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Sure, watermelon is a perfect picnic food all on its own. But in the peak of summer, there’s a whole world of other-melony goodness to enjoy. Taking a page from Mexican fruit stalls that sell wedges of fruit and jicama topped with chile salt, we came up with this simple DIY version. You supply the spears of melon (go for whatever’s freshest and most fragrant at your farmers’ market) and plums along with lime wedges and sumac salt, and everyone gets to make their own mini melon wraps with minty-spicy shiso leaves. Talk about refreshing: you bite through the snap of the leaf and you’re rewarded with a juicy burst of sweetness, tang, and salt that gets your mouth watering for the rest of the meal. 

Fried chicken is picnic-perfect because it’s great at any temperature. And we think fried chicken tenders are even better. They’re easy to eat with your hands, making them kid-friendly, and there are no messy bones. Tenders are also easier to cook than bone-in chicken. You can fry up a whole batch in about 20 minutes just before you leave for the picnic. For the grown-ups, we like to serve a rich, mildly spicy romesco sauce on the side. It’s a summertime standby you can keep on hand in the fridge and serve with anything from grilled meats and vegetables to burgers and sandwiches. 

This is how we want to cook at home in the summer: a fresh, fast meal, all made in a single pan. You can even take the whole thing outside and set your skillet right on the grill, so the house stays cool and smoke-free. Flat iron steak is very flavorful, and we think pan-searing is the best way to keep it tender and juicy. Leftover seared steak can be chilled and sliced thinly for salads. It’s great tossed with arugula, juicy summer tomatoes, good olive oil, and burrata or crumbled blue cheese. 

Spring is the time to bring color back to the plate. And the best way to make colors pop is to apply the painter’s principle of contrast—like purple potatoes, bright green peas, and butter-yellow endive. Adding vinegar to the potato cooking water helps the potatoes maintain their purple color, and a quick blanch and ice bath will bring up the color of the peas. The flavors here are bright, too. The intense acidity of the triple-lemon vinaigrette cuts through the starchiness of the potatoes and ties everything together. 

This is not salmon with a side dish. It’s a single recipe with elements that are meant to be served and eaten together. 

Barigoule is a classic Provençal dish of braised baby artichokes. They’re traditionally cooked simply in white wine with a mirepoix of carrots, onions, and garlic, which is discarded before serving. We think it’s a shame not to eat those aromatic vegetables, so we keep them in the mix, plus we add fresh apricots and potatoes, which soak up all of the flavors and become the costars of the show. The roasted salmon is super simple, whether you prepare it as a whole side or as fillets (page 286), and so is the aioli. The real work here is in the barigoule, but you can make it ahead of time, and when you taste it with the salmon and the sauce, you’ll agree it’s worth the effort. 

Favas are like spring itself: short and sweet. Their season can sometimes be only a few weeks long, so if you see them at your farmers’ market, snap them up and set aside a little time to prepare them. For a salad like this, you want small, early-harvest beans, not the bigger, starchier ones that show up later in the season. The work of first stripping them from their pods and then blanching and shocking them before popping each bean out of its thick skin can be slow going, but it’s the world’s tastiest form of spring cleaning. 

Ono (also called wahoo), Halibut, or Codd are firm-fleshed, meaty fish that our fishmonger recommends in the fall. If you don't have Ono, any white fish would work just fine!

Ono’s snow-white color, sweet flavor, and halibut-like texture make it a great candidate for hearty cold-weather combinations like this one. Using a vinaigrette as a finishing sauce for something other than a salad is a simple trick that can change the way you cook. In this case, the potatoes and chard are cooked in just salted water, and you might think they’d be bland. But the warm juices from the fish and the mushroom vinaigrette magically blend together to make a sauce that infuses everything with big, balanced flavor.

Making your own home-cured salmon (also known as gravlax) is easier than you might think, and the flavor is sweeter and more delicate than store-bought smoked salmon. Riffing on bagels and cream cheese, we like to serve our cured salmon on thinly sliced bagel crostini with Délice de la Vallée, a spectacular Sonoma triple-cream cow and goat milk cheese. If you can’t find it, whip up equal parts of any good quality spreadable fresh goat cheese and cream cheese.

This recipe serves 12.

To match both the bright fruit and dark chocolate flavors in this complex dessert wine, bittersweet dark chocolate is lightened with a touch of whipped cream and served with fresh berries.  A hint of lavender in the berry syrup brings out the floral aroma in the Matanzas Creek L’Ultime Dessert Wine.

This versatile spice rub uses Matanzas Creek Estate Grown Lavender to form a foundation of floral notes, in addition to other complimentary spices which will add familiar accents to any dish you use this rub on.  This rub works especially well on grilled meats and broiled fish.

1.5lb mushrooms (such as hedgehog, maitake or chanterelle)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1⁄2 cup minced shallots

3 cups celery root
3 cups diced kohlrabi
3 cups diced fennel bulb
3 cups cored and diced Fuji apple

4 (1.75 lb) whole duck legs
5 cups rendered duck fat
Kosher salt
5 fresh thyme sprigs

4 (5 oz.) fillet mignon
1 Tbsp. canola oil
Kosher salt
2 small shallots, minced

4 (12 oz.) rib-eye steaks
5 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp. Matanzas Creek spice rub
2 slices bacon, minced

In this recipe, the combination of earthy turnips and smoky bacon bring out the complex aromas of the Matanzas Creek Pinot Noir while dried currants highlight the wines bright red fruit

2 romaine hearts, chopped to desired size
1/3 C. fresh peas, shelled & blanched
6 radishes, sliced
1 carrot, shredded

½ lb. ahi tuna (sashimi grade)
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp. white pepper
½ tsp. culinary lavender

1 quart water
¼ cup kosher salt
¼ cup honey
10 sage leaves

8 ounces butter, at room temperature
2 C. powdered sugar
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 large eggs