Soups & Salads

I don’t think a little cooking technique and olive oil is going to “undiet” this infamous Cabbage Diet Soup. Mine tastes good, like a slimmed down minestrone. This is just how I made it. You can add any green, non-starchy veggies to this and it will still be low calorie.

Cucumbers and radishes get a spring in their step when mixed with a tarragon and Dijon mustard vinaigrette.

“Hey, nice looking slaw!” When was the last time someone called your coleslaw pretty? Behold, a stunning red coleslaw studded with dried cherries and topped with pistachio dust.

A recipe for a southern potato salad with eggs, sweet relish, mustard, red peppers, celery, carrots, red onions, parsley and more. It resembles confetti.

Sweet, crunchy, salty almonds and black sesame seeds add texture, flavor and beauty to desserts and salads, or you can just nibble on them.

This Potato, Cauliflower & Green Bean Salad in a Dijon Basil Vinaigrette is perfect for a picnic since it gets better the longer it sits.

Sautéed hot and roasted peppers add zing to this warm calamari salad topped with fried capers.

A spicy Sichuan peppercorn flavored cucumber salad where you smash the cucumber so it absorbs more of the dressing.

I like to add candied nuts on top of desserts, salads, a cheese board, and more. This is a quick way to make them.

This is a lovely salad that I originally had in Montreal, at the Dominion Square Tavern, in the dead of winter in 2012. It’s a long way from New York so I had to make my own version.

Inspired by my garden, I created a salad where green, unripened tomatoes contrast three ways with their vine ripened counterparts: color, flavor and texture. It’s a great way to use up extra homegrown herbs as well.

While this Smoked Duck Breast, Mango & Avocado Salad sounds pretty fancy, it’s only because smoked duck breast makes even the most pedestrian dish sound uppity. Say: Smoked Duck Breast, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich—see? It adds instant class. In addition to raising the social strata of any dish, smoked duck breast is a quick fix for any dish. Yes, I’m calling Smoked Duck Breast Oatmeal—trend-spotting!

You can follow a recipe and eat very well, or do your own thing and eat EXACTLY what you want, which I think is even better. I’m a rule-breaker and I encourage you to do the same. You can put anything in this Franken-salad. Just make sure the colors contrast as you build it and expect GASPS from your guests.

I whipped up this red white and blue salad featuring watermelon, jicama, and blueberries for a friends Fourth of July party. If you use a different cookie-cutter for the watermelon and jicama you can pretty much change the theme to create a patriotic salad for any summer occasion. I can see baby shapes for a baby shower salad, cars and trucks for a boy’s birthday, flower shapes for a garden party, etc. It could be fun to cut out initials.

This dish looks great on a plate, especially if you can get the red and white endive for contrast.

When I originally made this I topped it with Greek yogurt, Bryant Terry’s Mustard Green Harissa and fried onions (from Ikea) and fresh chopped cilantro. Now that I wrote the recipe I realize the topping possibilities are kind of endless!

I called this a winter salad because I made it in the winter. It looks a little like a snow ball or, as a few people thought when they saw the photo, a white chocolate truffle rolled in coconut.

Anything! That’s what I’d recommend putting this dressing on. I thought about drinking it. It can go on any savory salad, as dip for fish fingers or on some thinly sliced rare beef. It would be wonderful drizzled over summer tomatoes. Just make it.

You could eat any of the three delicious components of this salad on their own, but I combined to make mouth music as part of a brunch I made for friends who tend to be vegetarian-ish.