Salad as a Meal: Healthy Main-Dish Salads for Every Season by Patricia Wells

Salad as a Meal: Healthy Main-Dish Salads for Every Season Reviews

• 
  Kathryn

  As I have been perusing this book over the last week or two, I have found myself picking up ingredients at the supermarket which I would normally avoid. I may not have purchased anything highly unusual as of yet but this book has given me some wonderful ideas and provided inspiration for what I already regularly buy.
  
  I love the idea of salads as the center of a meal. My family does not. I would appreciate a cookbook that provides recipes for people, particularly kids, who do not look forward to salad. There are numerous lovely and delicious recipes in this book but the ingredients lean towards the gourmet aisle. This means the recipes in this book are a bit more expensive. One of the benefits to salads besides that they taste good, are healthy, and fairly easy to prepare (exceptions provided in this book) is that salads are cheap. Purchasing from the gourmet aisle is not so be warned.
  
  Regardless, as long as you are aware of these things, this is an excellent book. My favorite was the fish and shellfish chapter. This book is all about salads but there were many excellent recipes focusing on meat as an ingredient so do not assume this book is only for vegetarians. Everyone, regardless of their eating habits, will find somthing in this book to their taste, as long as they enjoy salad in some form or another.
  
  I must also praise the extra sections near the end of the book. Equipment: Items For a Dream Kitchen was fun and made me feel as though I were reading a letter to Santa. Internet Food Sources appears very promising, though I have not yet had a chance to explore any of those listed.
• 
  Jennifer Rinehart

  "I could live on raw fish." If you agree with this statement, then you might really like this cook book by renowned foodie, cooking instructor and gardening enthusiast Patricia Wells. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of raw scallops and the like. I picked this book based purely on the title; Salad as a Meal. I love salads and I love making them the main dish of a meal, sounds like perfection, right?
  
  Sadly, this book is not for me.
  
  Here's what I liked about it;
  
  1..Excellent and inventive recipe for croutons - one in particular using polenta may actually get me interested in buying polenta to make them
  
  2. Perfectly detailed instructions on how to poach fish. Poached fish, especially salmon is an auto pick for me when I go to nice restaurants. I've never tried to make it at home because I thought I'd need one of those specialty fish poacher thingies and frankly I have neither the extra $ or the cabinet space.
  
  3. Lovely and very useful recipes for flavored salts. I don't know why it's never occured to me to make some of my own at home (I'm slow, I guess), but I just mixed up a batch of lemon salt per Ms. Wells recipe (it smells divine) and I'm going to try it out on some chicken I'm making for dinner tonight. But I could also see using this on hummus, tabouli, chocolate caramels, bread dip, the applications are flipping endless!
  
  Here are the reasons I do not like this book, they are biggies.
  
  1. There aren't as many salads in this book as I'd supposed, the book is broken down into chapters, Soups (comprised mostly of cold soups, seven out of the nine are chilled soups and I' not a fan of cold soups, sorry), Eggs, Fish, Poultry, Meat, Bread and sauces.
  
  2. Over half of the photographs in the book are of her garden. Gorgeous closeups of limes, a bowl of capers, a weathered chair, grapes, anyway, you get where I'm going with this, WHERE's the FOOD? Well, there are pics of some of the recipes, but some that I'd especially want to see a pic of the finished result (such as the zucchini carpaccio) are not there and others, like a recipe for marinated olives are done in close up. Such a waste of photo space. I'll admit that I've been spoiled by Foodgawker and other cooking websites who always have a tasty finish photo, but it seems strange to me that most of the pictures included in this book have little to do with the recipes. If I wanted a photo album of a home garden in France, well then I'd . . well you know what I'd do.
  
  3. Too many specialty ingredients without a reasonable explanation why they are required. When I make Alton Brown's soft pretzels I use kosher salt, because I know it is the closest to pretzel salt that I can buy at my Safeway grocery. Why should I buy some of these specialty vinegars and oils and what would work in their place if I couldn't afford a $30 bottle of vinega? No answers.
  
  4. Raw poultry. Not rare poultry or slightly pink poultry, I mean raw, like you can practically hear the the little cluckers squawking at you for eating them. Yikes.
  
  5. Simple, yes. Bland, yes. I'm talking here about most of the salad dressings. I like a little more zing, some zippiness, more of the punch in your gut than the feather on your foot kind of flavoring and for me a dressing composed of buttermilk, salt and lemon just doesn't cut it. It's like salad dressings for people who think ranch dressing is spicy.
  
  Sigh, my search for a book of salads and dressings continues.
  
