine is in summer pudding, the classically British no-cook dessert comprising bread soaked with macerated fruit. A sublime example of a dish that through simple alchemy becomes far grander than the sum of its parts. 

Egg and Okra Curry 

This is one Burmese way with eggs and okra, that staple summertime vegetable. Shallots, garlic, turmeric, Thai chiles and tomatoes provide the base; hard-boiled eggs and whole okra pods provide the ballast.

Steak with Dandelion, Arugula and Grana Padano 

A kicky salad loaded with heft: Isn't that how everyone wants to eat during the hottest stretch of the year? Sharp greens, like arugula and dandelion, are tamed with the umami thump of fish sauce (or anchovies), then tossed with lemon juice, slices of seared or grilled steak and shavings of Grana Padano.

Watermelon Salad with Habanero-Pickled Onions and Lime Salt 

Watermelon is a refreshing delight on its own directly from the coldest part of the fridge. Pickle some onions with the floral wallop of habaneros and the lift of salt mixed with lime zest and that there watermelon becomes a new creature.