Hi, everyone, Ali here, filling in for Emily Weinstein! I develop recipes for New York Times Cooking — maybe you’ve seen or even made my shrimp scampi with orzo, crispy gnocchi with burst tomatoes or turmeric-black pepper chicken with asparagus.

I spend most days tinkering with new recipes, so when it’s time to eat dinner, there are usually whole meals leftover from that morning’s testing to eat, or various ingredients to puzzle into a dinner. Some of those use-what-I’ve-got situations give me an idea for a new recipe, and the cycle continues.

But! Every season brings a handful of dishes that are non-negotiables, meals I have to make regardless of what’s already in the fridge. It wouldn’t be summer without charred bits, bread soaked in salad juice, and sprightly herbs and vegetables, all of which are captured in the five dishes that follow. Some tweaks are included for each, too: Like many NYT Cooking readers, I don’t always follow recipes exactly.

By the way, salad juice (noun) is the potion that collects beneath a salad consisting of juicy ingredients such as tomatoes, soft cheese, citrus and cucumbers. Used in a sentence: “Caprese’s salad juice of spritzy and salty tomato water, milky mozzarella and peppery olive oil is reason enough to make caprese.”

1. Pad Krapow Gai (Thai Basil Chicken)

A whole cup of basil leaves adds freshness and spunk to this savory, salty stir-fry of ground chicken and green beans. While holy basil is traditional in this Thai street food dish, any basil will do. As Alexa Weibel writes in the recipe, which she adapted from “Night + Market” by Kris Yenbamroong and Garrett Snyder, “Thai basil or holy basil provide more assertive licorice notes” and “sweet basil adds herbal bursts of brightness.”

How I make it: I use ground turkey for more juiciness and soy sauce instead of Thai seasoning sauce. Plus more basil — Kenji López-Alt’s recipe in his book “The Wok” uses 1 ½ packed cups.

2. Caprese Antipasto

By adding roasted red peppers, caper berries, olives and prosciutto to caprese, David Tanis’s uncharacteristically maximalist recipe means that the salad is promoted to the main dish of the table and that even more ingredients can experience the wonder of salad juice.

How I make it: I add any mix of capers, pickled peppers, radishes, arugula, stone fruit, melon, avocado and white beans. And there is always bread for collecting the salad juice.

View this recipe.

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3. Crispy Coconut, Asparagus and Green Bean Salad

Every time I make this salad from Yotam Ottolenghi, it grabs all the attention. Even next to a crackly tahdig, ruby red baked sockeye salmon or glistening ribs, my friends want to know what exactly is going on in this salad. The answer is snappy chilled green vegetables; a spicy coconut topping based on serundeng, an Indonesian condiment; and a puckery miso-lime dressing. Make it a main dish by adding seared tofu or blanched shelled edamame.

How I make it: I tackle the various components ahead of time, and you can too. Blanch and refrigerate the vegetables up to two days ahead; make the coconut topping and dressing up to a day ahead. Leave the topping covered at room temperature and refrigerate the dressing. The vegetables can vary, too: broccoli, sweet potatoes, snap peas — go for it.

View this recipe.

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4. Moroccan Kefta

Keftas exist in many forms, flavorings and spellings across continents. In Nargisse Benkabbou’s recipe, all the vegetables — the grated onion and a grassy knoll of herbs — make the long patties distinctly juicy and fragrant. They’re nice with some combination of pita or another flatbread toasted on the grill, grilled vegetables and a tomato-cucumber salad like Samin Nosrat’s salad-e shirazi.

How I make it: I usually handle the first three steps the morning of. And instead of using skewers, which I never seem to have, I shape the meat like sausages and grill them parallel to the grates (just like hot dogs, another summer requisite).

View this recipe.

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5. Yucatan Shrimp

Simultaneously reminiscent of shrimp scampi and Buffalo wings, Sam Sifton’s adaptation of Yucatan shrimp from Doc Ford’s Sanibel Rum Bar and Grille in southwest Florida drapes poached shrimp in a butter sauce fiery with jalapeño, hot sauce, garlic and lime. Eat with your hands, with rice for catching all that sauce.

How I make it: I fire up the grill for smokier, crispier shrimp. Add all the sauce ingredients to a large bowl; no need to melt the butter. When the shrimp come off the grill, add them to the bowl and toss with confidence. The heat from the shrimp will emulsify the butter and gloss the shrimp. Since the grill’s hot, char some corn to eat alongside.

Good morning. There’s a spot way up in the back of the bay where the shore splits into a creek and the water runs fresh into salt. There are blue crabs there, Callinectes sapidus, beautiful swimmers, and soon enough they’ll be big enough to trap and steam.

They aren’t yet, though, and so for a summer seafood boil on this first weekend after the nation’s 248th anniversary of its independence from Britain, I’m dependent on local clams and lobster, or on wild-caught shrimp from Louisiana.

