Recipes! Summery Skillet Gnocchi, Halloumi Crunch Salad, Halibut Ceviche and Chocolate Pudding

What to cook during the week ahead, from Post Food editors.

Happy weekend! I'm Matt Brooks, deputy Food editor, filling in here while Becky Krystal is on vacation. It's been a delicious stretch of recipe development at The Post, but beyond the summery flavors we featured this week, the dishes offered a wide range of textures, too.

For Aaron Hutcherson, gnocchi has always meant pillowy potato dumplings that are boiled like pasta and bathed in a sauce. Not anymore. For his Skillet Gnocchi With Eggplant-Tomato Sauce, Aaron cooked store-bought gnocchi on the stovetop, giving it a delightfully crisp bite while maintaining that familiar chewy interior. I love this treatment for gnocchi — which also avoids an extra pot to clean — and now, so does Aaron, who admits he could "snack on the crisped gnocchi like popcorn."

Speaking of crunchy snacks: For our Eat Voraciously newsletter this week, I published a salad recipe that's topped with caramelized almond-and-sesame-seed clusters. My Halloumi Salad With Almond Crunch and Tahini Dressing is a riff on a dish from Tatte Bakery & Cafe that stars crisped halloumi cheese, carrot, apple and radishes, but the crunch of that nutty topping is what keeps me coming back for more.

On the other end of the texture spectrum, cookbook author Jessie Sheehan shared her recipe for Vegan Chocolate Pudding, a creamy confection that feels just right for sweltering August afternoons. The six-ingredient pudding is flavored with dairy-free semisweet chocolate and vanilla, comes together in just a few minutes, and owes its luscious texture to silken tofu.

Does "bubbly" count as a texture? If not, we're making an exception for food writer Allison Robicelli's take on a bottled beverage encased in nostalgia: Cream Soda. This is a recipe where springing for real vanilla beans will make all the difference. The soda is made up of just four ingredients: Sugar, honey, vanilla and water. As Allison writes, "Its brilliance is in its simplicity."

Two more recipes that embrace that mantra are Ellie Krieger's Halibut Ceviche With Tomato and Avocado and Joe Yonan's Summer Couscous Salad. The former requires no cooking and minimal chopping, but still results in a fresh and elegant dish. The latter is a summer staple in the south of France, light and easily adaptable to whatever fresh produce you have handy.

Are you looking for more summer recipe inspiration? Wondering why you haven't been able to nail the texture of a specific dish at home? We can help. Becky and Aaron will be back to host their live weekly cooking chat with readers on Wednesday at noon Eastern. Submit your questions now and then come back to talk in real time.

Until then, happy cooking.