Summer Party

Grilled Flatbreads with Mushrooms, Ricotta and Herbs

This easy grilled flatbread—topped with sautéed mushrooms, fresh herbs and ricotta cheese—is perfect for outdoor entertaining.

Grilled Vegetable Bruschetta

What could be more summery than grilled peppers and squash heaped on toasted country bread that's slathered with fresh basil pesto? This versatile recipe works as a first course or even a whole meal.

Lobster-and-Corn Fritters

These crisp, light fritters taste like nothing but fresh lobster and sweet corn.

Grilled Miso Shrimp

When grilling shrimp or scallops, use sticks of lemongrass or sprigs of rosemary as an alternative to metal or bamboo skewers.

Tomato, Chard and Gruyère Casserole

This giant Provençal casserole is called a panade. It's a gooey, crispy meal-in-one.

Two-Potato Flatbread with Olives and Feta

American farmers harvest more than a million acres of potatoes each year, making it the country's top vegetable crop. Both the sweet and white kinds appear along with olives and feta on the flatbread here, which is baked until the edges of the potatoes crisp and the cheese starts to melt.

Buttermilk Cake with Blackberries

Light and moist, with an irresistible crispy top, this blackberry-studded buttermilk cake takes just 20 minutes to prep.

Cajun Lemonade

A salute to the flavors of New Orleans, this cocktail spices up Napoleon House's Pimm's Cup (Pimm's No. 1, lemonade and 7-Up) with a splash of Tabasco and a generous dose of rum or vodka.

• Fantastic Party Punches

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Anchovy Vinaigrette

"Although we call it an anchovy vinaigrette," says chef Amelia O'Reilly, "we like to keep the vinegar and anchovies separate until they're on the plate; otherwise the anchovies taste pickled." The dressing is a great way to add savory accents to summer's sweetest, juiciest tomatoes.

• More Tomato Recipes

Grilled Skirt Steak with Poblano-Corn Sauce and Salsa

In this ingenious 3-ingredient recipe, grilled fresh corn and poblano chile are used in two ways: Half of the mixture gets pureed into a sauce that's served under seared skirt steak and the rest becomes a chunky salsa that's spooned on top.

• Ingenious 3-Ingredient Recipes

Nectarine-Buttermilk Pops

• Ultimate Summer Fruit Recipes

Charred Fava Bean Salad with Lemon and Tarragon

It's impossible to grill tiny favas, but the sweet-starchy beans get a similar smoky flavor when they're charred quickly in a hot skillet. Jean-Georges Vongerichten tosses the charred beans with garlic, jalapeño, tarragon and cubes of cheese for a warm salad.

• More Fava Bean Recipes

Corn on the Cob with Seasoned Salts

"Walk to pick it, run to cook it," was the mantra back in the days when corn turned starchy within hours of harvesting. New varieties stay sweet and tender longer. Flavoring the ears here is a trio of seasoned salts.

• More Delicious Ideas for Corn

Scallops with Warm Tomato-Basil Dressing

• F&W's Fish and Seafood Guide

Summer Plum Crostata

This elegant tart is a great option for cooking in the bare-bones kitchen of a mountain cabin, since it doesn't require a special pan. Kelly Liken uses Colorado plums, which she loves for their "beautiful tartness." Even when ripe, the plums are somewhat tangy, thanks to Colorado's cool nighttime temperatures. Any firm-but-ripe plums will work perfectly here.

• More Incredible Desserts

Mixed-Bean Crudités with Olive-Anchovy Aioli

Fresh beans make a beautiful crudité platter, but they can also be chopped and mixed together for a lovely late-summer salad, simply dressed with extra-virgin olive oil, Champagne vinegar and chopped herbs such as tarragon and chives.

• More Summer Vegetable Recipes

Butter Pecan Cookie and Peach Ice Cream Sandwiches

"Ice cream sandwiches are universally popular, and everyone loves peach ice cream, too," Linton Hopkins says. "To make this recipe really Southern, we use pecans in the crispy cookie."

• More Ice Cream Sandwiches

Cold Watermelon Soup

"Watermelon juice has such a mild flavor that most thickeners would overpower its taste," says chef Jamie Bissonnette. "But xanthan allows me to turn it into a soup."

• More Cold Soups

Grilled Sardines with Piquillo Pepper Sauce

Fresh sardines are among the most sustainable seafood choices. Plus, they are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and have very low levels of mercury relative to larger fish.

• Grilling Guide

Radishes with Sour Cream Dressing and Nigella Seeds

Crunchy black nigella seeds have a nutty, peppery flavor.

• Cooking with Radishes

Herbed Fazzoletti with Asparagus and Burrata

• Pasta Recipes and Cooking Tips

Pavlovas with Passion Fruit Curd

Farmstead eggs are at their best in late summer, when the chickens are "on pasture," eating grass. Here, egg whites form a sweet meringue holding passion fruit curd.

• More Pavlova Recipes

Grilled Baby Carrot Wraps with Poblano Cream

About 15 slender baby carrots—grilled until charred, then tightly rolled inside a tortilla with poblano-spiked sour cream—make for a superb vegetable wrap.

• Amazing Dinner Party Recipes

Hibiscus-Berry Gelatins

A lovely way to serve raspberries, blackberries and blueberries: suspended in a hibiscus gelatin.

• More Fruit Desserts

Grilled-Trout Spread

• Incredible Summer Grilling Recipes

Tangy Green Zebra Gazpacho

Green Zebras are heirloom tomatoes with a striped pattern; they are sweet like red tomatoes but give this gazpacho a lovely jade hue. To make the chilled soup extra tangy, use tomatillos or unripe red tomatoes instead of Green Zebras.

• More Chilled Soups

Grilled Squash Ribbons and Prosciutto with Mint Dressing

Grilling zucchini and summer squash ribbons on skewers is terrific because the edges become wonderfully charred and crisp, while the insides stay tender and juicy.

• Ultimate Summer Vegetable Recipes

Pickled Grapes with Walnuts

• Pickling Recipes

Parmesan Tuiles with Heirloom Tomato Salad

Chopped red, green and orange tomatoes are tossed with olive oil and herbs, then served on Parmesan tuiles. The result: a supremely colorful, incredibly easy hors d'oeuvre.

• Great Summer Party Recipes

Asparagus-and-Zucchini Frittata

Chef Chris Behr's versatile frittata with crisp spring vegetables can be eaten warm or at room temperature. Serve for brunch with an accompanying platter of crusty bread, fresh fruit, cheese and salumi, or for lunch with a green salad.