That’s better than fine. A seafood boil’s a wonderful thing, and a Cajun shrimp boil (above) on a summer weekend is one of the great treats of the season — a road trip vacation in a pot, to serve on a table covered in newspaper (still good for something!). Serve with rémoulade and a super-basic coleslaw of shredded cabbage and carrots tossed with this excellent recipe for coleslaw dressing.

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Featured Recipe

Cajun Shrimp Boil

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Too messy? Understood! Pivot instead to this fiery hot sauce roast chicken with a tangy kale salad, or to this lovely crunchy noodle and tofu salad. I’d consider, too, lamb patties with fried onions and tahini-yogurt sauce, with baba ghanouj and hummus on the side. Or maybe chilled cucumber soup with avocado toast?

And what’s a weekend without a proper breakfast: blueberry pancakes, say, with maple sausages and fried eggs? You could follow that with a long walk — down city streets or along suburban roadways, through the woods or along a beach somewhere — exercise that works off the feed and prepares you for a luncheon of jambon beurre and an afternoon nap.

Then, for dinner, smothered pork chops with braised greens and rice, followed by cut watermelon drizzled with lime juice. You’ll be living very well if you do that, whatever your mood, whatever the weather, wherever you live.

If none of those recipes appeal, though, you can turn to New York Times Cooking for others — many thousands of them. It’s true that you need a subscription to read them. Subscriptions make this whole enterprise possible. If you haven’t already, would you consider subscribing today? Thanks.

We’re manning our inboxes, should you run into problems with the technology that supports our efforts to guide you toward the delicious. Just write for help. We’re at cookingcare@nytimes.com and someone will get back to you. Or, if you’d like to write to me in pique or pleasure: foodeditor@nytimes.com. I cannot respond to every letter. But I read every one I receive.

Now, it’s nothing to do with marjoram or the proper way to grill flounder, but Sally Rooney has a new short story in The New Yorker, “Opening Theory,” and you should read it so you can talk about it when it comes up over drinks in the next couple of days. Because it will.

Here are two new poems from John Burnside, in the London Review of Books.

There’s something fantastic about discovering a restaurant that can transport you across decades, into the past. For John Kessler, writing in the Bitter Southerner, that restaurant is Miguel’s French Continental Cuisine, in Siesta Key, Fla. Well-done duck. I’m in!

Finally, to play us off, here’s a new Towa Bird track, “Deep Cut.” Here’s the truth: “You’re a story that I’ll tell to my friends.” Enjoy that while you’re cooking and I’ll see you on Sunday.

Good morning. What’s your favorite store-bought sandwich? In New York, I’m partial to the hot roast beef from Defonte’s in Brooklyn, the Carmine’s Special at Del Fiore’s in Patchogue and the Reuben with coleslaw at the Country Store in Orient.

I’ve gone straight from the airport in New Orleans to Parkway for a fried oyster po’ boy, and from LAX to Langer’s for pastrami. You ever had the bánh mì at Saigon Sandwich House, in Lowell, Mass.? Or the turkey sub at Urban Greens in Anchorage? You should put those on your list.

Sandwiches tell stories of the delicious, stories we should hear and repeat. This week my colleagues assembled a table full of them — 57 sandwiches that define New York City — and this weekend I want to make a few at home.

First up, the halloumi, arugula and tomato sandwich (above) from Baby Blues Luncheonette in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It’s Jake Marsiglia’s Grecian ode to the B.L.T., with the bacon swapped out for cheese, and the iceberg for a lemony arugula salad cut through with red onions.

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Featured Recipe

Halloumi, Arugula and Tomato Sandwiches

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That’s lunch on Saturday, to be followed with a home-built version of the spicy cumin lamb burger from Xi’an Famous Foods for dinner, on an English muffin. Then, after a fine breakfast of pancakes and berries with cream on Sunday morning, I’ll put together a Scuttlebutt sandwich for lunch, off the instructions of Caroline Fidanza, who served it at her restaurant Saltie for years: hard-boiled egg, pickled beets and carrots, capers, herbs, feta and pimentón-spiked mayonnaise on focaccia. Oh, wow.

And for dinner on Sunday night? Not another sandwich. Instead, I’ll deconstruct one, with a freestyle meal of BBQ shrimp and a loaf of bread to tear apart and drag through the sauce, alongside a mound of cold shredded iceberg lettuce dressed ever so slightly with oil and red wine vinegar. That’s excellent eating, particularly if you don’t peel the shrimp but cook them whole and ask your guests to eat with their fingers, voraciously, over a tablecloth of newspaper.

There are many thousands more recipes to cook this weekend waiting for you on New York Times Cooking. You do, yes, need a subscription to read them. Subscriptions are important. They support our work and allow it to continue. Please, if you haven’t already, would you consider subscribing today? Thank you.

And should you find yourself crosswise with the technology? Sing out for help. We’re at cookingcare@nytimes.com. Someone will get back to you. Or, if you’d like to speak to a manager, you can write to me: foodeditor@nytimes.com. I can’t respond to every letter. But I read every one I get.

Now, it’s nothing to do with panini or grilled cheese, but I’m just starting Ann Powers’s biography of Joni Mitchell, “Traveling,” and I think maybe you ought to join me.

