Party
408 recipes found
Summer Vegetable Niçoise Salad
You’ll find the green beans, wax beans, Romano beans and fresh shelling beans for this salad at the farmers’ market, making it perfect for a summer lunch or supper. With sweet cherry tomatoes and fingerling potatoes, it makes a substantial meal. Add good canned tuna, black olives or anchovy fillets too, if you wish.
Raspberry-Nectarine Icebox Cake
Chilled, creamy and not too sweet, this simple, no-bake icebox cake is a perfect dessert. In truth, it’s even a bit like tiramisù, but with ripe summer fruit. Store-bought ladyfingers make it easy; shop at the farmers’ market for the best fruit. Make it a few hours or even a day in advance of serving for effortless entertaining.
Chilled Avocado Soup
This chilled soup couldn’t be easier to make, packing a lot of flavor into a quick dish of just a few ingredients. Fresh, green and somewhat tart, it’s quite refreshing on a warm day.
Coconut-Dill Salmon With Green Beans and Corn
A fillet of salmon, bathed in a fragrant mixture of coconut cream, lemon and dill, is foil-wrapped and set on a hot grill to steam in its own juices. The fish is accompanied by a light salad of fresh corn, tomatoes, green beans and an additional showering of feathery dill. The result, served warm or cold, is a great low-lift dish for a large party, or a meal that can be prepped in advance.
Grilled Pork Chops With Plum BBQ Sauce
The bright, sweet-tart flavor of ripe plums comes through in this streamlined pork chop dinner. Cooking the juicy gems into a simple barbecue sauce leads to fun, fruity results. You could add your favorite spices, such as ground cumin, smoked paprika or fennel seeds, or let the vibrant plum aroma shine on its own. This would be great alongside wild rice, roasted potatoes or a big green salad.
Blueberry Crisp
Fragrant with the sunshine of lemon zest, the crackly almond roof of this summer-in-a-dish dessert gives way to jammy berries begging to be swirled with ice cream. To make this dead simple treat even easier, the crisp topping is simply stirred with melted butter, which binds together the dry ingredients while giving the mixture a sturdiness that holds up against the juicy fruit. Sliced almonds require no chopping and add a delicate crunch, but chopped pecans would be delicious here too, as would pinches of spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom or even black pepper. The topping can be refrigerated for up to 3 days ahead of time. Pro potluck tip: Ask the host if you can use the oven, and if you can, bring the berry mixture in the baking dish and the chilled topping in a separate container. When you arrive, scatter the crumbs over the filling and bake to perfume the house and enjoy a warm dessert.
Baked Feta Dip With Spicy Tomatoes and Honey
Baked feta, of TikTok pasta fame, also makes a tangy, creamy dip when mixed with grape tomatoes that have been roasted in the same pan. Here the tomatoes are spiked with dried chiles, onions and thinly sliced garlic cloves, which get sweet and soft after baking. Serve this warm from the oven with sliced baguette, pita bread or crackers for dipping. To make this even spicier, add a tablespoon or two of thinly sliced fresh red or green chile to the tomatoes.
Lemon Bars
The best lemon bars are just sweet enough to temper lemon’s acidity while heightening its heady tang. Adding zest to the curd would have detracted from its comforting smoothness with chewy bits. Instead, the wisps of lemon peel bake into the cookie, which is snappier than classic shortbread to provide a contrast to the filling’s softness. Rather than cutting cold butter into flour and powdered sugar for a crumbly bottom as many recipes do, this version combines melted butter with flour and granulated sugar for a sturdy — and simpler — dough. After setting in the oven, the base is covered with the just-as-simple lemon mixture while still hot. Doing so ensures that the layers meld together into a textural ombré so that each bite starts with melt-in-your-mouth curd and ends with a satisfying crispness.
Lemon-Blackberry Shortcakes
Berry season is the time for shortcakes, a classic dessert with berries, whipped cream and freshly baked sconelike biscuits. Here, a bit of sweet-tart lemon curd, prepared up to a week in advance and perfect with blackberries, makes these particularly special. Serve these assembled, on individual dessert plates, or, if you prefer, set out all the elements for guests to build their own.
