If my colleague Tanya Sichynsky has chickpea anxiety, then I live with cucumber dependency. I need at least one, ideally two, seedless cucumbers in my fridge at all times, ready for snacking, smashing or slicing up to be the green thing in my grain bowl. If I “accidentally” buy too many cucumbers, that just means it’s time for pickles. (And then: pickle brine margaritas.) I want, love, need cucumbers.
It’s not a bad thing, though, because always having some means I’m one-fifth of the way to Ali Slagle’s cucumber-avocado salad, a refreshing vegan recipe that complements pretty much any meal I can think of. The remaining four ingredients — avocado, scallions, lemon juice and red pepper flakes — balance the refreshing, watery cucumbers with necessary richness and bite. It’s an Ali recipe, so of course she offers variations and suggestions; I’ve swapped rice vinegar for the lemon juice, and chile crisp for the red pepper flakes; I’ve piled it on top of rice with Eric Kim’s tuna mayo mix. Get yourself some cucumbers, and get creative.
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Cucumber-Avocado Salad
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I don’t keep saffron on hand, so that means a giddy trip to my favorite apothecary-like spice store to make Naz Deravian’s joojeh kabab ba holu, or saffron chicken kebabs with peaches. The threads are ground and steeped in water to draw out their sweet scent, flavor and rich hue; the resulting saffron water is then combined with lemon zest and juice, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper to marinate the chicken and onion. The reviews are glowing: “I made this last night and it was incredible,” writes Krista, a reader. “What a spectacular combination of flavors. I am ready to make this again!”
If you keep carrots and celery in the crisper, you’ve got a good leg up on Hetty Lui McKinnon’s crunchy noodle and tofu salad, her vegetarian take on Chinese chicken salad (which isn’t actually Chinese). I’m entering the part of summer where an infant-size eggplant comes home with me every weekend, so Kay Chun’s eggplant adobo will be in regular rotation.
Speaking of summer produce: peppers! I love those taut, shiny red, orange and yellow peppers beaming at me in the produce aisle. I’ll slice up one of each for Ali’s new slow-cooker sausages, peppers and onions, the favorite dish of my uncle Hank. (I’m pretty sure the favorite dish of any Uncle Hank is sausage, peppers and onions.)
Last, but far from least, strawberries, which are now hitting their stride. I have a really high bar for berry desserts when berries are in season: Basically, it has to be a pretty incredible dessert for me to forgo eating perfect fruit straight from the carton. Yossy Arefi’s fresh strawberry Bundt cake easily clears that bar, with the sweet berries both studding the yogurt-based cake and mashed into the glaze for super strawberry-ness. It’s a beautiful cake.
