Elegant Summer Dinner

MENU: Elegant Summer Dinner

Fig-and-Prosciutto Flatbreads
Top store-bought pizza dough with sticky-sweet fig jam, pungent Gorgonzola cheese and salty prosciutto for a supereasy and elegant hors d’oeuvre.

Chilled Cucumber Soup with Salt-Roasted Shrimp
This cucumber soup with lime, garlic and ginger is light, refreshing and restorative. For extra substance, add salt-roasted shrimp, avocado and a hit of spicy chile oil.

Cumin-Scented Duck Breasts with Peach Succotash
This summery succotash—which uses peaches instead of lima beans—would be delicious with grilled lamb or swordfish as well as the duck breasts here.

Warm Fennel–and–Bitter Greens Salad
Wilt bitter greens in a hot skillet before tossing them with radishes, fennel and shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Not Your Usual Lemon Meringue Pie
In her version of lemon meringue pie, pastry chef Gale Gand forgoes a traditional crust for quick-baked sheets of sugared phyllo dough, which she layers with lemon curd and a brown-sugar meringue.

Wine: 2007 Domaine des Aubuisières Cuvée de Silex Vouvray