Stir-fry Spring Vegetables

Stir-fried Duck With Sugar Snap Peas and Asparagus by Jamie Oliver: This recipe can be modified to suit your preferences: Try chicken or pork rather than duck, or add whatever vegetables are locally and seasonally available, such as zucchini, spinach or bean sprouts. Oranges, honey and chili peppers give this dish a balance of sugar and spice.

Highly Adaptable Shrimp Fried Rice by David Waltuck: Fried rice from scratch is an excellent way to use up leftover cooked rice, and it's much easier to control the nutritive content when making your own than ordering takeout. While this recipe says it serves two, it can easily be split into smaller portions as a lunch or side dish.

Artichoke Hearts With Onion, Balsamic Vinegar and Parmesan Cheese by Leslie Revsin: Although we commonly associate the stir-fry method with Asian cooking, this recipe employs oregano, balsamic vinegar and Parmesan cheese for an Italian-inspired hot appetizer or side dish.

Piperade by Victoria Blashford-Snell and Brigitte Hafner: This scrambled egg dish from the Basque region of southwest France can be made in a wok in about 20 minutes!

Moroccan Ratatouille by Claudia Roden: The key to stir-frying eggplant is to sprinkle the cubed vegetable with salt and let it sit for an hour before cooking to help draw out the moisture. While this recipe requires two pans to stir-fry the eggplant and zucchini separately, it's still quick and easy to make for a summertime supper, and leftovers can be eaten cold for lunch the next day.

Farmhouse Stir-fried Pork With Green Peppers by Fuchsia Dunlop: A popular dish from Hunan cuisine, this stir-fry combines the authentic Chinese flavors of shaoxing wine and black fermented beans with Italian frying peppers (although regular bell peppers will do in a pinch).