Salad Freak: Recipes to Feed a Healthy Obsession

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Let me start by saying this is a spectacularly beautiful cookbook. The photography and design are gorgeous and just invites you to get in the kitchen and start preparing. I'm eager to make a few recipes and I love how it's organized by season -- great for when you're preparing for a trip to the fresh market. I also appreciate the author's approach of food preparation being a ritual, a sort of meditation that reminds you that you're caring for your body because these ingredients taste good, not because they're "good for you." I'm always hesitant with anything salad related to see how fatphobic it is and I was pleased to read how this salad book focuses on the lovely ingredients and flavors, nothing else. stars. My current rating is solely from reading the book - I have not yet made any recipes. I'll update my review (and maybe rating?) as I cook through it. In a cast-iron skillet, heat one tablespoon or so of olive oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add your chard stems. Cook until they begin to get tender, about three minutes. Add the chard leaves, and cook until wilted but not too much, still green but softened, about two minutes. Squeeze the juice from the zested lemon into the pan, stir the greens around a bit, and then remove them with tongs and set aside. I started just taking all the scraps home and surviving off those scraps and making my own meals. And slowly but surely, everything I make came to be a kind of a salad. I just love to eat as many vegetables as possible with a little bit of protein. And I think in the book, I really stretch the definition of a salad. It's not just going to Sweetgreen and getting a huge bowl of kale, it's anytime you're eating in that style of just ‘light, fresh, and truly delicious.’ Where to start ... for transparency I did not make a single recipe in this book. I took this cookbook out of the local library after seeing it recommended on a local IG feed I had followed for quite some time.

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Things I was less wild about: It's totally bougie. Like, there are play lists involved, mindfulness reminders, things like that. How I eat my salad and how the author eats her salad can be two totally different ways - like she's talking about mindful chopping, and maybe I'm angry and want to rage chop? Either way is OK (I think). And unless you've got some really unique suggestions (like Marcus Samuelsson does in some of his books), I don't want to know what you're listening to.RF: I really like the concept of ‘anything can be a salad,’ because it's kind of true. It doesn't have to be lettuce with stuff on top of it. What a joy this cookbook has been! It’s helped me see salad in a new light – what it can be, how it can look, and how it can taste. JD: It's so funny, one of the salads that I make the most often has lettuce. There's a Little Gem salad with a creamy lemon dressing and whatever sort of herbs I happen to have around. [​Editors’ note: If you’re looking for this recipe in Salad Freak , it’s Little Gem With Creamy Dressing, Hazelnuts & Petals.] The dressing is two ingredients: jarred mayo and lemon juice, and it's so good. I love that one because it's really adaptable to whatever else you have on hand. In the summer, definitely throw some tomatoes and cucumbers on there. It's so easy and crunchy and fresh. RF: We’re sharing your Matzo Fattoush recipe, which I'm so excited about. Can you tell me about the inspiration there?

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Another personal favorite is the mandarins and cream, which also appears on the front cover. This recipe challenges the accepted definition of a salad: Can peeled mandarins covered with burrata, olive oil and salt really be called a salad? Apparently so. While this dish could easily get a meal off to a great start, it can also make for a delightful dessert for the ultra-sweet-averse among us. With salads, it not only has to do with the visual, but it also has a lot to do with texture. In all the citrus salads, sometimes I want them cut as a wheel, but sometimes I like them supremed. And it's not only because it's beautiful, but it's really delicious that way. I think supreming citrus is something that anytime I teach someone how to do that, it truly blows their mind. And once you start doing it at home, I think that it becomes habit.

Publishers Text

I loved him before he broke the melon open with his hands, but that day on the beach was one of my favorite days and stands out in my memory - one of those that makes me laugh when I'm angry and believe in my bones that it's right." A lot of her ingredients are also expensive. She uses the justification that the salads are only a few ingredients so they need to be good since you’ll really taste them. Sure - but 84% butterfat butter for a salad? Further, a lot of these ingredients are only available at more bougie stores or farmers markets. In summary the cookbook does not contain recipes with ingredients many people can readily get their hands on or likely afford! The "What to Have on Hand, Always" is not your typical list of pantry items. Roasted pumpkin seed oil, toasted walnut oil, pomegranate molasses, yuzu kosho, saffron, za'atar- these are not easy to find items. Not to mention the cost of keeping the 10 recommended cheeses and over a dozen seeds and nuts on hand. Many of the ingredients are not readily found in our local grocery stores - puntarelle (chicory), endive and radicchio can be grown here but there is not the demand to keep them on the shelves. (I live in a city of over 100,000 people so we are not talking just one local grocery store). Perhaps if I lived in a different part of the continent, closer to where the cook book author resides, the recipes would be more relevant.