Salad Days: Main Course Salads for a First Class Meal

by Marcel Desaulniers

This selection of main-dish salads expands the idea of what salads should be to full meals combining a variety of flavours. Using a selection of greens, vegetables, grains, pasta and meat, a range of innovative meals are presented with dressings.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068482261X
• ISBN13: 9780684822617
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 236 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.7" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Easy and interesting

I love this cookbook. I have been using it for about 5 years and still find things of interest. I particularly like the fact that the book tells you how to prepare and present the whole meal, with each menu broken down into: the dressing, the salad itself, assembly of the dish and always two choices of meat or fish to accompany the meal. I often spice up a meal with just a part of a salad - ratatouille tonight and maybe saffron infused arborio rice cakes another day. The ingredients are easy to find and the methodology easy to follow. If you like salads and want something a little different, then this is the book.

No little diet salads here...

These are main-dish salads. Each recipe has several components to it, and two variations on top of that to top things off. One of my favorite recipes in this book is "Sliced Beets with Curly Endive, Red Bliss Potato Salad, Honey Mustard Roasted Walnuts, and Meaux Mustard Vinaigrette." I'm not normally fond of beets, but they're fantastic in this recipe. The honey mustard roasted walnuts have the perfect blend of sharp and sweet tastes. There are a couple of ingredients you might have trouble finding, but they're generally things you can easily substitute for. The first variation for this recipe is the Walnut-Crusted Striped Bass, and there's also a Honey Duck Stir-Fry variation.Each recipe has the same "Chef's Touch" section as in "Death by Chocolate," giving suggestions for substitution (the aforementioned mustard), storage, and so on, including even wine suggestions in some cases. My only negative comment on this recipe was that the vinaigrette was too oily for our taste, but it's easy enough to reduce the amount of oil. Each recipe serves four hungry people, and could easily be stretched to 6 or 8 as a side dish. If you're familiar with Desaulniers' "Death by Chocolate" series, then you're already familiar with his cookbook style. He describes everything in detail, not because it's necessarily complex, but because he wants to make sure he doesn't leave anything out or confuse the reader. Also, while his recipes are usually calculated to be not overly difficult, they do tend to be time-consuming, and often involve a handful of different components that need to be put together. You don't need to be an expert to use his cookbooks, but you do need to be willing to spend time and effort in the kitchen.But as always, he truly comes through in the flavor department. Peppered Honey Peaches with Warm Pecan Cakes, "Bitter" Salad Greens, and Sour Mash Vinaigrette. Variations: Turkey Scallopine with Basil and Zinfandel; Pecan-Crusted Soft-Shell Crab. Or maybe you'd prefer Mandarin Orange Basmati Rice with Sesame Stir-Fried Vegetables, Tangy Red Cabbage, and Szechuan Peppercorn Vinaigrette. Variations: Orange and Cilantro Barbecued Catfish; Charred Flank Steak. Truly, there's something in here to appeal to almost anyone.

Salad extravanganza for many days!

This is just a marvelous example of the chef who is inventive and researches the items and prep with the at-home type cook in mind. He presents very original, creative salad entrees with a huge array of ingredients, e.g. nuts, berries, fish, fowl, beef, etc. but then adds item options as well as prep and presentation advice along with two additions to the basic salad recipe if so inclined. The possibilities are endless! So good to those of us who enjoy just a great salad as the meal! Marcel is one of the best cookbook producers around .... from chocholate to burgers to salads.

Why go out for a fancy salad?

Do you love ordering meal-sized salads at restaurants but never make them at home? Then this is the book you need to buy. The salads in this book are scrumptious and colorful. The interesting thing to me about this book is that it presents a couple of variations on each salad. For example one of the recipes in this book is Penne Pasta and Spinach with Oven-Roasted Plum Tomatoes, Toasted Walnuts, Curly Endive, and Cracked Black Pepper Vinaigrette. It has two variations, the grilled chicken breast variation and the pan-seared salmon variation. I would consider this book appropriate for someone with intermediate cooking skills but if you are a novice cook the instructions are excellent and would help you build your skill set.

Very satisfying, beautiful meals

The author of this cookbook is a distance runner and a genuine lover of food. Although we think of him primarily for his fabulous chocolate recipes, he deserves stars for this salad collection. These are truly satisfying and beautiful meals. There are photographs to show you how to compose the salad on the plate: how about greens with tomatoes, pine nuts, herbs, and a honey roasted breast of duck? All of the recipes have a vegetarian version, and a choice of a couple of seafood, poultry, or meat adornments. The three recipes I've made have all been delicious, hearty enough to satisfy physically active men, and well received in both versions. There are also some good reminders for all levels of cooking expertise: encouragement to improvise and try variations on salad dressing and salad ingredients, encouragement to try room temperature for some components. (Haven't we all been served an overly chilled salad on a cold clammy plate? Tasteless.) There are mul! ! tiple steps for preparation and assembly. You are told which ones can be done ahead. It would be a little too frantic to come home at 6:00 pm and expect to just quickly toss these salads together. But there is help for planning. With some preparation, it can mean that there is easy assembly at serving time. This cookbook helped me solve the vegan/vegetarian/food allergy and just plan persnickity food preferances of some of the guests at my house. More importantly, there was some range for intelligence and creativity on the part of the cook. This is a good investment.