Glass eels in Maine. That’s a big money fishery and a hell of a story for Paige Williams in The New Yorker this week.

Gill Partington has a fascinating review of a book about large-scale literary forgery in The London Review of Books, “a propulsive if unlikely thriller, whose plot hinges on typographical minutiae and sherry parties.” Read that!

Finally, here’s a new Jelly Roll track, “I Am Not Okay.” Still: “We’re all gonna be alright.” Listen to that while you’re sandwiching and I will see you on Sunday.

I’ve gotten a bunch of emails from readers lately asking why New York Times Cooking chicken recipes don’t often call for boneless, skinless breasts. “Why is it always chicken thighs? I don’t know anyone, except my sister, who prefers dark meat,” someone wrote, in a truly excellent email with a subject line that simply said “Again?”

We do tend to prefer chicken thighs here at NYT Cooking HQ, and we’ve been pushing our agenda in recipe after recipe. Boneless thighs are fattier, which makes them far juicier, more tender and more flavorful than breasts, and more difficult to overcook.

But chicken breasts have their selling points, and their fans. Use them right and they can feel generous and satisfying, even succulent. Their mildness can be an asset: Think of white meat as a plush mattress you can blanket with interesting flavors and textures.

So this week I’m paying tribute to the boneless, skinless chicken breast, with five recipes that use the cut to excellent effect.

Are you aghast and want your NYT Cooking chicken thighs? We’ve got you covered. Looking for dinner ideas that have nothing to do with chicken? Take a look at this collection of healthy weeknight recipes. And as always, reach out to me anytime at dearemily@nytimes.com. I read every note!

One last thing: Next week, we’re trying a little something new. Monday through Thursday, we’ll be sending you one easy, fast dinner recipe in the evening, our way to answer that 5 p.m. “What’s for dinner?” question. (You’ll still get your Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter on Tuesday!)

I’m also making:

Frozen margaritas, Southern fried corn, whole roasted branzino, creamy asparagus pasta with peas and mint, perfect buttermilk pancakes, oven bacon.

1. Honey Garlic Chicken

This speedy recipe from Yasmin Fahr takes a few pantry ingredients — honey, soy and vinegar — and combines them with garlic and butter for a glossy, savory-sweet sauce. Personally, I’d double that sauce so I could also drizzle it over broccoli and rice on the side.

2. Chicken and Rice With Scallion-Ginger Sauce

Reminiscent of Hainanese chicken rice, this streamlined dish from Sue Li delivers tender breast meat and a pleasingly prickly sauce made with lots of ginger, scallion and jalapeño. The chicken and rice cook together at a gentle simmer, which keeps the meat plump and juicy.

View this recipe.

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3. Chicken Piccata

Lemony, buttery and deeply loved, this is Italian American restaurant food you can handily make at home. Just follow Ali Slagle’s recipe to the letter.

4. Ritzy Cheddar Chicken Breasts

Eric Kim’s recipe combines grated Cheddar cheese, crushed Ritz crackers and a base of sour cream and Dijon mustard to make a chicken dinner that kids go wild for. I’m inspired by the commenter who said they made the recipe with Cheez-Its instead, one of the greatest crackers known to humankind.

View this recipe.

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Ripe, creamy avocados are great on toast, salads and burgers, or just sprinkled with salt. Plus, they’re healthy — but how healthy?

“Avocados are no regular fruits,” said Dr. Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “They’re nutrient dense with very little carbohydrates and high amounts of healthy fats and fiber.” And they make plant-based meals more filling.

Here are some of their healthiest attributes, plus a selection of recipes from New York Times Cooking to inspire you to eat them more often.

Avocados can help keep your cholesterol in check.

Avocados’ better-known benefits stem from their heart-healthy fats, said Elizabeth Klingbeil, a registered dietitian and assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Most of the fats in avocados are monounsaturated, which differ from the saturated fats abundant in meats and dairy.

“Saturated fats can gunk up your blood vessels and increase your heart disease risk,” Dr. Klingbeil said. If left unchecked, this gunk, called LDL or “bad” cholesterol, can lead to heart attacks or strokes.

While saturated fats increase LDL cholesterol, unsaturated fats can lower it. For this reason, avocados can help manage blood cholesterol levels, especially when you eat them in place of foods like meat, cheese and butter.

They may lower your heart disease risk.

In a study that followed more than 110,000 adults over 30 years, Dr. Hu and his colleagues showed that people who ate at least two servings of avocado per week had a 21 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease.

The researchers used statistics to account for other factors that could have affected people’s heart health. Still, Dr. Hu said, it’s impossible to say if avocados directly reduced the risk.

Zeroing in on one food as the cause of health outcomes is challenging, explained Dr. Martin Kohlmeier, a professor at the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute.

Because avocados make great substitutions for less healthy foods, studies showing their benefits might in part reflect the benefits of cutting back on other stuff — like using avocado instead of mayonnaise on a sandwich, or adding more avocado, and less beef, to a burrito.

“Many reported effects are replacement effects, not necessarily avocado effects,” Dr. Kohlmeier said.