• 
  Tilden

  If you like looking at pretty photos, this is a lovely book. But I'm a vegetarian, and there are very few recipes in this book that do not include meat or fish. Also, there are a lot of recipes for other things besides salads. So, this book is not for me.
• 
  Cassandra

  The recipes in this book were too high end for me
• 
  Claudia

  I am obsessed with these recipes!
• 
  Marilyn Geary

  Decent recipes, ideas, but it wasn't what I was looking for.
  There are salads, but there are so many other recipies, too. Just not what I wanted.
• 
  Suzanne Barrett

  In Salad as a Meal, Patricia Wells’ twelfth book, she claims her inspiration for it was a bold statement at the top of the menu at Brasserie Lipp on Paris’s Left Bank: NO SALAD AS A MEAL. Presumably, this was to discourage female guests to refrain from ordering a simple salad instead of a more elaborate (and pricey!) entree. However, Wells firmly believes in salad as a meal, especially salads with a bit of protein (think Thai Beef or Rainbow Trout Salad with Sturgeon Roe).
  
  Her 360-page book offers healthy main-dish salads for every season, but also a variety of sides and pantry item condiments, and since bread is an integral part of a salad meal, Wells offers some excellent recipes. Several color photos enhance the text as well as offering serving ideas.
  
  The book is laid out in sections beginning with Appetizers and Sides. I thought the Spicy Basque Mixed Nuts sounded just the ticket and will try these this week. It’s a combination of shelled walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts with spicy hot, smoked paprika, a bit of chili and salt. Mmmm. Then there’s Smoky Baba Ghanoush, Black Olive Tapenade, Marinated Olive Quartet (to which she adds a lemon comfit), and Tapenade “Toasts” to give a few examples.
  
  Next is a section on Soup Sides. Two examples are Cilantro-flecked Heirloom Tomato and Chilled Pea and Buttermilk. I’ve just planted a number of heirloom tomatoes so you can be sure I’ll be trying the former.
  
  Eggs and Cheese, Beans, Grains and Pasta is the next section with delights such as Egg Crepes and Zucchini Blossom Frittata. Section Four is the soups–three groupings under Classics with Friends (Caesar, Greek, Nicoise and a special sounding Pear, Blue Cheese, Fennel, Endive and Salted Almond creation); Fish and Shellfish (think Marinated Shrimp or Braised salmon with Cucumber Ribbons). Lastly, the Meat salads (Thai Beef). There’s even a roast leg of lamb so you can turn the leftovers into a salad the following day!
  
  Breads round out the main recipe section with favorites such as Multi-grain Sourdough, Crispy Flatbread and a few tarts. I particularly liked the Alsatian Onion and Bacon Tart.
  
  Finally, Wells offers Pantry Items, a selection of favorite homemade foods to use in the salads. There’s Capers in Vinegar, Spiced Grapes, Figs in Vinegar, Lemon Zest Salt and Homemade Vegetable Stock.
  
  Each of the recipes is simple to prepare and uses the freshest of ingredients with the emphasis on taste. The text is easy to follow and there’s a wealth of practical information for cooks of all levels of experience.
  
  I love this beautiful book and I think you will, too.
  
  
• 
  Maze Branch Oak Park Public Library

  Each month we'll ask you to make two recipes from a designated cookbook: we'll choose the first recipe and ask you to make it at home; you choose the second and bring it to our discussion to share.We'll meet to discuss both recipes and to sample the one you chose. We'll have a potluck of tasty treats! This month's selection is Salad as a Meal by Patricia Wells, and our recipe choice is Cantaloupe, Tomato, Goat Cheese, Cucumber and Onion Salad. Copies of the book are available at Maze.
  When:
  Sunday, August 11, 2013 - 2:00pm to 3:00pm
  
  Update: We sampled four salads (Chicken with green beans and tahini dressing, broccoli and avocado, cantaloupe, tomato, goat cheese and cucumber and Vietnamese with papaya) and the Ham and Cheese bread at our discussion. We enjoyed them all! There are unusual pairings of ingredients, the work together. The recipes are clearly written and easy to follow. Wells provides an equipment list with each recipe which is unusual to see in a cookbook. It is helpful in deciding whether to attempt a particular recipe. She also includes wine pairings, but no one in our group attempted to match a wine with a salad.
  
  We found the title of the book slightly misleading as we thought that the salads were not filling enough on their own. Bread or soup is a necessary accompaniment which Wells explains in her introduction and does include a few of these recipes for pairing.
  
