Summer Dinner for Friends

A casual dinner plan that makes the most of corn, tomato, and grilling season. (Includes menu & shopping list)

Having people over in the summer is so simple, right? You just throw some burgers on the grill…hmmm, unless you’re cooking for vegetarians. OR you make a big pot of fresh tomato-basil sauce with pasta….uhhh unless you’re cooking for gluten-free-ers. Hey, I knowwww! How about a big platter of grilled vegetables dripping with creamy burrata? Well, I’m sure your dairy-free guests will be nice about it, but in this situation — as with all cheese-dripping situations — it’s possible you might incite acute level table-side FOMO after spearing a few sad, naked grilled zucchini rounds onto their dinner plates.

So: How do you please everyone all at once?

You do not and you cannot! (Has any of that therapy paid off yet?)

But what you can do is try, and that brings us to this menu which has a little something special for everyone. It’s my kind of dinner: Fresh, summery, corn-and-tomato-and-grill-centric dishes that are so simple you hardly need recipes for them — but don’t worry I wrote them out anyway!

Finally — FINALLY! — I figured out how to embed a PDF in this space so all you have to do is just print out the shopping list, the recipes, and the game plan, then invite your most deserving friends to enjoy a meal without calling upon a single one of your brain cells. Summer, baby! Let’s do this…

HERE IS THE LINE-UP…