Easy, Superb Summer Cooking

Yasmin Fahr’s zucchini salad with bread crumbs.Credit…Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui.

The summer solstice may not arrive in the Northern Hemisphere for another seven days, but I’m not exactly known for my patience. I’ve been on summer mode for weeks. I’ve hit the beach at the Rockaways. I’ve knocked back frozen drinks on sun-dappled patios. I’ve cut out of work at 3 p.m. on a quiet Friday. I’ve eaten so, so much ice cream.

It’s time for my cooking to follow suit by leaning heavily on plump produce and requiring very little of me, a person who is already late to the park or the pool or the party. I’m talking zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers and corn with minimal fuss — or, ideally, with no application of heat at all.

With the freshest summer squash, Yasmin Fahr’s zucchini salad with bread crumbs (above) is in order. The zucchini itself is left raw, softened by a zippy mustard and lemon marinade. The marinade does call for anchovies, but our wonderful readers are already one step ahead with a tried-and-tested substitution: “I veganized this recipe by switching out the anchovies for one tablespoon white miso, a dash of tamari and a dash of caper brine. Turned out great!” one commenter wrote. The only bit you need to turn on a burner for is the briefly toasted topping.

Zucchini Salad With Bread Crumbs

View this recipe.

For Hetty Lui McKinnon’s cold sesame noodles with cucumber, corn and basil, you needn’t turn on the stove for anything other than quickly boiling chewy rice or wheat noodles. (And if you already have cooked leftover noodles in the fridge, all the better!) Cut up the cucumbers, strip the corn of its kernels, pluck a handful of basil leaves and stir together a three-ingredient dressing. That’s it. No, really.