Food Holidays & Occasions How to Entertain all Summer Like a Boss These are all the tips and recipes you need to cook, prep, and pour like a pro at any summer event, from barbecues to garden parties. By Melanie Hansche Melanie Hansche Title: Deputy Editor, Food & WineLocation: Easton, PennsylvaniaEducation: Melanie has a graduate diploma in journalism from the University of Technology, Sydney, and a bachelor of arts with a double major in English literature and politics from Macquarie University.Expertise: food, travel, recipes, restaurants.Experience: Melanie Hansche has been the deputy editor at Food & Wine since 2018, where she spearheads both its travel and home coverage, develops recipes close to her heart (crumpets, anyone?), and often writes about her experiences of being a restaurant owner working in food media. Before joining F&W, she was the editor-in-chief of Organic Life at Rodale, oversaw the company's test kitchen, and acted as food director across all its brands. Melanie spent her formative years at one of Australia's most successful food brands, Donna Hay magazine, as its executive editor. Since 2017, Melanie has been the co-owner of Tucker, an Aussie-inspired cafe and general store. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on September 12, 2024 Growing up in Sydney, Australia, distinctly shaped my worldview on summer cooking and entertaining. A Southern Hemisphere summer meant eating a mango for breakfast while standing over the kitchen sink to catch the drips, a colorful array of salads and burnt snags (sausages) on weeknight rotation, buckets of chilled prawns and tinnies (cans) of cold lager for Christmas lunch on the back patio, and fish and chips rolled up in newspaper on the beach for Sunday dinner, no cutlery required. No single meal required much effort, instead summer heralded the start of what I call assembly season. Our Favorite No-Churn Ice Creams and Frozen Yogurt 6 Ways to Sundae, From a Banana Split to an Espresso-Soaked Tiramisu Sundae 10 Best Portable Picnic Drinks That You Can Make Ahead or in Minutes 13 Sensational Snacks to Serve Poolside Assembling requires far less effort than cooking. Whether you’re shredding a store-bought rotisserie chicken into some salad leaves and veg for lunch, cracking open a selection of quality canned anchovies and sardines and serving them with antipasti and sourdough for a snack dinner, or making a cheat’s soft serve ice cream from frozen bananas and little else to beat the heat, assembling means ease, and ease is the name of the game all summer long. 13 Cold Dips to Keep Party Prep Chill 20 Picnic-Perfect Salads to Pack and Enjoy Outside 12 Simple Spritzes for Summer Sipping 14 Cocktails to Make With 1 Bottle of Campari We’ll be channeling this easy, breezy vibe as much as humanly possible this season. Anything that we can make ahead and chill is a huge win, whether it’s pack-ready salads, stocking the freezer with no-churn ice cream (you know, for that impromptu ice cream social), or cold dips that can go straight from the fridge to the table. For those moments when actual cooking is necessary, we like to opt for quick grilling cuts like picanha, or slap a bratwurst on a hoagie with kraut and call it dinner. Summer Like a Midwesterner With Beer-Cooked Brats 17 Satisfying Sides for Burgers Why Picanha Is Our New Favorite Meat to Grill 15 Packable Sandwiches for a Summer Picnic Your liquid refreshments can be equally uncomplicated. These smart, delicious portable drinks that can be made in minutes to take to a party are a far cry from the boxed wine and sweet hard cider of my youth. (Fun fact: Boxed wine was invented in Australia.) Pre-batching large format cocktails is always an excellent option and so is keeping a bottle of Campari on hand at all times, given its versatility in so many seasonal spritzes and drinks. Just remember, no matter what your mother may have told you, eating fruit over the kitchen sink is a perfectly acceptable summer breakfast. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit