Fuchsia Dunlop’s Slivered Pork with Flowering Chives, from ‘Land of Fish and Rice’
By Leslie Brenner
Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer — so where are all the great tomatoes and corn? Coming soon, don’t worry!
Rather than rush prematurely into zucchini and eggplant, it’s worth taking a minute to slow down and appreciate the final fabulous weeks of spring and all that means for cooks who follow the seasons.
Such a delicious moment, with artichokes and asparagus still gorgeous, strawberries and new potatoes at their best, flowering chives in the Asian markets and peaches just starting to come in. That’s why we’ve put together a bunch of recipes that celebrate this spring-into-summer moment.
Fuchsia Dunlop’s Slivered Pork with Flowering Chives
The dish shown above comes from Fuchsia Dunlop’s Land of Fish and Rice, one of my all-time favorite cookbooks.
READ: Cookbooks We Love: Shanghai and its Jiangnan region shine in ‘Land of Fish and Rice’
I love the recipe for so many reasons, starting with I’d seen flowering chives in Asian markets so many times and always wondered what to do with them. Also, as Dunlop writes in her headnote, it serves as a master recipe “for any stir-fry that follows the basic formula of slivered meat plus slivered vegetable.” Dunloop has a wonderful way of teaching important lessons in Chinese technique with each of her recipes — which always work and are always revelations.
The Greenest Gazpacho
Inevitably I start craving gazpacho each year before tomatoes are at their peak. Since creating this recipe a few years ago, this is what I always make. It’s an easy blitz of cukes, celery, bell pepper, tons of parsley and almonds or cashews, seasoned with sherry vinegar and olive oil.
June’s the perfect month for it. It happens to be vegan and gluten-free. I once made it for a movie star (a big one — no joke!), and she loved it.
Country-Style Potato Salad from ‘Jubilee’
Perfect for Father’s Day, a Juneteenth celebration — or hey, even a Memorial Day picnic today! — this classic comes from Toni Tipton Martin’s Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking. It tastes very much like the potato salad my mom used to make when I was a kid.
Chilled Asparagus Troisgros-Savoy
This mayo-based sauce is my current favorite thing to dunk asparagus in. It would also be great to serve with boiled artichokes. You can make your own mayo for it, or use store-bought.
Strawberry-Mezcal Ice Cream
Yes, it’s as good as it sounds.
Showstopper Rolled Pavlova with Peaches and Blackberries
Peaches are here! I had superb ones when I was in California a couple weeks ago, and I bought some from South Carolina a few days ago here in Dallas. Memorial Day is when the Texas peaches usually start — hurray! Which means if you’re somewhere in the U.S., you’re probably not far from peaches.
This pavlova is a rolled sheet of meringue, filled with whipped cream, peaches, blackberries and almonds and topped with more of the same. It comes to us from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Sweet, cowritten with Helen Goh, and an assist from Tara Wigley. It’s one of the most fun desserts I’ve ever made — and showstoppingly striking when you slice it.