Tuna with Spring Onion

Spring has this way of creeping up on you in Paris… and, for that matter, in New York. Spring of my youth in Manhattan was less of a season and more of a bipolar switching from blizzard to blistering and back again, spotted with one weekend where daffodils started peeking their heads out (only to be subsequently squashed by frost), and another where the entirety of Central Park turned pink for 72 hours under the weight of cherry blossom trees.

Two days ago, I was still bundling up against the cold, but as I woke this morning to sunlight streaming through my window, I realized that we were experiencing one of those early days of spring, the ones that have people emerging, blinking in the sunlight, from their winter burrows and sniffing the air as mulch and grasseed infiltrates the usual pollution and smog. It’s February 11th; I know this is freak-spring, but it was welcome nonetheless.

In the interest of full disclosure, these pictures of flowerbeds in full bloom are actually from two springs ago, photos that have been languishing on my Flickr account, waiting for an appropriate time to be used. The American Proust Fan recently asked for suggestions of places to wander, and I remembered an afternoon with my Nomad Aunt, walking around the 19th arrondissement Square des Batignolles and Parc de Buttes-Chaumont, discovering corners of Paris I didn’t know before during a season that hardly exists. It’s like a place and time that hardly exists, and that’s what makes it so magical, so ripe for discovery.

The Square des Batignolles is perhaps not Paris’ best-known, but it’s definitely well-frequented by locals: grandmothers with grandchildren, local collégiens looking for a way to amuse themselves and avoid going home. I remember the slow, progressive discovery with my aunt, past waterfalls and ponds and flowers, to the very end, where we saw a 60-year-old grandmother calmly dragging a kicking child from the park by the hood of his parka, like a mother wolf carrying a pup by the scruff of his neck.

Further afield, the neighborhood around the Buttes-Chaumont park, a better-known park but a lesser-known residential street, lined with similar houses and similar trees. I find myself adoring such neighborhoods, but never lingering long: it’s the sort of place you can imagine living and taking for granted someday, but spring days that beckon you to discover other, new places render these pictures of perfection drab and bland.

Instead, we poke our way down small streets like this one, a sense of adventure as we peer into bakery windows and watch the last of the Easter candy being swept up. I remember the smell of the air–like the air today–warm, the winter baking out of it and promising new growth.

Which is how we discover this tiny Russian Orthodox church–l’église de St-Serge. The fact that it’s beautiful, surrounded by a secret, lush garden, makes the discovery twice as gratifying.

Early spring days aren’t the easiest for cooking. I want to throw together springtime dishes of fresh sweet peas and early asparagus, but though the weather suggests spring, the markets still don’t. An easy tuna salad with spring onions–already available, regardless of their moniker–with fresh French baguette hits the spot perfectly.

Tuna with Spring Onion

1 can tuna, packed in olive oil, drained
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and fresh black pepper
1 spring onion (or 1/2 red onion, if these aren’t available to you yet)

Flake the tuna into a bowl with a fork. Season with lemon juice, salt and black pepper. Finely chop the spring onion and toss with the tuna. Serve with fresh bread and an early spring day.