Summer starter recipes
Bring warmth and colour to the table with our summer starter recipes.
Make the most of summer produce with easy starter ideas using courgettes, aubergine, fresh tomatoes and sweet peppers. We’ve even included some sweet-savoury dishes with grilled peaches and juicy strawberries. These recipes are perfect for laid-back lunches and dinners in the garden, and many of them are make-ahead too. Fingers crossed for good weather.
Our best-ever summery starters include refreshing chilled soups like watermelon gazpacho and vichyssoise. Serve up platters of sharing dishes for a casual gathering, like these golden fish croquettes and addictive aubergine moussaka rolls. Planning a more formal do or dinner party? There’s plenty of ideas below to impress your guests.
See our summer of sport recipe ideas if you’re getting friends together to watch some of the year’s big sporting events.
Showing 1-16 of 84 recipes
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Easy starter recipes
Socca (or farinata) with prawns, chickpeas and peppers
Debora Robertson shares her easy recipe for the Provençal chickpea flatbread, socca. This popular snack is known as farinata in Italy.
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Easy
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Tomato salad recipes
Insalata pantesca (Pantelleria-style cherry tomato salad)
This cherry tomato salad recipe comes from Pantelleria, an island between Sicily and Tunisia. It's perfect for a lunch in the sun.
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Easy
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Easy salmon recipes
Salmon and avocado summer rolls
Uyen Luu shares her recipe for salmon and avocado summer rolls. Vietnamese rice paper rolls are stuffed with salmon, avo and fresh herbs.
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Easy
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Summer recipes
Tomato tonnato
Make the most of tomatoes when they're at their peak summer best in this tomato tonnato recipe. It's ready in 10 minutes and tastes like the best tuna sandwich you've ever eaten, in salad form.
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Sustainable recipes
Fish scrap croquettes
These herby croquettes filled with fluffy mash and surrounded by a crisp breadcrumb coating are the perfect vehicle for any scraps of fish.
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Medium
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Fennel recipes
Roast fennel quinoa salad with basil yogurt dressing
This fennel salad is packed with roasted summer vegetables and finished generously with a vibrant basil and lemon dressing.
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Easy
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Summer salads and sides
Parma ham, halloumi, strawberry and mint
This speedy parma ham starter pairs the ham with salty halloumi cheese, sweet strawberries and fresh mint.
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Easy
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Prawn cocktail recipes
Prawn cocktail platter
Create the ultimate prawn cocktail platter with proper marie rose dip made with homemade mayo, prawns and crisp lettuce leaves.
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Easy
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Crab recipes
Emily Scott’s Cornish crab, toast and mayo
Cornwall-based chef Emily Scott’s recipe for crab on toast is delightfully simple but special, enriched with just a little lemon and garlic.
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Easy
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Filo pastry recipes
Filo-wrapped feta with spiced honey
Georgina Hayden's easy filo-wrapped feta is a guaranteed crowdpleaser. It's served drizzled with spiced honey and sprinkled with thyme.
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Easy
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August seasonal recipes
Courgette, feta and blackcurrant salad
This elegant dish of courgette and feta and blackcurrant puréee makes the perfect late summer starter, says The Ethicurean's Mark McCabe
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Burrata recipes
Burrata, tomato and strawberry salad
This gorgeous burrata salad is a celebration of high summer. Use a mix of heritage tomatoes and basil varieties for extra colour and flavour.
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Easy
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Aubergine recipes
Aubergine moussaka rolls
These moussaka rolls transform the big layered oven-baked dish into a slightly lighter snackable affair. It just needs a quick blast under the grill before serving.
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Easy
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Leek recipes
Vichyssoise
A simple leek and potato soup is whizzed up until it’s super-smooth, then chilled to give it a creamy, luscious texture that’s perfect for summer.
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Easy
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30-minute meal recipes
Pickled blackberry and whipped feta tartines
These open sandwiches are topped with silky smooth whipped feta, piquant quick-pickled blackberries and peppery rocket leaves – a trio of flavours that come together in perfect harmony.
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Easy
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Garlic recipes
Ajo blanco
Also known as white gazpacho, this southern Spanish chilled soup combines sweet grapes, creamy almonds and bread.
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Easy
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