Dr. Hu added that people who eat avocados might be more likely to have a healthy diet in general.

They can support your gut microbiome.

Avocados are high in fiber, Dr. Klingbeil said, which can help you maintain a healthy weight and promote a healthy gut.

When gut bacteria digest fiber, they release small molecules called postbiotics that affect our overall health, said Dr. Zhaoping Li, a professor of medicine and chief of the division of clinical nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles. Healthy bacteria can also signal to our brain when we’re full, Dr. Klingbeil said.

Dr. Hu said avocados can help you meet your daily fiber goals, which is important since studies show most people don’t eat enough fiber.

People should aim for at least 21 to 38 grams of fiber daily, depending on their age and sex. A whole avocado clocks in around 10 grams.

They’re rich in micronutrients.

The vitamin E in avocados may support healthy skin, Dr. Klingbeil said. According to Dr. Kohlmeier, the lutein in avocados may help keep your vision sharp.

And while bananas tend to get all the credit for potassium, avocados contain even more of the important mineral. Potassium helps your body reduce high blood pressure, Dr. Hu said.

Here’s how to enjoy them.

No single food makes your diet healthy or unhealthy. The real benefit comes from eating avocados as part of a diverse, balanced diet filled with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and healthy protein.

These recipes from NYT Cooking will help you do just that.

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Recipe: Avocado Soup With Chile Oil

As delicious cold as it is room temperature, this silky soup gets a hit of heat from chile oil and crunch from toasted pepitas.

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Recipe: Garlic Chicken With Guasacaca Sauce

Spicy guasacaca sauce — a blend of cilantro, parsley, jalapeño and avocado — makes garlicky roasted chicken (and just about any other meat, seafood or vegetable) utterly delicious.

More fun, less drudgery. That’s my goal for the summer — and specifically for my summer cooking. In my dreams, I’m whisking together a vinaigrette in a seaside cottage with a big breezy kitchen and a farm stand down the road (think Diane Keaton’s place in “Something’s Gotta Give”). While that’s not the reality for most of us — myself included — you can still welcome that relaxed sensibility in the recipes you cook and how you cook them (barefoot, good music playing, windows thrown open — or the A.C. on full blast).

We’ve rounded up 100 of our most delightful summer salads, desserts, easy dinners, grilling and no-cook recipes that will excite, not exhaust, you. The vast majority — with the exception of the desserts, most of which take about an hour — can be made in 30 minutes or less. (No kidding!) Quite a few travel well and taste great at practically any temperature, making them perfect for picnics. But since summer can look a lot like the rest of the year, with more sweat and sunblock, all are the kinds of dishes you can throw together on a busy weeknight when the kids are worn out from day camp and the traffic was hellish.

Salads | Desserts | Easy Dinners | Grilling | No-Cook Recipes

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Salads

Pizza Salad. Get this — you can sizzle pepperoni strips, then toast bread crumbs in their fat. Sprinkle them over a crunchy-tangy mix of romaine lettuce, pepperoncini, black olives and red onion in a grated tomato vinaigrette, and you have this all-star salad.

Chicken and Herb Salad With Nuoc Cham. Sweet and tangy, a bright dressing of sugar, nuoc cham, lime juice and chile dresses a simple salad of rotisserie chicken, bell pepper and cabbage.

Citrusy Couscous Salad With Broccoli and Feta. This happy make-ahead salad can be served hot, cold or at room temperature. Orzo works great in place of pearl couscous.

Zucchini Salad With Pecorino, Basil and Almonds. “Zoodles” get soggy, but zucchini sticks maintain their pleasant bite, especially when tossed with a garlic-caper vinaigrette as it is here.

Chopped Salad With Chickpeas, Feta and Avocado. “This is one of the best salads I’ve ever had and definitely the best I’ve ever made.” Make it yourself and find out what Erica, a reader, is raving about.

Niçoise Salad With Basil and Anchovy-Lemon Vinaigrette. The key to a niçoise that tastes great from start to finish? Dressing the haricots verts and potatoes while they’re still warm so they absorb all of the flavors of garlic and anchovy.

Tomato and Peach Salad With Whipped Goat Cheese. Chunks of juicy tomatoes and peaches rest atop a bed of goat cheese blended with a touch of heavy cream and lemon zest. A summer dream come true!

Chickpea-Chicken Salad With Green Harissa Dressing. Tayb o’hari, a traditional Moroccan street food, inspires this sensational salad of shredded rotisserie chicken, spiced chickpeas, tomatoes, olives and a snazzy green harissa dressing.

Spicy Watermelon Salad With Pineapple and Lime. A party salad if there ever was one, this watermelon, pineapple, jalapeño and feta situation goes great with practically anything hot off the grill.

Avocado Salad With Herbs and Capers. You need four perfectly ripe — not too soft, not too hard — avocados for this lush, yet fresh salad, so set them aside and keep watch. It’ll be worth it.

Spicy Corn and Shishito Salad. Lightly sautéed shishitos are tossed with raw corn, an earthy cumin-lime vinaigrette and pebbles of feta for a salad that one reader called “stupid delicious exactly as written.”

