Synopses & Reviews
It is no wonder why Californians hold the secret to making the perfect salad: lettuce and all types of greens are one of the major crops coming out of California, and who better to trust in handling these greens with care?
Lifelong Californian Michele Anna Jordan is, according to Mollie Katzen, "the quintessential expert on California cuisine" and first channeled this expertise into the successful book, California Home Cooking. Since then, she has been perfecting her salad-making craft over several decades as a chef, caterer, food columnist, and cookbook author. In Vinaigrettes and Other Dressings, she shares her wisdom about the most critical component in any salad: its dressing.
About half of the recipes in Vinaigrettes and Other Dressings are riffs on the classic vinegar-and-olive-oil vinaigrette. But Michele take the formula in surprising and delicious directions, sometimes by using flavored vinegars (either store-bought or flavored by the home cook), sometimes by using dark vs. light or mild vs. strong olive oils, sometimes by switching out the olive oil for another oil, and always by adding flavoring elements like berries, citrus, honey, bacon, nuts, mustard and even wines and sherries (There is a whole art to selecting the right wines to make a given dressing, and the California-bred Jordan has the perfect skills here, too.). The remaining recipes include: milk- or cream-based dressings, dressings that start with a base of finely pureed fruits or vegetables, and dressings that feature a distinctively flavored oil, such as walnut oil or hazelnut oil. While the emphasis is on dressings for green salads and which greens pair best with each dressing, there are ample ideas for other uses, such as green bean, potato, and other veggie salads, as well as fruit salads and dinner salads that include meats or fish. The recipes will be accompanied by colorful photographs, and plenty of tips to guide the home cookand#8217;s creativity in the kitchen.
Synopsis
The secret IS in the sauce.
As more people get serious about cooking at home, they look to dress up old recipes. The easiest and most effective way of doing this is by using a sauce, salad dressing or marinade. The addition of one of these elements can turn a simple meal into a spectacular meal.
Grilled steak with a rich mushroom sauce. Pomegranate vinaigrette dressing on fresh greens. These are just two examples of the incredibly delicious yet easy-to-prepare recipes featured in this book, and many are accompanied by tips and techniques. Cooking school chef George Geary provides recipes such as:
Salad dressings and salads -- creamy two-cheese italian, Chinese chicken salad, tabouliStock-based sauces and brown and white sauces -- poultry stock, champagne sauce, bechamelPasta sauces -- fast and easy marinara, wild mushroom sauce, slow-cooker garlic and onion tomato sauceMarinades and rubs -- Caribbean jerk marinade, American BBQ sauce, curry rubSalsas, butters and spreads -- watermelon salsa, gorgonzola scallion butter, smoked salmon cheese spreadDessert sauces -- milk chocolate sauce, pecan-praline sauce, raspberry coulis, almond crunch fondue.
500 Best Sauces, Salad Dressings, Marinades & More has 500 secrets that assure success for every new and experienced home cook.
Synopsis
How to make stand-out salads and sides with over 50 recipes for sensational vinaigrettes, salad dressings, and sauces.
About the Author
Michele Anna Jordan, a second-generation Californian who has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area her entire life, has twelve years of experience as an award-winning chef and has written a multitude of cookbooks.
Currently, she writes three weekly columns for The Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Savuer magazine, which recently took a first place award from the Association of Food and Wine Journalists.
Jordan has held positions as restaurant critic for San Francisco Focus Magazine, as well as the San Francisco Chronicle, and has written for numerous national publications, including:Cooking Light, Wine Enthusiast, Kitchen Garden, Fine Cooking, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Asian Week, Appellation, Sky, Wine and Spirits, and the Electronic Gourmet Guide.
In addition to cooking and writing, Jordan teaches and lectures on a variety of food-related topics and is a frequent guest on radio and television around the country
Jordan lives in western Sonoma County with her two black cats, Poe and Rosemary.