Paprika-Rubbed Pork Chops
A marinade based on salt, sugar, ground coriander and various red-pepper powders infuses these easily pan-cooked chops. Double or triple the marinade for use on any fish, fowl, meat or vegetables (eggplant is especially nice). These chops can also be prepared on the grill. They cook quickly – 2 minutes on each side – over medium-high heat. Take care, though: Loin chops are quite lean and become tough and dry when cooked over high heat.
Turmeric Potato Salad
This French-style vinaigrette potato salad, infused with Indian flavors and finished with a tadka built on cumin and mustard seeds in oil, is a delicious picnic side, with or without the lettuce cups. Choose small, yellow-fleshed potatoes, such as Yukon, and top them with cherry tomatoes, sliced scallions, chiles and cilantro for a bright, perky and robust accompaniment to summer.
Cherry Pie
In this classic and adaptable cherry pie recipe, you can use either sour cherries or sweet ones, fresh or frozen. Lemon zest and juice are mixed with the sweet cherries to add brightness and tang. But you can skip this step with sour cherries, which have their own natural acidity. Serve this pie warm or at room temperature, preferably within 24 hours of baking for the flakiest crust. Ice cream or whipped cream are optional, but very nice with the syrupy filling.
Fruity Ice Cream Sodas
Using homemade berry or cherry syrup adds a colorful, fruity take on the usual chocolate or vanilla ice cream soda. Feel free to play with the different combinations of syrup and ice cream. Some great ones include chocolate ice cream or fudge ripple ice cream with cherry syrup; salted caramel ice cream with blackberry syrup; and vanilla or strawberry ice cream with raspberry syrup. A froth of whipped cream on top makes them even more ethereal.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches
Homemade chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches are the ultimate summer treat, and they’re not that hard to make. To keep things as streamlined as possible, these sandwiches are made from one giant cookie that’s halved, filled and sliced into squares. Sprinkling some flaky sea salt into the mini chocolate chip coating at the ice cream’s edges makes everything taste more intense. You can prepare these a week or two in advance; just store them in an airtight container in the freezer, taking them out about 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
Fish Tacos al Pastor
A chief contender for dinner party raving, these savory-sweet tacos de pescado al pastor, from the chef Luis Herrera of Ensenada restaurant in Brooklyn, are impressive parcels of celebration. Grilling the pineapple gets you close to the charred flavor of al pastor, “in the style of a shepherd,” without the traditional rotating vertical spit, a method of barbecuing lamb that Lebanese immigrants brought to Mexico in the late 19th century. In place of the more common pork are grilled, buttery whitefish fillets stained with brick-red chile sauce. This knockout adobo, redolent of raisins and raked with warm spices, is a labor of love for the people you love, so lean into the process. You can make the adobo and pineapple pico de gallo a day ahead, and even marinate the fish the night before. Then, on taco day, just grill the fish to serve, complete with grilled corn, a cooler of lagers and the best corn tortillas you can find — the kinds that slacken and steam over the fire. Enjoy these DIY tacos with your favorite salsa or hot sauce, and don’t skip the lime wedges; they provide the acid. Any leftover adobo can be used to marinate chicken, pork and vegetables throughout the week, or kept frozen for up to three months.
Nutcracker
You’ll find this staple of New York summer at the beach or in parks on hot days. Sellers offer these drinks, and they can vary in how they’re made, but, usually, they’re some mix of vodka, rum, tequila, Everclear or Cognac (or a combination) mixed with fruit juice, and sometimes even candies like Jolly Ranchers. As for how it was invented? It depends on whom you ask, but the origins are likely uptown in the 1990s, with some pointing to José Chu, who worked at Flor de Mayo, a Chino-Latino restaurant at 101st Street and Broadway. If you’re making these at home, there’s no wrong way to do it. Just use what you have on hand, make it as sweet or as tart as you want, and enjoy. Make sure you don’t chug too quickly, because this sweet, candy-like drink will sneak up on you. Sipped over the course of a few hours, though, it’ll keep you friendly and relaxed.