Zucchini Salad With Sizzled Mint and Feta. Raw zucchini gets paired with feta and a za’atar-like mix of dried mint, toasted sesame seeds and crushed red pepper in this bright, light dish. It travels well, and eats well, at almost any temperature, so double up for your next picnic.

Tomato Salad With Cucumber and Ginger. Thai papaya salad inspires this blend of tomatoes and cucumbers, dressed with a zingy mix of lime, fish sauce and chile, then tossed with peanuts, ginger, basil and cilantro.

Corn Salad With Mango and Halloumi. A jumble of flavors that works together beautifully: soft halloumi, sweet mango, crunchy corn and cucumbers and salty pita chips. Sub in fresh peaches for the mango if you’re lucky enough to get your hands on a perfectly ripe one.

Puttanesca Chickpea-Tomato Salad. Classic puttanesca ingredients — tomatoes, capers, olives and garlic — are combined with chickpeas and Parmesan nubs for a substantial desk (or poolside if you’re lucky) lunch.

Southern Broccoli Salad. Sometimes known as “candy broccoli” because of the on-the-sweet-side mayo dressing, this classic picnic salad is loaded with bacon, red onion, Cheddar, raisins and sunflower seeds. The recipe calls for blanching the broccoli briefly, but if you’re in summer mode, letting it sit for a few hours in the fridge will soften it.

Cucumber-Avocado Salad. In this five-ingredient dish, crunchy cucumbers and silky avocados get a smattering of chopped scallions, a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of crushed red pepper.

Chopped Wedge Salad. All of the delightful parts of a wedge salad without any of the fork-and-knife gymnastics.

Dooymaaj Salad. An Iranian childhood snack of bread combined with herbs, cheese and walnuts, dooymaaj inspires this zesty bread salad where toasted lavash chips meet loads of green herbs, walnuts, feta and a tangy buttermilk vinaigrette.

Chopped Salad With Jalapeño-Ranch Dressing Put your houseguests or older kids to work chopping the ingredients for this plentiful salad inspired by those piled-high salads at California Pizza Kitchen.

Nutella Brownies. Nutella, flour, eggs and salt are all you need to make these impossibly moist brownies.

Strawberry Pretzel Pie. Inspired by strawberry Jell-O pretzel salad, which is found at church potlucks and picnics across the South, this joyful pie has a pretzel press-in crust, a cream filling and is topped with fresh strawberries.

Lemon-Blueberry Bars. As if lemon bars weren’t lovely enough, these are dotted with blueberries, which create jammy little pockets of delight.

Best Peach Cobbler. Put away your rolling pin, this peach cobbler belongs in the cake-style category, so all you have to do is spread the easy batter on the bottom of the pan, nestle in the fresh or frozen peaches and bake.

Gochujang Caramel Cookies. Like snickerdoodles with a little how-do-you-do, these classic chewy sugar cookies get a little heat from Korean red chile paste.

Mango and Sticky Rice Popsicles. Make this fantastic ice-pop version of mango sticky rice, the much-loved Thai dessert.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake. Take store-bought crushed cookies, ice cream and ice cream sandwiches, layer them and freeze, for an impressive and riffable treat.

Summer Berry Buckle. Pick a berry, any berry and fold it into lemony, buttery batter for this simple cake. (It’s called a buckle because of the way the surface “buckles” where there’s a berry. Isn’t that cute?)

Magnolia Bakery’s Banana Pudding. Packaged vanilla pudding mix is the not-so-secret star of the New York bakery’s famous banana pudding, which will remind you of the best days of your childhood.

Brookies. Brownies plus chocolate chip cookies equal Brookies. Because no one should have to choose.

Salted Margarita Bars. Everyone’s favorite summer cocktail in dessert form.

No-Bake Lemon Custards With Strawberries. Does the thought of turning on the oven makes you want to stay home and read in front of the air-conditioner? These no-bake custards are for you.

Easiest Vanilla Ice Cream. OK, so maybe the “easiest” ice cream is a pint from the store, but this eggless Philadelphia-style ice cream is the next best thing.

Sugar Cookie Bars. Children of all ages love these tender and too-sweet-in-a-good-way sugar cookie bars. Sprinkles are definitely not optional.

Lemon Poppy Seed Poundcake. This one-bowl, no-mixer-required sunshine cake is your new go-to summer dessert. Serve big slabs with berries and whipped cream.

Chez Panisse’s Blueberry Cobbler. Using only one-third cup sugar, this super-simple classic recipe lets the little sapphire berries shine.

Atlantic Beach Pie. Kind of like lemon meringue’s country cousin, this six-ingredient pie has a Saltine cracker crust and is piled high with whipped cream.

Fruit Galette. Tuck peaches, nectarines, sour cherries or practically any other fruit into the butter crust and bake for an elegant, effortless dessert.

Rice Krispies Treats. Browned butter and plenty of salt make this basic sweet anything but.

