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Saturday, March 28, 2015

Salad Love by David Bez

I want to introduce you to a book, which the author himself says is not a cookbook, that has 260 crunchy, savory, filling meals you can make every day.  It says so - right on the cover.  It's called Salad Love and the author is David Bez.  Now David is very upfront about the fact that he is not a chef - he's an art director.  However, he is a man who wanted to eat in a healthier manner.  He wanted to be energized in the afternoons and not droopy.  He wanted to prepare his own lunch every day at the office.  And he wanted his meal to be both fresh and tasty.

Salad Love is the result of David Bez's experiment.  A whole book of maybe the most beautiful salads I've ever seen in my life.  Art director, remember?  They are lovely and very much a feast for the eyes.  When I first opened this book, I was amazed at page after page of luscious looking salads.  I thought, I'll never be able to make my salads look like this.  And that's probably true.  However, each salad page contains a beautiful photo and a detailed recipe of 5 or 6 ingredients for the salad and 3 or 4 ingredients for the dressing.  Simple.  Really.


The book begins with some instructions on how to assemble a salad.  There are then some components like vegetables, fruit, protein and fresh herbs.  There are something like 30 dressings listed - with recipes.  There are the tools David used - with pictures.  And then there are the salads themselves - divided into the 4 seasons.  That's it.  Simple.  Beautiful.  Healthy.


Some of the ingredients are a little exotic for me - quail eggs, salmon caviar, and squid.  Others are very familiar - avocados, blackberries, hazelnuts.  Some I don't like - kale and goat cheese.  Mostly, the salads are interesting and unique combinations that look really appealing.  And, yes, I could find many that I'd like to try.


So, here are a few that are on my list (2 for each season):  Summer - Strawberries, Melon & Almonds and Oak-Smoked Cheddar, Peaches & Blueberries.  Fall - Hot-Smoke Salmon, Corn & Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Zucchini & Pine Nuts.  Winter - Celery, Chickpeas, Pumpkin Seeds & Mint and Roasted Potatoes, Black Olives & Capers.  Spring - Roasted Chicken, Avocado & Croutons and Cauliflower, Hazelnuts & Dried Apricots.

What do you think?  Does Salad Love sound like a winner?  It does to me.  Now, where did I put my chickpeas?

Linking this review to Weekend Cooking on Beth Fish Reads.  And thanks to the folks at Blogging For Books and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book.

30 comments:

  1. This sounds like fun! I'm not sure it's a cookbook I'd want to own but I'd love to get it from the library. I think I could get a lot of inspiration from this one. I've been thinking about making my lunches a little more colorful as I tend to be a bit of a beige eater.

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    1. Ha! A beige eater. Well, believe me, this one has all the colors. There were some purple potatoes - not sure about that. I've loaned it to one of my husband's coworkers right now. She's been on a major quest to curb her eating and we thought this might give her some inspiration.

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  2. Sounds like a good book I'd like to devour (pun intended). I love salads so I may want to check this out. Thanks, Kay!

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    1. These salads were so unique. Most, I never would have thought to pair the ingredients.

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  3. The salads you listed sound really good. I'm kind of with Katherine, though. I think I'd like to check this out from the library before I'd buy it, just to see how much I'd use it.

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    1. Yes, I think I'd suggest that. For me, it's mostly just to look at and marvel. We have it on loan right now to a nice lady who has been trying to adopt a more lean eating manner. Thought this would give her some ideas.

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  4. I had the same thought about getting it from the library to savor those beautiful photos and get ideas for good salads and dressings, oh heck I should just splurge. Will probably have to if our library doesn't have it.

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    1. It just came out in February, so it might be a bit for the library. Maybe you could go to a Barnes and Noble or somewhere and take a look. It's very pretty.

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  5. The salads look great, these are definitely things I'd try- although I haven't tried all that many out of the last few salad books I've bought. I'm most intrigued though by the notion of having time to prepare a salad at work! Certainly not something I'm used to at my work place.

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    1. Louise, he seems to have brought all his ingredients and then prepared it there. From what I gather. It was very much a how-to book.

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  6. Those look real good for the warmer weather. Time to dispense with the briskets and potatoes! And they sound easy. Which is my new goal for cooking.

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    1. I think they would be easy once you got all the ingredients together. Like I said, some were a little exotic. :-)

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  7. What a great review. I have a copy of this book in the mail Yeah you have all excited for it.

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    1. It's an idea that great for this time of eating - the healthier, clean time.

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  9. This one looks like a winner, thanks for sharing.

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    1. I had fun with it. Thanks for coming by, Diane.

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  10. We eat A LOT of salads, both as a side with dinner or for lunch (with some sort of protein thrown on top). I'm going to look for this at work and try to add some variety to our usual recipes. My salads generally consist of mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, sugar snap peas, bell peppers, mushrooms and avocado. Oh, and I just read somewhere today that you don't get all the nutritional value from the veggies if you DON'T use salad dressing. You need some fat to absorb the nutrients. Works for me. :)

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    1. I had not heard that about the dressing. Yay! You should definitely at least take a look at it. Those salads. So, so pretty. :-)

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  11. I'm not a fan of exotic foods, but love salads, so the others sounds really good!

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    1. There was a nice mix of the "normal" and the "exotic". All were interesting.

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  12. I need to check this one out Kay. Love diff ideas like this.

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    1. The salads are easy, once you have the ingredients. And so pretty.

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  13. I usually stick to spinach salads at home, but a beautiful salad is a delight for the eye as well as the tongue.

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    1. Believe me, these are a pretty sight. Not sure how all would taste, but never mind that. LOL

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  14. YUM!!!! unfortunately it takes a lot of effort to obtain anything vaguely exotic in São Paulo, but I would like to look that the pictures in this book to inspire me to eat more salads :)

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    1. I bet you could adapt the ingredients to ones that you have available there. And, yes, the pictures are lovely.

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  15. I'm a bit of a salad fiend and now that the weather is warming up, I am craving them - I might have to check this one out!

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    1. You'll definitely get some ideas from this one, Becky.

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Thanks for stopping by! I am so happy to hear your thoughts and will respond as soon as I can. Happy Reading!