Salad Freak: Recipes to Feed a Healthy Obsession

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JD: I tried to give a lot of tips in the book. I put in every step of prepping the ingredients, because I don't know that everybody really understands what ‘slice on a bias’ means or why it's important. I wanted to give people as many tools as possible to be able to make the recipe they cook look like the photo, because that is such a huge part of life now. I want people to feel really proud of what they're making. And so many of these ingredients are so beautiful anyway. But if I call for something that is a little bit fussy, I'd also like the readers to understand why I'm doing that. 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. Her voice as a writer is privileged stoner/surfer girl who’s into spirituality. Kinda Gwyneth Lite. Depending on my mood, I found that anywhere from lovely and transcendent to eye-rolling and grating. But no matter my mood, the recipes were fabulous. I didn't even realize until I read it in a review that the book has six recipes with peas. So I obviously really like peas. They just feel like the most spring ingredient to me. I like experimenting with different kinds: raw English peas, sugar snap peas, whatever.

Jess Damuck’s ‘Salad Freak’ Is All We’re Cooking From This

Some of the recipes are laughably simple. I'm all for simple, but a recipe for scooping balls of melon? No herbs, salt, nada. Sure there's a nice anecdote to go with it, but scooping balls of melon is not a recipe (at least not to me). Neither is adding some edible flowers to tomatoes. Don’t wait for the stars to align—find the perfect drink for your astrological sign with the Mixology of Astrology, by Allure magazine’s go-to astrologer, Aliza Kelly Faragher.I got this book as part of my Hardcover Cook quarterly cookbook subscription and loved salads so was excited to try the recipes. Got through three recipes - two were meh and one was just vile - that it's a HARD pass from me. Strip the leaves of two bunches of Swiss chard from their stems, and tear the leaves into bite-size pieces. Chop the stems into half-inch pieces. I got this from my local library (in Idaho!) and tons of this doesn't apply since the ingredients just aren't available, or are too specialized. I really wish books would push for local foods (local Idaho oils include canola, safflower, mustard, rapeseed, sunflower, and flax), rather than telling everyone to buy the same stuff from a place in Europe or South America. Companion Planting Is the Key to a Thriving Vegetable Garden—Here's How to Pair Varieties to Deter Pests and Attract Pollinators 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.

Time Jess Damuck on Martha Stewart, Salads and Her New Cookbook | Time

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. And I am such a freak myself, I just want everybody else to eat the same way. I have so many friends who are like, ‘Oh, we don't eat fruits and vegetables.’ And I'm like, ‘Well, first of all, I don't understand how you're alive. But second of all, you're really missing out because they're so good.’ And I think one of my biggest accomplishments in the past few years has been convincing my parents that they should make their own salad dressing. It took 10 years for them to be like, ‘You know what? You're right, it's not that hard.’ The roasted cauliflower with almonds, anchovies, and herb recipe was what is making me throw this book out, mainly the dressing which I thought I would like (I like anchovies! I like dates! But together I found it to be disgusting!). I'm not even finishing the recipe - typing this while I have the cauliflower roasting in the oven but am 100% going to repurpose it to a completely different meal. As someone who previously thought of salads as pretty uninteresting, I enjoyed this book! It feels nice to be excited about salad. I haven't made enough recipes to speak to the overall food quality. I do love that this is dedicated to salads, because I cannot get enough of different kinds of salads! My dream is to hire a salad chef.

Praise

In the winter it's definitely chicories and citrus. Especially when I'm in New York in the winter. It's funny because I think that people who are new to cooking seasonally don't realize that citrus is such a winter thing. And it is such a gift. Such a bite of sunshine when we all really, really need it. I was excited to start this book because I was hoping for some exciting takes and ideas about eating salads/vegetables more. However, while there are definitely some interesting and inspiring salads in the book, on the whole it is very un-approachable. 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. 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.

Salad Freaks Unite—Our Cookbook Is Finally Here - Food52

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.’ It loses a star for me because there should be a disclaimer that this cookbook will really only work to it's fullest potential for people who live in large cities with bountiful selection of produce, spices and fresh markets/grocery store produce sections that carry *everything.* It's not suitable for anyone who lives in a food desert, for sure. That all said, while it's mango season here right now, I'll absolutely be making Martha's (yes, the Martha) Mango and Mozzarella salad. Delicious and beautiful recipes from Martha Stewartâs personal salad chef and the self-proclaimed âBob Ross of salads.â The Overlooked Cobweb Is a Well-Crafted, Future Halloween Cult Classic By Jim Vorel October 28, 2023 | 12:15am UPDATE: I took full advantage of paraíso mango season to make the Martha's mango and mozz salad and Y'ALL IT WAS DELICIOUS. I added a touch more honey to the vinegarette because I used a larger lemon. As Borat would say: great success!

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While I’m excited to try some of the recipes, this book’s overall rigidity really turned me off. I loved the seasonal approach, kitchen tool/pantry recommendations and creative flavor combos, but a lot of the ingredients are inaccessible and inflexible. Expenses aside, where does one even find “adolescent” arugula, loquats, or specific varieties of edible flower? 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. This was very bougie. While many of the recipes for the dressings were creative and tasty sounding, many, many ingredients for the salads themselves might be hard to source for many readers who don’t have easy and consistent access to farmers markets or…actual grocery stores themselves. Food deserts are real, after all. The Best Sitcoms on Netflix Right Now (October 2023) By Garrett Martin and Paste Staff October 20, 2023 | 12:00pm