Tomato

When two talented chefs bunk up with their pals in Maine, the weekend passes blissfully between lunchtime lamb gyros and late-night blondie sundaes.

A salad so easy you can actually have the kind of Summer 2016 people (okay, Drake) write songs about.

Freshness counts. Buy prime tomatoes when they’re in season. And, if possible, grind whole green cardamom pods rather than using powdered.

When you're working with chiles, you should be wearing rubber gloves. Sound funny? Well, it won't after you accidentally touch your eyes.

Progression of a tomato sandwich: On buttered bread with salt; on bread with mayo and cheddar; seasoned and grilled with cheddar and mayo. They’re all pretty perfect, but we’ll take the advanced version, thanks.

Mussels steam in the same saucepan as chili-and-fennel-spiced tomato sauce in this effortless supper.

Got mealy, lackluster tomatoes? Turns out you’re in luck.

Dorade is also known as sea bream and orata; you can substitute with red snapper or black bass.

This high-summer salad hits every note on the sweet (red pepper), sour (tomato), salty (ricotta and anchovy), and bitter (olive) scale.

Two sweet-salty finishings let guests craft their own signature sandwiches, but if you’re a purist, leave them off and let the (excellent) bacon speak for itself.

The acidity in the lime juice and tequila will help the fish firm up, but if it sits too long, it will get tough.

When late-season and bruised tomatoes show up at the market, stock up.

June means fresh tomatoes, nutty-sweet fruit crumble, and thirst-quenching drinks.

If it looks good at the market, it will be good in this salad.

Rib chops can be pricey. This same preparation works well on lamb loin chops, too.

How do you improve on a classic Caprese? Grill your tomatoes—and create a Charred Caprese Sandwich.

All types of beans come in and out of season during the summer and into fall; make this with any color snap beans and your choice of fresh or canned shelling beans.

Using shrimp shells to make a quick stock adds an insane depth of flavor to an otherwise simple pasta.

Charring the tomatoes and vegetables plays up their sweetness and adds smoky, bitter notes. This goes great with quesadillas, grilled snapper, and pork.

At Pietro’s, the cooks deep fry the chicken cutlets in a large, wide skillet, which allows the oil to come up to temperature very quickly and stay there once the cutlet is added. Smart, but potentially messy (it’s a lot of oil!). If you have a Dutch oven with high sides, that will minimize splatter—we’d feel rotten if you got burned.

Chef Erickson has access to the best seafood anywhere; when it comes to sardines, she goes with Matiz sardines in olive oil.

If we had to give this salsa a heat index rating, it would get three out of five chiles.

The iceberg lettuce is sliced into rounds instead of angled wedges, exposing the entire surface to the blue cheese dressing and toppings.

Pick artichokes with tightly packed, squeaky-firm green leaves and a fresh-looking cut on the stem end.