7Up Sheet Cake
This old-fashioned Southern dessert, commonly seen at potlucks, church picnics and family barbecues, is a true center-of-the-table cake. Part lemon cake, part sheet cake, it uses 7Up in two ways: first, for moisture and, second, for leavening, replacing traditional leaveners, such as baking soda or baking powder. The carbonation in the soda helps the cake rise and keeps it tender. (If you don’t have 7Up, you can also use Sprite.) While this cake is traditionally made in a Bundt pan, this recipe uses a half sheet tray, which is perfect for feeding a crowd.
Hennessy Colada
Also known as a Henny Colada, this drink, with roots in City Island, the Bronx, takes traditional piña colada to the next level. Made with sweet pineapple juice and cream of coconut, the traditional rum is replaced with the caramel undertones of Hennessy Cognac. The cherry and pineapple are optional but make it feel extra vacation-like. Whether drinking it in the Caribbean or on City Island, the tropics are a state of mind.
Hush Puppies
Dipped in tartar sauce or an aioli, served with salted butter or on their own, hush puppies are the perfect starter or side for any meal, but especially seafood or barbecue. They symbolize prosperity with their golden color. The cornmeal batter here is studded with onion and chives, then fried in a couple of inches of hot oil, until the outsides become crispy and delectable and the insides are moist and tender.
Sock-It-to-Me Cake
This vintage cake recipe is part pound cake, part coffee cake, but, here, a crunchy brown sugar-pecan blend is inside the cake — rather than on top — for tidier eating and a better bite. Getting its name from a popular phrase in the 1960s, prominently featured in the song “Respect” by Aretha Franklin, this cake is made with abundance in mind. It’s inviting on its own, and perfect for coffee or brunch, or dessert. Make it for a group of people you love, or people you’re just getting to know. They’re going to ask you all about the recipe.
Baked Chicken With Hibiscus BBQ Sauce
A homemade hibiscus barbecue sauce makes this oven-baked chicken extraspecial. This recipe layers flavor: A dry rub built on seasoned salt, onion powder and garlic powder flavors the meat, then the sweet-tart, tangy-spicy barbecue sauce — a counterpoint to the savory chicken — is layered on and baked until slightly sticky and caramelized. It gives you that barbecue feel without having to actually set up the grill.
Watermelon Chow Chow
It’s spicy, it’s sweet, it’s tangy. A perfect condiment, watermelon chow chow has a bright freshness and a gentle crunch that mellows with time. It renders a sweet and spicy kick to anything it’s spooned over, whether you’re serving it with grilled meats, like hot dogs or hot links, or collard greens.
Classic Lemon Tart
This classic lemon tart has a buttery, shortbread crust and a soft, dense lemon curd filling that barely holds its shape when you cut a slice. The textures should be a combination of crunchy and velvety; the flavor, sharp and tangy, with just enough sugar to take the edge off the citrus. This version has all of that, with one tweak for ease. Instead of making a traditional dough that needs to be shaped with a rolling pin, this one has a simple press-in-the-pan cookie crust made with melted butter. For a nutty-scented brown butter crust, let the butter cook until it turns golden. This tart is at its best when served on the day it’s baked, but it’s still delightful a day or two later (though the crust will lose some of its crispness). Store it in the refrigerator and serve it cold or at room temperature.
Pimento Cheese Dip
This take on pimento cheese dip, a Southern favorite, brings together three cheeses (cream cheese, Cheddar and Colby Jack), mildly sweet pimentos and spicy hot sauce, then goes into the oven until deeply creamy. You could pair it with some crostini, but buttery Ritz crackers are especially good for scooping. They double down on this spread’s richness and make the dip irresistible enough to be a conversation piece for generations to come.