Summer

Chris Ford, pastry chef at Washington, D.C.'s Rogue 24, brings this British-style "pudding" to picnics and BBQs. Serve with whipped cream and more berries.

This is a treat best enjoyed from July to October, when one's pail of freshly picked wild blueberries runneth over. The wild blues that stud this fluffy cake greet the eye like so many sparkling jewels plucked from a maharajah's box. It's a lovely cake to bake in the glowing embers. Set it to cook as the main course is served and, as if by magic, it will be ready by meal's conclusion.

A frosty glass of refreshing iced tea is the inspiration for this sorbet. Iced tea flavored with peaches has nearly outpaced tea with lemon in recent years. Bottles of tasty peach tea are available in most stores, but you can also brew your own with peach tea bags. If you use bottled tea in this recipe, make sure it isn't diet. This sorbet is a good way to use peaches so dead-ripe that they cannot be eaten whole or sliced because any small brown soft spots disappear into the tea. The vodka improves the texture of the sorbet, as does the corn syrup. Use tea-flavored vodka if you have it, although plain vodka works fine. Pouring a splash of the sweet tea vodka or bourbon over the soft sorbet makes an excellent slushy for grown-ups.

Watermelon is a heart-health heavyweight. It has about twice as much ticker-protecting lycopene as tomatoes do.

Serve this terrine as an elegant starter to a summer meal.

Earl Grey tea gives these easy preserves a subtle floral note.

A spicy salad of pork belly and watermelon pickle at New York City's Fatty Crab restaurant inspired bartender Philip Ward of Mayahuel to invent a liquid riff on the dish. If you're a Margarita fan, you'll love this drink, which is made with mezcal, tequila's smoky cousin. Don't mess around with the cheap stuff; look for bottles in the Del Maguey line of mezcals, including Vida de San Luis del Rio.

To add a pungent touch of crunchiness to this classic Italian salad, after grilling the bread, rub it with garlic before tossing it with juicy tomatoes.

This recipe has been a New York favorite since the mid-'90s, or so claims Otto pastry chef Meredith Kurtzman: "I ate something like this at Gramercy Tavern first, and later at Babbo. So it's not really new." But few have done as well as Kurtzman to capture the season&151;and so much flavor&151;in each bite.

For this patriotic-themed cooler, Cabell Tomlinson combines two summer favorites: sweet iced tea and sangria. "I started thinking about the Fourth of July," she explains. "I had the red from the rosé and the blue from the blueberries. I still needed the white, but I decided to go with that oh-so-American spirit, bourbon." She uses orange pekoe for the tea and suggests a fruity rosé like a Spanish Rioja.

Damon Boelte was aiming for something simple and accessible when he concocted this extremely refreshing, very British cooler. "Like a traditional Pimm's Cup, this recipe works well with other spirits, including bourbon, rum, and tequila," he says. "You have my permission to experiment." St-Germain liqueur, made from Alpine elderflowers, brings a floral note.

This ultra-refreshing tomato water makes great use of an abundance of tomatoes and works well as a virgin summer cooler, too.

West's friend Valerie Gordon, of Valerie Confections, created this cakelike dessert using both fresh and preserved peaches.

With its biscuity buttermilk crust, this rustic pie is our new summertime staple. Let the pie cool for at least one hour before serving.

If I were hosting a swanky rooftop engagement party on a hot summer evening, I'd make these refreshing, not-too-sweet ice pops. You'll need to let the Prosecco get flat in the refrigerator before making the pops. If you're in a hurry, decant it into a large bowl, and it will turn flat faster. Be sure to use food-safe rose petals that haven't been sprayed with pesticide.

A little balsamic vinegar and a few grinds of black pepper bring out the sweetness of ripe strawberries.

Watermelon in its solid state is so loaded with water and sugar that it is little more than a beverage waiting to be released from captivity. This tangy, refreshing drink is the fulfillment of that promise. The addition of a little vinegar does much to expand the aroma of the watermelon, which is barely perceptible when you’re eating the fruit. Mint and watermelon are natural BFFs. If you were unaware of that relationship before tasting this recipe, afterward you will try never to serve a slice of watermelon without a mint sprig somewhere nearby.

You can find sumac, a lemony spice, at Middle Eastern markets, specialty foods stores, and wholespice.com