A Beloved Pantry Lunch Gets Its Glow Up

Suppose it’s a very warm summer day. Actually, suppose it’s sweltering. You take refuge somewhere. Maybe there are whirling ceiling fans. Perhaps there’s air conditioning, inadequate but better than nothing. Or, possibly, you’re by the sea, in the shade, with an ocean breeze. In any case, you feel hot, bothered and hungry.

Here’s a meal meant for a day like that. A cool drink — cool like a cucumber — is a given. A main-course salad is a fine idea for a warm weather repast. Think tuna, beans, tomatoes. For dessert, something lemony. And fruit.

My further thoughts for a hot day’s menu: cucumber, green apple, maybe ginger. Whiz these ingredients in a blender, add a speck of cayenne, some juice from a lime and ice water. Refreshing. Could be a chilled soup, but it feels more like a zippy agua fresca. A beautiful verdant liquid, mocktailesque.

Pour it into a salt-rimmed glass, add a few ice cubes and a splash of soda water. Voilà, a cucumber-apple cooler, a delightful concoction that can be sipped throughout the meal.

But hold on. For those so inclined, the drink could certainly benefit from a jigger of gin and become a brilliant, green alcoholic cocktail. A name change? A gin and cucumber tonic? Sounds almost like a home remedy, and perhaps it is.

Now, for that main-course salad, I’m inspired by the classic Italian pairing of tuna and white beans, which is often part of an antipasto offering. Simple. Good canned tuna and cannellini beans. A drizzle of fruity olive oil. A quick satisfying lunch from the pantry.

But I want to dress it up and give it my own spin. Maybe I’ll cook a pound of white beans, bean-lover that I am. As for tuna, I’ll get fresh tuna and season it with a special mixture of sea salt, black pepper, coriander seed and fennel seed. The tuna will be seared in cast-iron and remain rare.

I’ll also prepare a flavor-packed vinaigrette with red onion, garlic, wine vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil. I want enough dressing to generously coat the beans, strips of roasted pepper and lots of halved cherry tomatoes. It needs to be luscious and bold.

Everything will marinate and mingle for a while, and then reside on a big platter with the sliced tuna on top and a shower of basil leaves.

We’ll call it, Superlative Tuna With White Beans and Cherry Tomatoes.

For dessert, I always want fruit, and lots of great fruit is coming in — peaches, nectarines and all sorts of berries. But for this summer gathering, I also want a cake.

So I bake a lemon ricotta cake. This I do in the cool of the evening the night before the party or in the early morning. It’s an easy recipe, very lemony and moist, and it keeps well, so it can be made a day or two in advance.

Just before serving, the cake gets apricot preserves spread over the top for an especially sunny presentation. Sliced stone fruit and berries complete the picture.

So, a summery meal for a very warm day, and all is well. By evening, the air is cooling, and no one’s hot or bothered at all.

Follow New York Times Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Pinterest. Get regular updates from New York Times Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.