Whether for cocktails and bites at the lake house or a come one, come all dinner with friends, here are more than 100 seasonally inspired recipes guided by the principle that summer cooking means keeping things loose (and the oven off when it’s just too hot out). Fuel up for a surf day with a basket of Fantastic Focaccia Sandwiches, host lunch on the deck with a Grilled Shrimp Louie salad, pass around the beach picnic fare (hello, Spicy Pineapple Spears and Landlubber’s Lobster Rolls). It’s a cookbook and so much more, with perfect party menus—how to choose between a Paella Party and Grilled Rib Revelry?—tiki cocktails, Five-Minute Frosé, tips on building a beach firepit. And to wrap it all up on the sweetest note, what could be better than Six Sensational Ice Cream Sandwiches?
Marnie Hanel and Jen Stevenson are the authors of The Campout Cookbook and The Picnic, winner of the 2016 IACP Award for Best General Cookbook. Hanel is a journalist who has written about the wild, wonderful ways we live for The New York Times Magazine, Food & Wine, and VanityFair. Stevenson eats and tells on her Portland food blog Under the Table with Jen, and is the author of Portland’s 100 Best Places to Stuff Your Faces. They both live in Portland, Oregon.