Strawberry Spoon Cake. Stir together a quick six-ingredient batter, then top with mashed strawberries and bake for an ooey-gooey summer delight.

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Easy Dinners

Seared Scallops With Jammy Cherry Tomatoes. This dish just screams “impromptu summer dinner party.” Cook the tomatoes until they’re sweet and sticky, transfer them to a bowl, sear the scallops, then return them to the pan. That’s it.

Skillet Meatballs With Peaches, Basil and Lime. Meatballs go on a summer vacation in this breezy, very adaptable recipe. Serve over rice or noodles.

Bulgogi Cheese Steaks. Everything you love about the original, but with classic salty-sweet Korean flavors. Blistered shishito peppers stand in for bell peppers.

Cold Noodles With Tomatoes. In this satisfying mash-up of gazpacho and naengmyeon, the chilled Korean noodle soup, nothing gets in the way of peak tomatoes at their raw and juicy best.

Spicy Shrimp and Chickpea Salad. Quick-cooking shrimp, canned chickpeas and a three-ingredient citrus dressing make it possible to get this warm salad on the table in about 15 minutes.

Eggplant and Zucchini Pasta With Feta and Dill. Two whole pounds (!) of zucchini and eggplant are packed into this hearty vegetarian pasta, so you can make a healthy dent in your farmers’ market haul.

Sheet-Pan Baked Feta With Broccolini, Tomatoes and Lemon. Baked feta is a just-this-side-of-melted delight. Combined with tender broccolini, tangy lemon slices and jammy tomatoes, it’s a veggie lover’s dream.

Dumpling Tomato Salad With Chile Crisp Vinaigrette. A little like a spicy panzanella, but with dumplings instead of croutons, this reader favorite is the kind of dish you’re going to make — and riff on — again and again.

Coconut Fish and Tomato Bake. Plop a few fish fillets — salmon, snapper, haddock or anything similar — and a pile of cherry tomatoes onto a sheet pan, then slather them with a fragrant sauce of coconut milk, ginger, garlic, turmeric and crushed red pepper. Heavenly.

Crispy Cheddar Tacos. Shredded cheese is cooked until crisp-edged and deep golden brown, then topped with tortillas and filled with chicken. Put a napkin in your lap to catch all of the shattery bits.

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Grilling

Mayo-Marinated Chicken With Chimichurri. Mayo, that miracle elixir, is spread over chicken cutlets before grilling to improve browning and evenly distribute seasonings.

Spicy Citrus Steak. Run-of-the-mill grilled steak is great, but, doused in a mouthwatering sauce of tangerine, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sambal oelek, ginger and garlic, it’s a marvel.

Shrimp Burgers. With more than 1,000 ratings, readers call these easy and adaptable shrimp burgers “phenomenal.”

Mushroom Beef Burgers. Chopped button mushrooms add an earthy, umami flavor to grilled burgers. Accidentally, or on purpose, you end up eating less meat.

Buffalo Grilled Mushrooms. Tossing charred mushrooms with tangy Buffalo sauce, then topping with blue cheese crumbles and parsley is a brilliant move.

Grilled Chicken With Tomatoes and Corn. Once you’re done grilling chicken breasts, slide them onto a bed of fresh tomatoes and corn. The juices drip down onto the vegetables, seasoning them with no effort on your part.

Spiced Grilled Halloumi. As simple as can be. Top slices of ruby red tomatoes with singed halloumi, then sprinkle them with coriander, cumin, crushed red pepper and a pinch of sugar.

Grilled Harissa Shrimp. A quick dip in harissa, honey and lemon juice before grilling takes run-of-the-mill grilled shrimp to the next level.

Souvlaki. Chunks of boneless chicken marinate in yogurt, garlic, cumin, oregano and rosemary for impossibly tender, fall-apart meat. Pork also works beautifully here.

Tajín Grilled Chicken. Tajín, that beloved Mexican seasoning made from dried red chiles and lime, is swirled together with agave, citrus, chipotles and garlic for a spicy-sweet glaze for grilled chicken.

Abdoogh Khiar (Chilled Buttermilk Cucumber Soup). This classic Iranian soup, made with buttermilk, yogurt, cucumbers, herbs and walnuts, is a hearty, but not at all heavy, too-hot-to-cook meal.

Fruit Sandwich. Sandwich strawberries, mango and kiwi in a layer of whipped cream-mascarpone between two pieces of Japanese milk bread for the cutest little dessert-adjacent meal you’ve ever had.

Marinated Feta With Herbs and Peppercorns. Cube feta, toss it with preserved lemon, peppercorns and chile, and refrigerate overnight. Pile it onto toast or alongside grilled chicken.

Sardine Toasts With Tomato and Sweet Onion. Buttery and salty canned sardines, sweet and juicy tomatoes and crunchy red onion play together nicely in these open-faced sandwiches.

Naan-o Paneer-o Sabzi (Bread, Feta and Herb Platter). Assemble a gorgeous platter of briny cheese, fresh herbs, walnuts and flatbread. Watermelon, grapes and crisp Persian cucumber add a summery flair.

