Mixt Salads: A Chef's Bold Creations [Hardcover]

Andrew Swallow (Author), Ann Volkwein (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 27, 2010

Dare to get more out of your greens!
 
From healthy, superfood packed entrée salads to indulgent affairs featuring premium ingredients, this bold collection of more than 60 recipes for voracious omnivores and vivacious salad lovers features unusual and dynamic ingredient pairings that take salads to a whole new level.
 
In Mixt Salads, the co-founder and executive chef of San Francisco’s beloved boutique salad joints shares his inventive, flavor-forward creations. Blending all of the best trends in healthy, mindful eating—seasonal, locally grown, modest portions but big flavor—Swallow develops each entrée salad as if he were in the kitchen of a fine dining restaurant. With his penchant for innovative constructions and unabashed flavor, he reinvents the salad with playful yet elegant offerings such as:
 
Porky  mixed greens with pork tenderloin, roasted butternut squash, and port reduction
Donald  duck confit with persimmons and blue cheeses
Burger  ground Kobe with grilled onion
Lobster Boat  poached lobster with golden beets
 
Swallow teaches you how to create fresh, delicious, and addictive salads that take center stage as the entire meal, breaking free of side-dish status. Starting from scratch, he walks you through his salad-building essentials and highlights produce availability so that you can create your own imaginative masterpieces year round.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The founder and executive chef of San Francisco's boutique salad joint Mixt Greens, Swallow gives top billing to the humble salad in a collection that is by turns lush, lavish and imaginative, including signature dishes like the Park Ave (grilled chicken, herb-roasted fingerling potatoes, grilled asparagus and Parmesan), its meaty mate the Bachelor (with Yukon Gold potatoes, filet mignon and Roquefort), the Tokyo (Kobe beef carpaccio with fried leeks) and the Grove (Honeycrisp apples, fennel, spiced walnuts and blue cheese). Organized by season, and prefaced with a guide to maximizing on-hand produce, this volume gives salad makers an imaginative push, though they may hit a wall trying to source key ingredients like aged sherry vinegar, sweetbreads, quail eggs, and hedgehog mushrooms. The salad-averse will appreciate the Porky-mixed greens, roasted butternut squash, pork tenderloin and port reduction-and Swallow's bunless Kobe beef cheeseburger, served atop butter lettuce. Though some may be disappointed in the selection of dressings, nearly all of which are vinaigrette variations, this is a vital, inspired and varied collection that even steak-and-potatoes fans can appreciate.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"If you only envision lettuce and carrots when you think of salad, this cookbook will widen your horizons."
--Library Journal, Best Books 2010: How-To list, 11/18/10

"Andrew Swallow, founder and executive chef at Mixt Greens, heard about your salad slump. And he's here to expand your horizons beyond boring lettuce with his new cookbook, Mixt Salads. Turn over a new leaf."
--VitalJuice.com, 5/19/10

"With the book organized by season, Swallow proves that salad is right for every occasion."
--Condé Nast Traveler, 5/17/10

"[I]ntriguing and fun to explore."
--San Francisco Chronicle, 3/21/10

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (April 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158008057X
• ISBN-13: 978-1580080576
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 0.7 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #708,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book, but recipes filled with hard to find ingredients... August 30, 2010

By twilight58

Format:Hardcover

As most of the other reviews have mentioned, the book is gorgeous--beautiful photos and clear easy-to-read text. But I totally disagree with the quick, easy, readily available ingredients claims made by other reviewers. I live in the far north suburbs of Chicago and shop at local farmer's markets (only available during the summer and early fall), but I do not have access to many of these ingredients. Also techniques are not explained, i.e. chiffonade of basil, which means to cut into thin strips. If I lived in California (where the author's restaurant is located) I might have access to opal basil, squash blossoms, pea sprouts, Blue Lake beans, hedgehog mushrooms, summer truffle, sharlyn melon, Gypsy peppers, sea beans, and yuzu juice (and those are just some of the uncommon ingredients from the first 86 of the 146 pages). The next time I plan a trip to California I would love to eat at his restaurant, but I won't be making any of these recipes myself. I definitely recommend checking the book out of your local library before making the decision to purchase.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Be green, buy eating greens! May 20, 2010

By Derek Dukes

Format:Hardcover

So we're all trying to eat healthier right? I've been doing my part, trying to eat more veggies, more salads etc., but it's so easy to fall in to a slump, get stuck in a rut of 'Chicken Caesar' or 'The Iceberg Wedge'. This book breaks you out of the ruts, throws in the concept of fresh, seasonal ingredients and will keep you going with a ton of fresh ideas you can either take right out of the book or use as a jumping off point for your own creation. What's more important, to me at least, is that the book has _AMAZING_ photos of the food. The really great thing is that as you nosh away, you'll forget you're actually eating something that's good for you.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Inventive salads that make your taste buds water... June 14, 2010

By E. Wells

Format:Hardcover

A creative and fun exploration of branching out from the same old boring salad. The voice of the author can be easily heard guiding you through fun and inventive recipes that will change your views of salad medleys forever. The photos are beautiful and show the reader how to make healthy salad creations that are perfect for an afternoon lunch at the office or to impress dinner guests alike.