Synopses & Reviews
Salad for lunch? Salad for dinner? It's easy - and delicious - to turn salads into main meals with this original collection from chef Tasha DeSerio. As more and more home cooks are looking to eat healthy using local and regional offerings, the whole-meal salads highlighted here will satisfy vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. Simple, yet sophisticated and showcasing the author's talent for presenting beautiful ingredients in an artful way, the recipes encompass everything from greens to meat and fish, dairy, and pasta and grain. With detailed information on in-season fruits and vegetables, lesser-known salad fixings, preparation techniques (including make ahead tips), and a comprehensive chapter on salad basics, readers will have all they need to turn out satisfying and beautiful salads of their own. Easy enough for one and special enough for a crowd, salads as a main course will be showing up on tables everywhere.
Review
“What could be more important than a book that revolves entirely around beautiful salads? Now, more than ever, we need to focus on simple, fresh, pure food—and Tasha has been a vital part of this delicious revolution. It is her fine-tuning of taste that makes this book so valuable. “
--Alice Waters "If you really want to know how to make a good salad, look no further. Tasha DeSerio is the teacher you need. Tasha is one of my favorite cooks, and here she offers her experience, common sense, and artistry to the finer points of salad-making. No one does it better. Brava!"
--David Tanis, author of A Platter of Figs, and Heart of the Artichoke “Tasha set a new gold standard with her salads at Chez Panisse. This book reveals her secrets. It is a delight to have access to her recipes, ripe with good advice from a seasoned chef. Her skills and sense of humor will make you run to the market and start cooking.” --
Judy Rodgers and Gilbert Pilgram, owners of Zuni Cafe “Finally, dinner salads get the respect they deserve! Tasha’s recipes are fresh and appealing and her tone encouraging. Each recipe features simple but brilliant ingredient pairings, assuring that dinner salads are never boring again. With gorgeous photos and generous tips and sidebars,
Salad for Dinner is a must-have cookbook that manages to be practical and inspiring, too.”
--Susie Middleton, editor-at-large for Fine Cooking magazine and author of Fast, Fresh & Green “If you love ‘fresh’ like I do, you’ll be inspired by Tasha’s salad book. Just reading it made me want to run to the farmers’ market. The only problem--every recipe sounds more delicious than the last, so it’s difficult for me to decide which salad I want to make first!” --
Joanne Weir, Chef, James Beard award-winning cookbook author, and host of the PBS show Joanne Weir’s Cooking Confidence “Having worked with Tasha at Chez Panisse for years, it’s no wonder that her book,
Salad for Dinner, is as wonderfully composed as the delicious foods she makes. Tasha truly understands the ingredients she works with, which produce healthy, inviting, and, most important, really delicious salads.
Salad for Dinner will make us all think differently about the possibilities for dinner.”
--Peggy Smith, co-founder, Cowgirl Creamery"If you over-indulged during the holidays or ate a little too much chocolate from your Valentine, have I got a book for you. Tasha DeSerio, formerly of Chez Panisse, has collected lots of great ideas for meal-sized salads in her new book, Salad for Dinner. The book is divided into leafy salads; salads made with vegetables and fruits; grain, bread and pasta salads; and legume salads. DeSerio also includes plenty of helpful pointers on how to dress a salad properly, and some basic recipes for vinaigrettes and croutons." --Meredith Goad, THE PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
Usually relegated to a chapter in most cookbooks, salads come front and center in this appealing guide. Chez Panisse alum and food writer (Bon Appetit; Food and Wine) De Serio offers 100 new ways to make fresh, healthy main meals built on plant-based ingredients. De Serio starts with the basics—key ingredients and techniques for throwing together a salad on the fly, such as toasting nuts, making croutons and washing greens. The chapters focus on salad types—“Leafy”; “Vegetable and Fruit”; “Grain, Bread and Pasta”; and “Legumes.” Throughout, De Serio’s recipes showcase a playful mix of colors, flavors, and textures, from escarole with apple, celery, roquefort, and pecans to a succotash salad. While lighter eaters might gravitate toward delicate dishes such as herb salad with beets, oranges, and almonds, her warm salads like cauliflower with brown butter vinaigrette, sieved egg and toasted breadcrumbs, and cabbage with mustard vinaigrette and bacon lardons are heartier concoctions. Meat and seafood appear on many recipes, but there are plenty of options for vegetarians. A valuable resource for home cooks looking for ways to liven up their repertoire--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Eating salad is usually a healthy choice — but a boring one. But vegetables play a starring role in California-based cook Tasha De Serio’s book “Salad for Dinner: Simple Recipes for Salads that Make a Meal” (The Taunton Press; $19.95). With more than 100 variations on preparing nature’s bounty, there’s a little something for every palate. --The Boston Herald
Review
"What could be more important than a book that revolves entirely around beautiful salads? Now, more than ever, we need to focus on simple, fresh, pure food--and Tasha has been a vital part of this delicious revolution. It is her fine-tuning of taste that makes this book so valuable. " --Alice Waters "If you really want to know how to make a good salad, look no further. Tasha DeSerio is the teacher you need. Tasha is one of my favorite cooks, and here she offers her experience, common sense, and artistry to the finer points of salad-making. No one does it better. Brava!" --David Tanis, author of "A Platter of Figs," and "Heart of the Artichoke" "Tasha set a new gold standard with her salads at Chez Panisse. This book reveals her secrets. It is a delight to have access to her recipes, ripe with good advice from a seasoned chef. Her skills and sense of humor will make you run to the market and start cooking." --Judy Rodgers and Gilbert Pilgram, owners of Zuni Cafe "Finally, dinner salads get the respect they deserve! Tasha's recipes are fresh and appealing and her tone encouraging. Each recipe features simple but brilliant ingredient pairings, assuring that dinner salads are never boring again. With gorgeous photos and generous tips and sidebars, "Salad for Dinner" is a must-have cookbook that manages to be practical and inspiring, too." --Susie Middleton, editor-at-large for" Fine Cooking "magazine and author of Fast, Fresh and Green "If you love 'fresh' like I do, you'll be inspired by Tasha's salad book. Just reading it made me want to run to the farmers' market. The only problem--every recipe sounds more delicious than the last, so it's difficult for me to decide which salad I want to make first!" --Joanne Weir, Chef, James Beard award-winning cookbook author, and host of the PBS show Joanne Weir's Cooking Confidence "Having worked with Tasha at Chez Panisse for years, it's no wonder that her book, "Salad for Dinner," is as wonderfully composed as the delicious foods
Synopsis
It's easy--and delicious--to turn salads into main meals with this original collection from chef DeSerio. As more and more home cooks are looking to eat healthy using local and regional offerings, the whole-meal salads highlighted here will satisfy vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.
About the Author
Tasha DeSerio began her career at Chez Panisse Restaurant and Cafe and left there to launch the highly regarded Olive Green Catering. Living in Berkeley, California, she's a chef, food writer, and cooking teacher. Her writing has appeared in Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking, and Food and Wine. She is the co-author of Cooking from the Farmer's Market by Williams-Sonoma.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Salad Basics
Leafy Greens
Vegetables and Fruits
Grains, Bread, and Pasta
Legumes
Metric Equivalents
Index