A gorgeous Black Forest sheet cake

And simply seared scallops, smoked chicken wings, our best gazpacho and sour cream scones.

View in browser|nytimes.com July 26, 2024 Samantha Seneviratne's Black Forest sheet cake. Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. This is the season to trust your instincts By Sam Sifton Good morning. I had smoked chicken wings on the menu for dinner, a beautiful salad of sliced, salted tomatoes with a fist of burrata and some drizzled balsamic vinegar, a Black Forest sheet cake (above) for dessert. That seemed enough — the cake, especially, with its blanket of whipped cream and studdings of cherry. Featured Recipe Black Forest Sheet Cake View Recipe → But there were scallops at the market, too, big fatties the color of pearls dragged up by the Shinnecock fleet south of Ponquogue on Long Island. I bought a pound in the spirit of excess and cooked them in a pan set over the grill while I was crisping the wings, searing the scallops dark on one side then flipping them over to bathe in butter with a squeeze of lime. (Here's a recipe for that.) The result was revelatory — summer in a pan, the very best thing I ate all week — and a reminder that this is the season to trust your instincts when it comes to preparing your meals. If an ingredient speaks to you at the food store, at the farm stand, at the fishmonger's or the butcher shop, buy it. Revel in the joy it provides. It might be the first corn of the season, the second run of zucchini, a tangle of blue crabs fresh from the bay. Something out there, something delicious, is speaking to you. Heed its call. This weekend, that might be swordfish for piccata or eggplant to glaze with gochujang and serve with fried scallions. It could be a tomato and pomegranate salad, an exemplary gin and tonic or perhaps a crunchy Vietnamese cabbage salad with pan-seared tofu. You could bake scones for breakfast. You could whiz up some gazpacho for lunch, a platter of seekh kebabs with mint chutney for dinner. Then, perhaps, a dessert of ice cream with olive oil and dates, if, like me, the nice olive oil you used on the tomatoes is speaking to you. (If it's not, consider a Coke float!) The idea is simply to allow inspiration to drive you, to cook from instinct, to trust your own tastes and interests and to allow summer in its bounty to deliver success. The thousands of recipes on New York Times Cooking are a good place to start. (You need a subscription to read them, of course. Subscriptions support our work and allow it to continue. If you haven't already, would you consider subscribing today? Thanks.) Take a spin through our offerings and see what piques your interest. If you run into problems along the way, just reach out for help. We're at cookingcare@nytimes.com and someone will get back to you. Or, if you'd like to lodge a complaint or offer a compliment, you can write to me: foodeditor@nytimes.com. I cannot respond to every letter. But I read every one I get. Now, it's nothing to do with cloudberries or anchovies packed in salt, but I've gone way down the rabbit hole with Jack Carr's Terminal List novels, Jack Reacherish beach reading of the most adrenalized sort. You should absolutely read David Gelles's profile of Reed Timmer, "America's most obsessive storm chaser," in The New York Times Magazine. The Australian crime series "Mystery Road" is on Amazon Prime these days and not bad. Finally, there's a new Kim Deal single, "Coast," and she's still the coolest, so listen to that. I'll see you on Sunday. Meredith Heuer for The New York Times Smoked Chicken Wings By Sam Sifton 45 minutes Makes 4 to 6 servings  Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Gozde Eker. Sautéed Scallops By Sam Sifton 10 minutes Makes 4 servings Christopher Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Gochujang-Glazed Eggplant With Fried Scallions By Eric Kim 45 minutes Makes 4 to 6 servings Carol Sachs for The New York Times Yotam Ottolenghi's Tomato and Pomegranate Salad Recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi Adapted by Sam Sifton 30 minutes Makes Serves 6 Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times Crunchy Vietnamese Cabbage Salad With Pan-Seared Tofu By Melissa Clark 30 minutes Makes 4 servings Yossy Arefi for The New York Times (Photography and Styling) Sour Cream and Fruit Scones By Dawn Perry 35 minutes, plus cooling Makes 8 scones Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Ice Cream With Olive Oil and Dates  By Ali Slagle 10 minutes Makes 1 serving  Sign up for the Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter Fresh dinner ideas for busy people who want something great to eat, with NYT Cooking recipes sent to you weekly. 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