It was at the opening of the MyUtopia yoga studio in the V&A Waterfront that I met Chantal Lascaris, writer of ‘All Sorts of Salads’ and wife of advertising industry guru Reg Lascaris. Chantal was so enthusiastic about her new book that she gifted me a copy.  I had not seen Reg in years, as he was previously based at Hunt Lascaris in Johannesbugr, but now he and Chantal have homes in Franschhoek and in Mouille Point in Cape Town too. We connected back to advertising days over the past 30 years, Hunt Lascaris Cape Town having been a client of my former food PR company.  

Chantal started her career at Hunt Lascaris, and then moved into the clothing industry, specializing in corporate wear. She became interested in health and fitness, and had to do an increasing amount of business entertaining, she shares in the introduction to her book. Changing career direction to become a Pilates instructor, she had to learn more about healthy eating, guiding her students on the topic. Over a period of ten years she has gathered fresh ideas for salads, having become bored with the lettuce/tomato/cucumber standard. Chantal has a health condition which required that she watch her intake of carbohydrates and sugar, and this influenced her quest for preparing healthy salads. 

In the introduction to the book, Chantal writes that her book will get one out of ‘your salad rut and provide some interesting and tasty dishes to explore and enjoy‘. Her book contains 70 salad recipes, and she has focused on those eating salads for health reasons. Chantal is a good advertisement for her book, looking trim and slim. Chantal is careful about the cost of ingredients, uses local ingredients, and keeps salads simple, but adding a creative touch.

‘All Sorts of Salads‘ contains exactly what the title says, in sections of Salads that are Vegetarian, contain fish and seafood, contain chicken, include meat, desserts with fruit, and ends off with recipes for salad dressings.

The book starts with a number of hints and tips, like freezing left-over rice and then adding vegetables to the defrosted rice to make a salad; she freezes lemon juice in ice trays, using them for dressings; she freezes fresh basil too; stores almonds in the freezer; left over bacon she cuts into small bits, fries them, freezes them, and then adds them to salads; leftover bread is cut into small pieces, fried in olive oil and garlic, and frozen, and then added to salads. Left over sweet peppers are kept in the freezer, and added to casseroles. 

Recipes for old salad standards such as Caprese, coleslaw, potato salad, Waldorf salad, Greek salad, Three Bean salad, Salad Niçoise, onion salad (slaphakskeentjies), and Caesar salad (photograph) are provided in a first salad chapter. 

Vegetarian salad ideas are plentiful, and a watermelon and feta one caught my eye. A full spectrum of vegetables is included in her salad recipes, including aubergine (aubergine and sweet pepper stack photograph), lentils, mint, butter beans, cauliflower, celery, apples, spinach, strawberries, asparagus, broccoli, chickpea, cabbage, green beans, fennel, citrus fruit, pawpaw, hummus, olives, couscous, butternut, red peppers, sprouts, mushrooms, corn, and grapefruit, a host of healthy ingredients, and colorful too in their presentation. 

Fish and other seafoods used in the salads include tuna, salmon, kingklip, shrimps, calamari, prawns, and crayfish (now on the red SASSI list). The photograph is of a sashimi salad. 

Chicken is combined with grapes, noodles, celery, baby marrows and coriander in an Indian Chicken Salad (photograph), with peppadews, artichokes, and chicken livers. 

Salads with meat include ostrich with walnuts, a delicious sounding figs with pancetta and Roquefort salad (photograph), a breakfast salad with chorizo and a number of vegetables, rump steak with mushrooms and more, carpaccio and asparagus salad, bacon and halloumi salad, keftedes salad, fillet with corn and cucumber salad, and pork fillet and herb salad.

Fruit salads included in the book are a compote with apples and peaches, a tropical fruit salad, one with ginger, a sticky fruit salad made with kiwi fruit dressing served with cinnamon crisps, a limoncello fruit salad, and a red fruit salad with grapes and various berries. Recipes for lemon vinaigrette, fresh basil dressing, orange and poppy seed dressing, Asian dressing, Tarragon vinaigrette, warm Brie dressing, Salsa Verde, creamy saffron dressing, and a strawberry dressing conclude the book. 

Chantal Lascaris ‘All Sorts of Salads’, Penguin Random House South Africa Pty Ltd. Photographs by Matthys van Lill. Available at leading bookstores.

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whalecottage.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: click here Instagram: @Chris_Ulmenstein