Summer

Spooning this conserve over yogurt makes a light, sweet summer dessert.

Pretty ice cream treats, decorated five different ways. Turn the freezer to the coldest setting for best results. Pack the left-over ice cream into a container and freeze it to enjoy after the bonbons are gone. Begin this recipe at least a day ahead (and you can start up to a week ahead). Once you¸ve mastered the technique here, create bonbons of your own using other homemade ice creams or your favorite purchased ones.

To make these ice pops nonalcoholic, substitute freshly squeezed orange juice for the tequila.

A quick almond crust gets filled with ice cream and topped with cardamom-scented whipped cream and berries.

This salsa is chock-full of sun-loving ingredients like tomatoes, olives and capers. It's a splendid accompaniment to grilled halibut steaks, pork chops, sliced eggplant or sourdough bread.

This salad makes a lovely side dish at summer barbecues.

I line the buttered pans with buttered wax paper, then flour them, to make unmolding the cakes easy after baking.

Torquato Innocenti, who sells his just-harvested, still-prickly zucchini — with flowers attached, a sure sign of freshness — offered me simple advice for the vegetable. Roast them whole in a "puddle" of oil and serve with basil. I bought a bag of his smallest (cigar-size) zucchini, pan-roasted them until browned sprinkled them with chopped basil — and loved the results. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Terrific for a first course or a side dish, this recipe is adapted from the lobster succotash at Kinkead's in Washington, D.C. Chef Bob Kinkead's original uses chunks of lobster, which can be substituted for the large shrimp called for here.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Instead of using a pastry bag to pipe the meringue for the baskets, just snip a corner off a resealable plastic bag. Begin preparing this one day ahead.