Lunch: Melon-and-Strawberry Salad with Spicy Lemongrass Syrup

Recipe by Grace Parisi Chiles add subtle heat to this exceptional fruit salad. Grace Parisi likes using any syrup left in the fruit bowl for cocktails; she mixes a little of it into rum and pours the drink over ice.

Ingredients

2 plump lemongrass stalks, bruised and coarsely chopped
2 fresh hot red chiles, quartered lengthwise
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
1 cup sugar
1 pound strawberries, halved or quartered if large
1 pound cubed or white-fleshed melon such as Canary or Crenshaw, 3/4-inch peeled yellow
2 tablespoons slivered mint leaves
2 teaspoons minced crystallized ginger
1/2 cup crčme fraîche

Instructions

Set a medium bowl in a large bowl filled with ice. In a medium saucepan, combine the lemongrass, chiles, lime zest and sugar with 1 cup of water and bring to boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 8 minutes. Transfer to the ice water bath and let chill for 15 minutes.
In a large bowl, toss the strawberries with the melon and mint. Strain the cooled lemongrass syrup over the fruit and toss gently. Refrigerate just until slightly chilled.
In a bowl, stir the ginger into the crčme fraîche. Spoon the fruit salad into bowls, top with a dollop of the ginger cream and serve.

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