Nothing's quite as easy as cooking in summer. You barely need to cook anything at all. Or you just toss it on the grill. Or you just cut to the chase and flag down the ice cream truck.
And if you're really feeling lazy, you can make dinner the way they do at seafood shacks up and down the Eastern Seaboard: Season a couple fish fillets with nothing more than a splash of wine or a few lemon slices, a pat of butter, and maybe some parsley, and then set under the broiler for a few minutes to get sizzly, tender, and fragrant.
Unlike pan-frying or grilling, which immediately triggers will it stick? anxiety, broiling your seafood is reassuringly fast and straightforward—as simple and fast as microwaving, but, you know, actually seductive. Fire up the broiler, drizzle your fish fillets with olive oil or melted butter, and season with salt and pepper. Broil those fillets on a rimmed baking sheet, skin-side down, right underneath the broiler until the fish is opaque and flakes easily, about 6 minutes.
This infallible formula only gets better the more you play around with it. Drizzle that fish with white wine or layer on lemon slices before it goes under the broiler. Finish it with capers, parsley, or pitted olives (or hey, all three). Top with tapenade, pesto, or sweet romesco.
Or just follow the time-honored example of countless "Shore" shacks up and down the East Coast, and just serve with a couple wedges of lemon and plenty of bread to mop up the sauce. It's the best way to remind yourself that—for a little while longer, at least—life's still a beach.
