Dinner

This recipe packs in all the punches puttanesca is known for—salty! briny! olive-y!—without the need to cook a sauce. Two types of tomatoes are involved: beefsteaks get blended until smooth, and then tossed with cherry tomato halves.

The key to this classic pesto recipe is to add the basil at the very end, instead of blending everything all at once—that way, the basil maintains its flavor and vibrant green color.

Cooked in a pan on the grill, this double-decker smash burger won’t smoke out your kitchen, blanket your stove with grease, or force you to spend even one more minute of the sweet summer nights indoors.

Herby cumin-spiced lamb and squash over a bed of creamy hummus makes for a delicious and simple dinner. Serve it with lots of toasted pita for scooping everything up.

Lamb chops need enough time on the grill to let the fat render. You’ll get flare-ups as the fat melts onto the coals—that’s inevitable—but instead of letting the chops char, just move them to a new spot as needed and keep going.

If you’re going to turn on the oven in August, it better be for a good reason: This sauce, made from broiled tomatoes and peppers, is tangy, smoky, juicy, and definitely worth it.

Sweet corn is perfectly paired with briny clams in this dish that’s easy enough for a weeknight, but elegant enough for a special occasion. Serve it with plenty of good bread to dunk in the broth.

Not just for salad: Drizzle this savory herb-infused oil over grilled vegetables, steak, or roast chicken.

Our go-to I’m-feeling-fancy dinner is a perfectly medium-rare steak and a pile of vegetables. And the more cherry tomatoes, corn, and cucumbers you throw into the mix, the more it’ll feel like summer.

If you make this slaw ahead, the vegetables will continue to soften as they sit and become more like pickles, which isn’t a bad thing at all.

The method for marinating the feta in this salad is also a good trick for other fresh cheeses—try goat, mozzarella, or paneer.

You can use various heirloom cucumbers for this savory-sweet salad recipe; if you can find them, flaunt them.

Switch up this endlessly riffable salad to suit your preferences, but try to always include a mix of cooked and raw vegetables for the best textures.

Spoiler alert: We broke with tradition. Instead of rubbing toast with cut tomatoes, we grated the tomatoes to make a raw sauce that the bread can really absorb.

Salting the tomatoes for 15 minutes before roasting seasons them properly and helps remove any excess liquid that could potentially waterlog the filling.

This pesto is a little different—the grilled tomato base brings a sweet smokiness.

Molasses, pomegranate juice, and apricot jam lend a deliciously sweet-tart, barbecue sauce–like glaze to this summertime grilling staple.