  In short, a great cookbook to access for unusual pairings of your garden's or farmers market bounty!
• 
  CrystalIsReading on Storygraph

  This isn't a bad cookbook. A bit on the exotic side, with some rather obscure ingredients (plump, moist vanilla beans? pistachio oil?). Seemed very European to me. Most of the dishes that sounded really delicious had dairy in them, in difficult-to-replace roles. So I wouldn't recommend this for anyone trying to eat vegan. Vegetarian would probably be OK, though. And possibly gluten-free omnivore.
  There were a few recipes even I found suitable that sounded tasty. I look forward to trying soccas (chickpea crepes), chilled evergreen tomato veloute (even if it does call for the above-mentioned vanilla bean, the combination of vanilla with green tomato, olive oil, and salt sounds fascinating.), and some of her flavored oils and salad dressings. But now that I've copied those few out, this is going back to the library!
• 
  Tracy

  Not for everyone, but if you are:
  *someone with an adventurous palate;
  *who loves to spend lots of time in the kitchen; and
  *you're looking for healthy main-dish salads,
  
  then I predict you will really like this book.
  
  Salad as a Meal met all my requirements for a fine cookbook:
  
  1. It must be written by a terrific cook with a passion for high-quality ingredients;
  2. And the author must possess enough poetic skill to transport me into a food reverie, and that requires more than just good recipes;
  3. Mouth-watering photos or whimsical illustrations are required;
  4. There shall be stories themed around a particular place or culture;
  5. And it must motivate me to put down the book and get into the kitchen to cook up what I'm reading about.
  
  This book succeeds.
  
  
• 
  Jennifer

  There are some enjoyable things in this cookbook (and I haven't made anything out of it yet), but overall it's a disappointment. About half the book is related to recipes that aren't salads (soups, accompaniments, dressings). Many of the dishes aren't really focused on being filling (which I would like given the title) - many cold soups or salads meant to be served with something else. The recipes are generally fairly simple, but there isn't much innovation or excitement. Most are a take off of classics, or a slight variation inspired by a restaurant salad. There are a lot of raw protein salads, which I am not a fan of. Finally, the majority of pictures are of her garden rather than the dishes themselves.
• 
  Megan

  most of the recipes seemed to be on the easier/less ingredient intensive side, which is good as i get out of summer mode. have bookmarked the egg crepes with mushrooms and spinach, spicy asian squid salad, and provence on a plate; will see how it goes.
  
  observations:
  uh most of the things here aren't salads... that's fine but isn't it salads as a meal?
  some weird things- mustard sorbet, jellied chicken salad.
  mostly thai, viet, american and french influences.
• 
  Amy

  An interesting recipe book -- this is definitely not your grandmother's or even your mother's "salad" book. This is the deluxe salad book! I would never attempt some of these recipes because they are just too difficult.
  
  Also, a major downside for this book is that there are no pictures for most recipes.
• 
  Kathy

  I am a huge lover of cookbooks but I did not find a lot to rave about in this cookbook. There are some lovely photographs but not a lot of photographs of the prepared food. I found the recipes are quite modern and trendy, they just did not have a lot of appeal for me. I think this would be a good cookbook for those who tend to follow a vegetarian lifestyle.
• 
  Erin

  A nice cookbook to look through but not one to buy. I have to say the whole chapter on soup (because soup is like liquid salad) was odd. Soup is not salad, the chapter was just filler for the book. Also, some of the ingredients are a bit odd which is okay but not what I was hoping to find in this book.
• 
  Scottsdale Public Library

  An entertaining, attractive and healthy book, this was an enjoyable read. The recipes are varied, although a number of them do call for ingredients that are somewhat obscure and/or pricey in the United States. A fun take on healthy food.-- Meagan
  
• 
  LemontreeLime

  Drat. I'm going to have to buy this one. Borrowed it from the library hoping there would only be one or two good ideas to try... alas no such luck. Almost all the recipes look fantastic and there are more ideas than i have kitchen to attempt. Kudos to Wells, good work lady, and darn you.
• 
  Lin

  I was thrilled to get this book but disappointed by the author's pretentiousness and overly complicated recipes. If you are a snob, looking to impress your luncheon ladies, this is the book for you!
• 
  James

  Despite the title it's really not a conventional salad book. Has a few interesting recipes for those of us cutting back on meat but not many and the recipes do not include nutritional data. It has a great pantry and kitchen gadget list though, I gave it a point for those.
• 
  Kelley

  A few good ones...
• 
  Shaun

  Super and new ideas for salads year-round.
• 
  FreeMrBates

  I like the idea of salad as a meal and how she added bread recipes to compliment some of her salad recipes. I can't wait to try my hand at some of the recipes, especially the seafood section.
• 
  Anna

  The recipes here look so good I wanted to eat the pages.
• 
  Lisa

  Good short read, lots of great recipes and tips on buying the healthiest produce. Can't wait to try some of the dressing recipes!
• 
  Laura M.

  Recommended by Anthony T.
• 
  Matthew

  She seriously had to be on something when she wrote this. By far one of the most bizzare cookbooks I've read.
• 
  Jack

  excellent