Herby Feta and Yogurt Dip With Sumac. Fresh parsley, mint, scallion and lemony sumac are blended with feta and yogurt for an exciting dip for crudité or a lively sauce for grilled meats and veggies.

Shrimp Salad. Using both lemon zest and juice is the key to this creamy yet zippy shrimp salad. Toss in a pound of cooked orzo or ditalini for a potluck pasta salad.

White Bean Hummus With Tahini and Coriander. Instead of traditional chickpeas, white beans are used in this creamy dip. Miso, if you have it, lends a welcome earthy undertone.

Greek Goddess Dip. This bright green herby-feta dip is so good you’ll want to eat it with a spoon.

Watermelon Chaat. Juicy watermelon tossed with bold seasonings like jalapeño, cumin, paprika and black pepper make for a just-this-side-of-sweet fruit salad.

Ceviche. For a Mexican-style ceviche, combine fresh fish with tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, jalapeños and lime juice. Serve with extra sturdy tortilla chips.

Kimchi Tuna Salad. Jarred kimchi does most of the work in this bold tuna salad that’s great rolled up in a sheet of gim or piled into a soft bun.

Sabich Bowls. The traditional Israeli pita sandwich of fried eggplant, hard-boiled eggs, tomato-cucumber salad, pickles and tahini sauce inspired these jumbly, delicious bowls.

Cowboy Caviar. Also known as Texas caviar, this black bean, corn, tomato and jalapeño salad is a cinch to make and travels well, making it great for picnics, potlucks and road trips.

Cold Tofu Salad With Tomatoes and Peaches. Silken tofu stands in for mozzarella in this vibrant vegan dish inspired by Italian caprese salad.

Furikake Tomato Sandwich. A sandwich of scarlet red tomatoes and white bread is practically perfect, but adding a sprinkle of furikake makes “the tomatoes taste even more of themselves, according to Eric Kim.

Ham and Jam Sandwich. Adding a generous smear of jam, Dijon mustard and a twist of freshly ground black pepper lends a little “je ne sais quoi” to this sweet riff on a jambon beurre.

Chickpea Salad Sandwich. Forget tuna, forget chicken. Combine chickpeas with a little tahini, Parmesan, celery and scallions for a vegetarian version of the old-school diner favorite.

Best Gazpacho. With more than 12,000 ratings, this wildly popular Spanish-style gazpacho doesn’t disappoint.

Silken Tofu Spicy Soy Dressing. Cubes of silken tofu are draped in a tongue-tingling dressing of soy, sesame, rice vinegar, chile oil and scallions.

The French chef Yann Nury wants you to remember that the winter holidays will be over soon. Roasts will be sliced, served and forgotten; Champagne will be drunk. And, if you choose to serve canapés, each one you make, no matter how labor-intensive, will be gone in a single bite. “Enjoy the specific moments,” Nury, 40, says. “It’s [only] once a year.”

Despite their transience, Nury believes canapés are important: They can set the tone for a whole meal. Indeed, the amuse-bouche has become one of the hallmarks of the namesake catering company he founded in 2011 after working on the chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud’s private events team. “Seductive single bites define our business,” Nury says. Working from his headquarters in a nearly 3,000-square-foot loft in New York’s SoHo, he’s planned meals for fashion brands and art-world clients in cities around the world, among them a Cuban-inspired feast in honor of what turned out to be the final show that the fashion designer Virgil Abloh staged for Louis Vuitton, in Miami. Nury’s inventive takes on classic hors d’oeuvres — for example, thyme-laced tartlets filled with tendrils of Iberico and creamy stracciatella, as a play on ham and cheese — highlight his exacting but playful approach.

For a holiday party, Nury recommends preparing canapés that are elegant but comforting and not overly serious. In the videos below, he shares the steps for making three such small bites. First are his tater tots garnished with caviar and Sorrento lemon, which he sometimes finishes instead with juicy orbs of salmon roe or a thin slice of orange and a sprinkle of spices (if you nail the flavor and texture of the canapé’s base, says Nury, the topping can be unfussy). To accompany these, he suggests tiny wedges of tomato jam-topped grilled cheese. “For a great party trick,” Nury says, you can stick a barbecue grate in your fireplace and cook the miniature sandwiches to order. And completing the trio is his surprisingly hearty beef tartare with chips. For a plant-based alternative, grated carrot or golden beet can be used in place of beef, Nury says, and you could even serve the dish deconstructed, allowing people to assemble their ideal bites.

That last twist satisfies another of his tenets of special-occasion hosting: Guests should be invited to tailor your creations to their own tastes. The best holiday food, after all, fulfills a personal fantasy of the season. But he also recommends being kind to yourself and abiding by his firmest rule: Don’t do the dishes until the next day.

