TASTElist

This light and fruity cocktail was created for the CHOW launch party by master mixologist Jacques Bezuidenhout. The sweet combination of sliced strawberries, strawberry syrup, and rosé wine is balanced by the herbal complexity.

A combination of sugar, water, and strawberries cooked together, cooled, and strained. Use this sweet, fruity syrup in cocktails, desserts, or bubbly sodas.

With cabbage, carrots, radishes, and herbs, this slaw is as colorful as it is flavorful. It’s a great make-ahead dish, since the flavor develops as it sits; just be sure to give it a quick stir before you serve.

Rosa Mexicano’s perfectly balanced La Pinela cocktail is made with pineapple juice, cinnamon syrup, lime juice, and tequila. What to buy: Licor 43 Cuarenta y Tres is a Spanish liqueur with great spiced notes and a vanilla flavor that’s often served on the rocks. It can be found at high-end liquor stores and online.

This salad is a great way to use up leftover or slightly stale bread. The original is typically made with red wine vinegar and the saltless bread found throughout Tuscany. Our version has a light lemon vinaigrette and cucumbers for an added dimension and some crunch. What to buy: Pull out your best extra-virgin olive oil for this recipe, as the quality becomes apparent after the first bite.

This tasty cucumber salad recipe combines honeydew, cucumber, and feta cheese in a garlic, lemon, pepper dressing to create an amazing salad. While honeydew is usually the backbone of fruit salads, it can also shine in savory recipes, like this one with crunchy cucumber, feta cheese, and mint. The lemon-and–olive oil dressing has lots of black pepper to temper the flavour of the melon.

This recipe from author and former Gramercy Tavern managing partner Nick Mautone is a blend of Grand Marnier and iced tea that makes a perfect summer-afternoon cooler. Game plan: We like this Basic Iced Tea recipe for this cooler. Make the tea and refrigerate it up to 8 hours in advance.

You don’t need to pull out the ice cream maker for this elegant cold dessert. Just blend frozen pineapple with rum, lime juice, simple syrup, and ice, then freeze the mixture until solid and scoopable. This tart, tropical sorbet hits the mark as both an after-dinner cocktail and a dessert.

Rémoulade is essentially a homemade mayonnaise loaded with flavor. The sauce was originally created in France, but we put a Creole spin on it with the addition of Louisiana-style hot sauce, Worcestershire, and bell pepper. Though it’s normally served with fried-fish dishes such as our Cornmeal Fried Catfish, we also like it with boiled shrimp or mixed into a potato salad. What to buy: Have all the ingredients at room temperature before you start—the rémoulade will come together better.

This basic cream cheese frosting recipe is really easy to remember: Just beat together 2 sticks of butter, 2 packages of cream cheese, 2 cups of powdered sugar, and a splash of vanilla extract. It has just the right balance of sweetness and tang, so you can spread it on almost any sweet, from pumpkin cupcakes to ginger cake, or sandwich some between oatmeal cookies. Game plan: Refrigerate the frosting in a zip-top bag or an airtight container with a tightfitting lid for up to 4 days.

I grew up eating a version of this dip made with only dried dill weed, and though it tasted pretty good, I like the addition of some fresh dill and a little parsley as well. The dip needs to hang out in the fridge for a couple hours for the flavors to blend, so this is an ideal recipe to make ahead for a party. Serve alongside some Long Island Iced Tea for an impressive party spread.

This is a milder and more accessible version of my first hot sauce recipe, Habanero Blood Orange Death Kick. When my dad (who grows his own Trinidad Scorpion peppers) said it was way too hot, I took his advice and left out the serranos to curb the heat a bit. I also used easy-to-find domestic oranges and limes. Spoon it over a breakfast frittata for a punch of heat.