Salads: Innovative Main Courses, Appetizers, Desserts, and More

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 melange 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.