From No-Cook Dinner Ideas to Summer Fruit Desserts, Here’s What to Cook in July

In this recipe, chef Jessica Koslow celebrates good summer tomatoes by pairing them with ultra-crunchy oven-crisped potatoes, an ingenious gluten-free twist on panzanella (bread and tomato salad). Make sure the potatoes get almost as crisp as croutons; if they’re moist, let them bake longer.

You can use any melon that’s at peak ripeness, but the salad is prettier and tastier if you use multiple varieties.

You can make this tart with any ripe tomatoes, but a mix of big multicolor heirlooms and smaller varieties looks stunning. To create a crisp, flat surface, partially bake the puff pastry with a cooling rack on top before adding the other ingredients.

Al pastor means “of the shepherd” in Spanish, and refers to a spit-roasted funnel of stacked thinly sliced meat, to be shaved and folded up in bread. The technique was brought to Mexico by Lebanese merchants at the turn of the last century and used for lamb, and their shawarma was renamed al pastor by Mexicans. The preparation morphed over the decades, and now involves layers of roasted pork with a whole pineapple at the top of the spit, basting the meat with its dripping juices. This recipe, from chef Donnie Masterton focuses on just the pineapple, slathered with al pastor paste and roasted. Then he chops it up and blends it with ordinary pico de gallo to create something extraordinary. Use the extra spice paste to slather on meaty mushrooms like maitake before roasting, or on pork shoulder before braising.

At the farmers’ market, look for aged sheep’s-milk cheese; bunches of mint; and small, tender yellow and green zucchini.

Grilled Yukon gold potato halves combine with a mixture of tomatoes, capers, oregano, olives, and anchovies for a Mediterranean-style potato salad side dish.

Grilled stone fruit and creamy burrata? It’s the ultimate summer appetizer.

Sweet corn only gets better smeared with one of these easy, flavorful toppings: Herb, BBQ Sauce, Cheddar, and Bacon; Cilantro-Lime, and Soy-Furikake.

Jennifer Jasinski, chef and co-owner of Rioja in Denver, makes her salad with fresh Colorado peaches and a Spanish blue cheese, but it’s also good made with many Western blue cheeses.

Sweet summer squash needs little more than butter and basil.

Use dry-aged beef for a deeply flavorful patty, then add unctuous bacon jam for a truly decadent burger experience.

This healthy, hearty dinner makes the most of the season’s produce. Cut vegetables as you cook to get dinner on the table quickly.

These sweet and spicy and oh-so-sticky pork ribs benefit from a sauce spiked with gochujang, the deeply flavored fermented Korean chili paste. For maximum deliciousness, make sure you give yourself 3 to 12 hours to cure the pork ribs in the dry rub.

Homegrown grilled vegetables top these hot dogs, along with a creamy aioli made with a backyard chicken egg and garden herbs.

This crowd-pleaser has everything you want in a fish taco, including a spicy mayo and fresh add-ins like avocado and lightly charred corn.

This recipe uses the same fragrant spice mix for the corn and the pork, a shortcut that amplifies the flavors of both. Round out the meal with a green salad.

This ceviche uses lime juice to “cook” the fish and give it a lively, fresh flavor.

Nothing says summer like ripe heirloom tomatoes in a caprese salad. Even better: Put the same ingredients on a roll so the bread catches all the juices.

Ripe tomatoes and juicy chicken, hot off the grill, mingle with herby oil to make a delicious sauce. Serve with warm bread to mop it up. You’ll need a perforated grill pan for this recipe (or use a double thickness of foil, oiled, with dime-size holes poked through about an inch apart).

Pick up a golden-brown chicken the night before, and this easy dish comes together in practically no time—leaving you a nice long evening to enjoy.

Juicy, ripe peaches at the height of stone-fruit season shine in this great summer dessert. “The brandy sauce makes it special, but it’s also good for breakfast without the sauce,” says reader Sarah Epstein, of Palo Alto, California. “During the rest of the year, I use the basic recipe and substitute other fruits. One of our favorites is sour cherries with dark chocolate chunks.”

This recipe by food blogger Matt Robinson of Real Food by Dad is perfection made with peanut-butter-cup/chocolate-swirl ice cream (often called Moose Tracks), but feel free to swap it out for your favorite flavor. Chilling the brownies overnight will make it easier to cut them neatly; they’ll also keep their shape nicely if you cut them in half.

After many tasty tests, we can say with certainty that a mix of three kinds of berries bakes up more juicy and flavorful than just one. The biscuits on top come out fluffy and tender, thanks to a little baking soda in addition to baking powder, and you can cut them round or square to match your dish.

Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi, chef-owners of Joule and Revel restaurants in Seattle, have taken a favorite Korean dessert—shaved ice with sweet syrup–and turned it into a ginger-flavored granita.

This dutch-oven dessert cooks more evenly if you use charcoal rather than wood for fuel.