8 recipes that require minimal effort for the best kind of summer eating

Easy dishes are the name of the summer game — spreads and dips that can serve myriad purposes, meats cooked over the grates of an outdoor grill, refreshing ice cream and fruit pie. And they can live in the fridge or freezer, ready for consumption at the snap of a finger.

Mutabal: Eggplant-Tahini Spread

In the States, this eggplant-tahini dip, mutabal, is usually called baba ghanoush. This recipe's creator, Reem Assil, says it's traditionally more of a citrus-y salad in the Arab world. This version is all sesame-seed richness and smoky eggplant char. "Most versions I taste today are too watered down and too garlicky," Assil said of the spread as it exists in America. Not this one, with its earthy cumin edge.

Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint

Jacques Pepin knows simple, focused cooking. His watermelon-feta salad has Kalamata olives, mint, feta and sweet onion to complement and contrast the juicy goodness of watermelon. The surprise element is a fillip of Tabasco in the vinaigrette.

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Strawberry Ice Cream

Make custard, rich with egg yolks, whole milk and heavy cream. Macerate thin slices of strawberry with lemon juice and sugar. Add the syrupy strawberries to the chilled custard and whirr in an ice cream maker. Spoon yourself a bite. Roll your eyes into the back of your head in perfect ice cream delight.

The Best Easy Cherry Pie

Soggy crusts, weepy fillings, burnt edges: The woes of an imperfect fruit pie recipe are many. Not when pastry legend Stella Parks is guiding you through the correct ratio of cherry to sugar to thickener. Follow this easy recipe to the letter, and you're guaranteed textbook-optimal cherry pie.

Grilled Green Tomatoes with Burrata and Green Juice

Yes, there is titillating magic in a plate of fried green tomatoes. Grill them, though, and serve with charred bread chunks, a dressing of verdant juice and torn blobs of creamy, stretchy burrata and you realize that the sharp tang of the green tomato embodies a world of cooking possibility.

Lime Chicken Kebabs with Creamy Avocado Dip

Chicken and avocado get along famously. All the more so when cubes of chicken breast are marinated with Dijon mustard and lime juice, then threaded onto skewers, grill-kissed and served with a garlicky mayonnaise-avocado dip.

Fish Escabeche

Having a meal at the ready in the fridge is one of summer's greatest maneuvers. To make this zippy, satisfying Portuguese-style escabeche, fry fillets of fish, then douse the fillets with sautéed onions that have been hit with a bunch of white wine vinegar. Hearty and light, it's a life-saving meal in the dead of summer.

Pimiento Cheese with Salt-and-Pepper Butter Crackers

Pimento cheese is a wonder anytime of year when hosting guests. It hits different in summer, though, when people demand a fortifying nibble. This version of pimento cheese stars three cheeses: sharp cheddar, Monterey Jack and cream cheese, alongside the requisite roasted red bell pepper (pimento). Serve it with store-bought crackers or, if you're feeling wily, make the recipe's accompanying salt-and-pepper crackers from scratch.