This collection of over 200 recipes shows just how much more there is to a salad than a handful of lettuce leaves and a few tomatoes. Here there is a salad for every season and every occasion, from a simple, tangy Carrot and Orange Salad to the extravagant San Francisco Salad or Tuna Carpaccio.

The invaluable introduction provides a visual encyclopeida of all the basic salad ingredients together with an expert text describing their culinary properties and uses and how to prepare them.

There are hints and tips, plus step-by-step sequences, explaining all the techniques you will need, including how to make 16 delicious dressings and dips.

The main part of the book comprises 200 fabulous recipes, broken into five sections: Light & Side Salads; Cooked Side Salads; Main Course Salads; Special Occasion Salads; and Fruit Salads. Every recipe is show with step-by-step instructional photographs and a lovely colour picture of the finished dish.

In addition to classic favourites such as Caesar Salad and Salade Nicoise you will also find the less renowned but equally delicious Spinach and Roast Garlic Salad, and Warm Broad Bean and Feta Salad. As well as the unbeatable simplicity of Apple Coleslaw or Rocket and Coriander Salad, there are also dishes with exciting and tantalizing combinations, such as Hot Coconut, Prawn and Paw Paw Salad, Grilled Chicken with Lavender and Herbs, and Goat's Cheese Salad with Buckwheat, Fresh Figs and Nuts.

Summer is perhaps thought of as the salad's natural season, but with the recipes in this book you can expand salad eating around the year, using ingredients such as sweet potato, French beans, plantain, bean curd, chicken livers, parma ham, smoked trout, couscous, aubergines and much, much more.

From warm salads to fruit salads, from an appetizer or side salad to an extravagant main course for entertaining, this outstanding book will provide you with a single-stop kitchen handbook, ideas book and practical cookbook - it contains everything you need to create the perfect salad experience.