Simple Summer Dishes for Dinner

Recently friends and readers have asked for suggestions for easy summer dinners and so I’ve gathered some of my favorite recipes from recent Seasonal Pantry archives, organized below by course. One important things to keep in mind is that you needn’t prepare a typical meal to be well-fed, by which I mean you don’t have to have a protein plus a couple of side dishes and maybe a salad to call it a meal. With such a bounty of fresh produce right now, put a soup, a salad or what you usually think of as a side dish at the center of the meal. I’ve often had a plateful of fried Padron chiles, a nice cheese and some almonds for dinner, along with a simple green salad and, if I’m really hungry, an apricot or a peach for dessert. Grilled zucchini also makes a great dinner, especially on a hot night. Sprinkled with cumin and drizzled with lemon or topped with salsa verde and served neat or over a farro salad, it’s delicious, healthy, fast and easy.

Although a few of these recipes call for tomatoes, I’ll be doing a similar post that features exclusively on summer tomatoes as soon as the season kicks into high gear.

Do you have quick recipes based on just-picked produce that you enjoy for dinner? If so, please take a minute to tell us some details in the comment section below.

Summer Soups

Summer Bread Soup

Summer Rebollita

Chilled Zucchini Soup with Pesto

Summer Salads

Iceburg Wedges with Green Goddess Dressing & Oregon Bay Shrimp

Bread Salad with Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato

Summer Farro Salad with Corn, Cucumbers, Herbs, Tomatoes & Lemon

Warm Summer Salad with Green Beans, Potatoes, Tomatoes & Bacon

Cucumbers with Yogurt & Sweet Onions

Grilled Tuna Salad

Summer Pasta & Rice Dishes