14 of Martha's Favorite Recipes for Summer

assorted fruit opener
Sang An

For Martha, summertime means lots of grilling, savoring fresh fruit, including peaches and berries, and the bounty of fresh vegetables from her farm. During the summer, she's also busy entertaining family and friends at her farm, her beach home in East Hampton, or her estate in Maine. Here, Martha shares more than a dozen of her favorite recipes to make during the warm-weather months.

For casual parties taking place at her Bedford, New York, farm, our founder is a fan of building a panini bar to serve to guests. She lays out homemade basil pesto, a briny olive tapenade, assorted cured Italian meats, thinly sliced Italian cheeses such as mozzarella and fontina, anchovies, sliced heirloom tomatoes from her greenhouses, and fresh ciabatta bread. That way, everyone layer exactly what they want between two slices of bread. Once the sandwiches are assembled, each gets heated in a panini press or cast-iron skillet until warm and crispy.

One of Martha's favorite sandwiches is a classic ham and Swiss. There's nothing fancy or over-the-top about it. Martha recommends starting with the best baguette you can find, spreading salted butter and Dijon mustard on each half, then layering good-quality French ham (as much as you like) and sliced cheese.

For an easy, seasonal dessert, make the most of the short season for sour cherries and bake Martha's Sour-Cherry Pistachio Crisp or a Berry Grunt, which burst with the flavors of summer.

Take a page from Martha and make these delicious recipes all summer long. Your loved ones will be coming back for more and more.

01 of 14

Tomato Sandwiches

Tomato Sandwich
Bryan Gardner

An open-faced sandwich of vine-ripened tomatoes, Gruyère cheese, and homey bread is the perfect meal for peak tomato season.

02 of 14

Fireworks Cookies

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Put on a show with a display of these patriotic treats based on Martha's favorite classic sugar cookie recipe.

03 of 14

BLT

BLT Sandwich
James Merrell

Prepare this American classic with the finest ingredients, such as Comstock bacon, plump Jersey tomatoes, and fresh bread—and enjoy a BLT when tomatoes are at their peak in late summer and early fall.

04 of 14

Apricot-Almond Cobbler

Apricot Berry Cobbler
Martyna Szczesna

In this version of the classic fruit dessert, spiced apricot wedges are arranged atop a toasted-almond batter. The cake puffs up as it bakes, so only bits of fruit peek through.

05 of 14

Blueberry Muffins

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These picture-perfect muffins are studded with fresh blueberries and capped with crunchy sugar and crumb toppings.

06 of 14

Mahogany Fried Chicken

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Buttermilk and cayenne pepper make an easy marinade that produces moist, flavorful, picnic-perfect fried chicken.

07 of 14

Buttermilk Biscuits

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The ideal fried chicken companions, these savory herb-buttermilk biscuits have dill, chives, and rosemary baked right inside.

08 of 14

Donn's Waffles

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Beaten egg whites give these waffles an incomparably light, fluffy texture. Serve them with fresh summer berries or peaches.

09 of 14

Sour-Cherry Pistachio Crisp

sour cherry pistachio crisp
Dana Gallagher

Our crisp has more than a pound and a half of pitted sour cherries crowned with a brown-sugar-kissed oat-and-pistachio topping for lots of crunch.

10 of 14

Crab Salad Sandwich

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Crème fraîche, shallots, chives, and lemon juice complement the sweet, delicate flavor of lump crabmeat without overpowering it. Serve the crab salad between slices of toasted brioche with red-leaf lettuce and sliced avocado.

11 of 14

Plum-Nectarine Buckle

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A buckle is a decadent dessert hybrid: cake-like cobbler with a crumble topping.

12 of 14

Panini Bar

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Setting up a panini bar makes assembling sandwiches almost as much fun as eating them. A selection of Italian cold cuts and cheeses, anchovies, freshly made pesto and tapenade, and two kinds of bread ensure that there is a combination to please everyone.

13 of 14

Ham and Swiss Sandwich

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A classic ham and Swiss tastes even better served on a buttered baguette.

14 of 14

Berry Grunt

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A classic grunt is a dumpling-topped fruit dessert that's cooked on the stove; it is often called a slump. Our grunt has blackberries and raspberries that simmer together. Then dollops of ginger-spiked dumpling batter are added to the pan to steam in berry juice.

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