Salads: Innovative Main Courses, Appetizers, Desserts, and More [Paperback]

Peter Gordon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2006

Salads are at long last taking center stage in the kitchen and around the table.

Not just a side dish anymore, they have become light, wholesome meals that satisfy even the heartiest of appetites, showcasing seasonal vegetables, grilled meats, cheeses, and more. In Salads, celebrated chef Peter Gordon provides endless inspiration for the perfect warm-weather dish through combinations of fresh flavors and contrasting textures. Each chapter is brimming with both classic and novel approaches to the main-course salad based on vegetables, cheese, meat, poultry, and fish, and there are even chapters devoted to canapé and dessert salads. Refreshing new combinations include:

•Watermelon, Feta, and Basil Salad with Pumpkin Seeds on Shrimp Crackers

•Crayfish, Avocado, Grapefruit, and Ginger Salad

•Poached Chicken, Hazelnut, Watercress, and Pea Salad

•Thai-Style Beef Salad with Cilantro, Mint, Lime, and Peanuts

•Broiled Banana and Mango Salad with Vanilla-Poached Peach


In addition to his irresistible recipes, Gordon identifies the essential elements of an ideal salad, offering ways to add “crunch,” advice on seasonings, and a range of garnishes and basic dressings. Packed with stunning photographs and Gordon’s accessible, down-to-earth techniques, Salads breathes new life into this classic dish.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to salad-making, the author, a British fusion chef, whips up salads that range from the deliciously adventurous to the extensively bizarre. Asparagus, Baby Potato, Arugula, Basil and Watercress Salad is a tasty springtime mélange light enough to serve as a luncheon appetizer but tasty enough to eat by the bowlful. In the same spirit, the Ceviche of Cod with Cucumber, Lime, Tomatillo, Basil and Mint is bracing and substantial, an appetite-whetter or a main course on its own. On the other hand, a Revolutionary Russian Salad never quite comes together; the combination of beans, peas, tongue and lobster seems forced instead of organic. A Warm Duck Leg Salad is similarly overwrought. The recipes sometimes feature hard-to-find ingredients, such as the arame in the Herb and Olive Oil Poached Squid Salad, and while the author does suggest "hijiki or other dried or fresh seaweeds" as a substitute, these ingredients are not widely available. Finally, the author would have done well to include a few classic salads. While it's nice to know the proper proportions for a Salad of Asparagus with Artichokes, Purslane, Pomegranate and Beets, sometimes a Caesar fits the bill just as well.
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About the Author

Peter Gordon is co-owner and executive chef of London’s Providores and Tapa Room, which won the Square Meal Best New Restaurant Award. He is also a consultant chef at the James Beard Award–winning restaurant Public in New York City, and has appeared on the TV series Nigel Slater’s Real Food and Jamie Oliver’s Oliver’s Twist. He has written three previous cookbooks.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter (May 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307338819
• ISBN-13: 978-0307338815
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,773,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, creative ideas..., July 25, 2007

By 

Erin Pietrak "book lover with too many hobbies" (Catskill, NY, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Salads: Innovative Main Courses, Appetizers, Desserts, and More (Paperback)

The salads in this book are combinations of ingredients I was not familiar with but with the little extra effort I made delicious "gourmet" salads and learned a little more about different kinds of vegetables and oils / vinegars.

I have made 4 salads so far: Soba noodle salad with tofu, mushrooms, smoked paprika, cumin almonds, bok choy with wasabi dressing; warm salad of Chorizo, olives, potatoes, peas, and green beans with aruggula and cripsy onion rings (my favorite so far, hand made beer-battered onion rings); thai-styled beef salad with cilantro, mint, lime, and peanuts; chicken, shrimp, avacado, pecan and mango salad with baby gem, watercress, and sprouts.

What I like most about the recipes is its daring approach of ingredients and they are healthy, natural ingredients, lots of rich dark greens with one-of-a kind dressings. Most recipes probably need about an hour or so prep time so plan accordingly.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sophisticated and Interesting Recipes, April 5, 2011

By 

Nancy Barnes (Redding, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Salads: Innovative Main Courses, Appetizers, Desserts, and More (Paperback)

I was so horrified at the Publisher's Weekly review of this book I had to answer it with a personal review, to defend this excellent cookbook. I am a retired chef and I collect cookbooks, and this one is a rare find. How can Publisher's Weekly criticize the author for leaving out common recipes, such as a Caesar Salad? Everyone already knows of that recipe, and any experienced cook can locate the recipe for Caesar Salad in minutes. And when the reviewer says a recipe is "overwrought", I take it that he wants salads to be "simple". Well, I want a salad that is great, not simple. These recipes use diverse ingredients from various ethnic food sources, and again, I take that as a plus, not a minus.
This is a salad cookbook with new ideas, for people who care to cook and who want to focus on excellent ingredients and new methods of preparation. Some are easy assemblies of common ingredients, some require a fair amount of prep. The recipes combine interesting flavors and textures; ones I might not have imagined myself. That's exactly what a good cookbook should do - teach you new recipes, and teach you new ways to "tweak" your own cooking. If you enjoy healthy food and wish there were more salads in your repertoire, this book is definitely worth buying.