Chef Charlie Palmer shares several of his delicious summer recipes so you can make them at home yourself.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Mango Salsa
Fennel & Celery Root Slaw & Potato Salad

For the pork
1 each              pork butt (about 8 lb)
10 each            cloves garlic, halved
1 each              onion, diced
2 T                   vegetable oil
1 T                   ground cumin
2 t                   Turkish red pepper flakes
½ C                  honey
2 C                   fresh orange juice
2 C                   coffee (or 4 shots of espresso)
1½ C                 ketchup
1 C                   brown sugar, packed
1 C                   red wine vinegar
2 T                   tomato paste
1 T                   dry mustard

Large buns of choice.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Pierce the pork all over with the tip of a paring knife, and then insert pieces of garlic into the slits. Put the pork on a rack in a roasting pan and roast for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325°F and roast for 2 hours longer.

Take out the pork but leave the oven on. Let the pork stand until cool enough to handle, which will take a good half-hour. Now simply pull the pork apart (it should shred easily) and set aside until the sauce is ready. Don’t toss the roasted garlic—put it in with the shredded meat.

While the pork is roasting and cooling, make the sauce:

In a stockpot, sweat the onions in the oil over medium heat along with the cumin and red pepper flakes; cook for a few min­utes, just until the onions begin to wilt. Stir in the honey and cook for 5 to 7 minutes longer, stirring occasionally; the honey will start to caramelize, darkening in color. 

Add the orange juice and bring to a bare sim­mer. Add the coffee, ketchup, sugar, vin­egar, tomato paste, and mustard, whisking to blend. Simmer the sauce for 15 minutes to let all the flavors come together.

Mix the pork into the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Cover the pot and transfer to the oven to slowly stew for 45 minutes. Check and stir occasionally; if the sauce starts to cook dry, add a little more coffee or a few spoonfuls of water.

Salsa
2 each             mangos, peeled and diced
½ each            red onion, finely diced
3 T                  fresh lime juice
1 t                   minced fresh jalapeño
1 C                  chopped fresh cilantro

Mix the mangos with the onion, lime juice, and jalapeño, and season with salt and pepper. Wait to add the cilantro until just before serving, otherwise the acids will wilt it and darken it.

Fennel and Celery Root Slaw
2 each             heads fennel, trimmed of fronds and halved
2 each             medium celery roots, peeled
1 each             carrot, peeled and grated
2 C                 white wine vinegar
1½ C               granulated sugar
1 T                  salt
1½ C               mayonnaise

Thinly slice the fennel with the aid of a mandoline and put it in a shallow bowl.

Finely julienne the celery root (also with a mandoline) and add it to the bowl. Add the carrots.

Mix together the vinegar, sugar, and salt, and pour over the vegetables; stir to com­bine. Place plastic wrap directly over the vegetables and press it down to keep them submerged in the marinade. Let stand at room temperature for 6 hours, or refriger­ate overnight.

Drain the vegetables, then wrap them in a big kitchen towel and squeeze all excess moisture out of them. 

Place the vegetables on a cutting board and coarsely chop through them several times, then place in a bowl.

Mix in the mayonnaise, season with salt and white pepper, and refrigerate.

Potato Salad
6 each             large Idaho potatoes
½ C                 red wine vinegar
6 each             strips bacon, chopped
1 each             white onion, diced
1 T                  Dijon mustard
1 C                 mayonnaise
½ C                 milk
5 each             hard-cooked eggs, sliced

Place the potatoes in a pot, add cold water to cover, and bring to a simmer. Cook the potatoes for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they are just fork-tender.

Drain the potatoes and let cool until easy to handle. Peel the potatoes, then cut them into large chunks, dropping them into a bowl as you go. Sprinkle the vinegar over the warm potatoes so they absorb it and take up its flavor. Set aside to cool.

Line a plate with paper towels. Render the bacon in a sauté pan until crisp, then use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to the prepared plate. Add the onion to the pan and sweat it in the rendered bacon fat over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent and tender but not mushy. Add the bacon and onions to the potatoes.

Whisk together the mustard, mayo, and milk, and mix into the potatoes. Season up the salad and fold in the sliced hard-cooked eggs at the very end to avoid beat­ing them up too much.

Photo provided by Charlie Palmer: Pulled pork sandwiches, mango salsa, fennel & celery root slaw and potato salad.