Jess Damuck - Salad Freak: Recipes to Feed a Healthy Obsession

Recipes to Feed a Healthy Obsession

Jess Damuck

Foreword by Martha Stewart

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LINDA PUGLIESE

ABRAMS, NEW YORK

for
r. remmey
bumsted iv,
with love.

i am thinking
of you every time
i cook,

which is to say,

always.

When a cookbook author or chef asks me to review, write a blurb, or compose a foreword for a new book, I request a galley or an early copy. Then I wait until I am very hungry to open it and start to read. If I immediately begin to salivate, make mental notes about this or that, or dog-ear pages for future reference, I know I am going to like the book, and I know the readers who buy it are going to be pleased to try many of the recipes. This is what happened immediately with Salad Freak. Jess Damucks first book is a pure joy to look at, to read, and to cook from.

I have known Jess for several yearsin fact, she worked in the test kitchens and on the television sets of Martha Stewart Living. Dressed in her signature, colorful (primarily acid yellow) cotton jumpsuits, with her straight dark brown hair caught in an unruly ponytail, she was always serious about any task she had to undertake, thorough in her preparation, and fastidious without being fussy about her presentation of each and every recipe.

This book is full of practical, smart, and sometimes unusual solutions to a vast subject matterthe matter being SALADS: their ingredients, their preparation, their seasoning, their dressing, and their serving.

I happen to crave salads and eat at least one each day. Many of these recipes caused me to rethink combinations of ingredientsthe incorporation of fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts, spices, dairy products, and even meats and fish into one-dish wonders. I now have a whole new encyclopedia of combinations to last me many months and even years, for the mix-and-match approach really is limitless when it comes to making a salad.

The valuable glossarieslists of pantry staples, dressings, fresh ingredients, etc.are imperative to read and remember. And the glorious photography captures the essence of each salad, as well as clearly illustrating each and every ingredient contained in that salad. Jess is a very accomplished artist/illustrator/art directorskills she has been honing her whole life! And the no-nonsense but fun dialogue Jess has with her recipes is fresh and different from other books.

I put down my galley (remember, the real book was not yet printed when I wrote this), knowing that SALADS ARE GOOD; SALADS ARE HEALTHY; SALADS NEVER HAVE TO BE BORING; AND THAT DRESSINGS CAN ALWAYS BE HOMEMADENEVER, EVER OUT OF A JAR!

I chose five salads right off the bat to make over the next five days: Spring Lettuces, Avocado, and Creamy Dressing ().

I am on my way to nicknaming myself a salad freak.

The title Salad Freak started as a joke. While I wrestled with imagining the book on my shelf and couldnt, and lost sleep over whether I was ready to become the salad freak, it became more and more painfully obvious that I already was.

I am truly obsessed with making salads. Salads have always been my favorite thing to prepare and the dish I look forward to eating the most. Wandering the farmers market for inspiration, tears building behind my eyes because of the sheer beauty of the gentle blush and deep purple hues of the fleeting winter chicories, gasping at the first sight of bright Sungold tomatoes and remembering their sweetness, eating an entire paper bag full of fresh peas before I get homethat all makes sense to me. Sure, I went to the French Culinary Institute and learned to use butter, bacon, and sugar for flavor. Sure, I can appreciate a fresh truffle grated on a decadent pastabut Ive always been interested in making food that felt fresh, or as I like to call it, taking the raw off.

If this has become a safe space to talk about my obsessions, it would be the time to talk about Martha Stewart. While I never did my time in restaurants and some may say that affects my credibility as a chef, those people have not been cooking for Martha for over ten years. I have worked with Martha in many different capacities, but one of my favorites has always been making meals for her, especially lunch. It has been during my Martha Years that I have been able to really refine my salad making. The lunches I would prepare for Martha became known as my three-hour salads. This involved going to the farmers market for the best possible ingredients available that day and then preparing each component with more focus and attention than I even knew I had in me. Sometimes she would give me a prompt like, Im in the mood for something light and fresh and truly delicious, or she would bring in pastel-hued eggs from her chickens with the deepest orange yolks Ive ever seen. My whole morning would be sorting the perfect crunchy inner leaves from a head of butter lettuce, toasting nuts to that just-right golden brown, and creating unique vinaigrettes every day that gave just the right amount of pinch in the cheeks but were bright or creamy, depending on what would complement but not overpower the other ingredients.

Making salads became something of its own art form for me. A channel for my perfectionist tendencies, an outlet for creative expression. Every dish I made was sort of a salad. As my career began to focus more on food styling, I began to consider the visual composition just as much as the culinary one and making salads became even more fun. A salad has everything going for ita careful (but playful) balance of flavors, textures, shapes, and colors. Just as much as I love making salads, I love sharing them too, and showing you how easy it can be to make a really mind-blowing and exceptionally beautiful salad.

Whether youre already a self-proclaimed salad freak, youre working on becoming one, or youre just trying to eat a little cleaner, I hope this book will give you a lot of inspiration, and teach you techniques that will build confidence and help you make better (and anything but boring) salads youll want to eat every day.

A salad can be a side dish, but it shouldnt get stuck being an afterthought. A spread of seasonal salads can make the most beautiful, colorful, and delicious dinner party table that will leave all your guests dreaming of the flavors they enjoyed. I eat salads first thing in the morning toowhether its a big bowl of citrus or thick, juicy slices of tomatowhy not?