Tater Tots With Caviar and Lemon Zest

Ingredients:

• 6 large russet potatoes (GPOD, also known as russet Burbank, potatoes are the best quality)

• 4 cups duck fat (or peanut oil, beef fat or ghee)

• Sea salt, to taste (Nury’s favorite is fleur de sel)

• 2 cups canola oil, or your preferred oil for frying

• 1 lemon (preferably Sorrento, but organic California works too)

• ¼ teaspoon caviar per canapé

The day(s) before the event:

1. Peel and rinse all of the potatoes. If you like, you can peel them and soak them in water 2 to 3 days in advance, but be sure to squeeze out any excess liquid before you grate the potatoes. (Also, whether you are rinsing or soaking, be sure to do so only with whole potatoes — otherwise you risk removing the starch that holds them together.)

2. In a heavy-bottomed pot, such as a cast-iron or Dutch oven, warm the duck fat over medium heat until a candy thermometer registers 220 degrees. Working in batches, grate the potatoes on the largest holes of a box grater and add them immediately to the duck fat. Blanch the gratings for 3 to 4 minutes or until translucent. Remove them with a chinois, or cone-shaped strainer, to drain excess fat. Repeat until all of the gratings are blanched.

3. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and add the potatoes as they finish blanching, sprinkling with sea salt as you go.

4. Gently mold the partially cooked, grated potatoes so that they stick together. Add another layer of parchment paper on top of the potatoes, and then stack a second sheet pan and any additional weighted items you have on hand (such as canned or jarred foods) on top of that, compressing the gratings into one thin, even layer. Let this cool, ideally overnight, in the refrigerator.

The day of the event:

5. Cut the potato “cake” into small rectangles of 3 by 1 inches or into circles of 2 inches in diameter.

Just before your guests arrive:

6. Flash fry the tots in 2 cups of canola oil at about 350 to 360 degrees in the same pot as before, until they start to turn golden and crispy. Remove them with a chinois and place them on a rack to cool.

7. Top each tater tot with caviar and a very thin strip of julienned lemon rind.

Grilled Cheese Wedges With Tomato Jam

Ingredients:

• 8 slices dense sourdough bread

• 12 oz. each sliced, shredded or grated Fontina, Comté and dry Parmesan cheese

• 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

• Basil or thyme blossoms (or micro basil leaves)

• Parmesan chips (optional)

For the tomato jam:

• 1 pint organic cherry tomatoes

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

• Sea salt and black pepper, to taste

• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (or vinegar of your choice)

• Fresh thyme, to taste

To prepare the jam:

1. Roast the cherry tomatoes, whole, in the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat until they start to soften, after about 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Mix in brown sugar, a pinch of salt and some fresh thyme leaves. Season with black pepper. Lower the heat.

3. Simmer for 20 to 25 minutes over low heat until the tomatoes start to caramelize. Then add a splash of sherry vinegar and blend with a stick mixer or in a blender until smooth. Let the jam cool for at least 2 hours. Reserve in a squeeze bottle or a jar.

To create the sandwich wedges:

4. Clarify the butter by melting it in a small saucepan over low heat and then skimming off the white solids that rise to the top.

5. Assemble each sandwich by layering Fontina, Comté and Parmesan between the slices of sourdough.

6. Brush the clarified butter on both sides of each sandwich and grill them, over medium heat, for 5 minutes on each side or until the bread is golden. Let the sandwiches rest until the cheese re-sets, then slice each into rectangular strips of about 3 by 1 inches (about 9 per sandwich). Top each strip with 3 dots of cold jam and 2 or 3 basil or thyme blossoms. Serve with Parmesan chips on the side if you like.

Beef Tartare With Celery-Root Chips

Ingredients:

• 1 oz. filet of Wagyu (or other) beef tenderloin

• Coarse cracked black pepper and sea salt, to taste

• 1 egg

• Olive oil

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

• 1 teaspoon chives, finely chopped

• 1 teaspoon cornichons, finely chopped

• ½ celery root, for homemade chips (or you can substitute your preferred root or store-bought potato chips)

• 4 cups oil for frying (peanut oil preferred)

• Ground Espelette pepper, to taste

To prepare the sauce:

1. You can use raw egg for this tartaresque sauce, but if you want a more stable sauce with a longer shelf life, opt for a soft-boiled egg, cooked for 4 minutes.

2. Separate the yolk and add that and the mustard to a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk while slowly adding in the olive oil.

3. Add the chopped chives and cornichons and whisk once more. (You could also garnish with lemon zest, parsley or raw shallots.)

To prepare the chips:

4. Shave the celery root as thinly as possible on a truffle shaver or Japanese mandoline. For a more uniform shape, you can use a ring cutter to cut the shavings to the desired chip size.

5. Fry the chips in the peanut oil in a cast-iron pot at 300 degrees until they are golden brown. (You could alternatively use an air fryer or dehydrator.) Season with salt and pepper or your preferred seasoning.

To prepare the steak:

6. Finely chop the filet of beef.

7. In a bowl, gently mix the meat with some of the sauce (as much or as little as you like) and some Espelette pepper, for heat.

8. Sandwich small scoops of the tartare in between the chips. Present sideways.

Director of photography: Joshua Charow. Assistant camera: Timothy Mulcare. Sound recording: Colin Barry-Jester. Editor: Jordan Taylor Fuller