Toss Your Own Salad

McNamara is hard to peg. A foul-mouthed former Port Authority cop who worked the post-9/11 recovery at the World Trade Center, he has also been employed by Women’s Health magazine and now authors this collection of over 100 vegetarian recipes inspired by his popular Tumblr. So yes, the title is a crude double entendre and salt is not the only four letter word here by a long shot. He begins with a short list of hard truths (“Your crudité is dull and unappetizing. That’s because your broccoli needs blanching”), then dishes up six chapters of often spicy, usually unusual, veggie concoctions. Instead of a Waldorf salad, there is a Motel 6, with eight fruits and vegetables mixed in a “big friggin’ bowl” and dressed with tahini. Instead of beef tacos there are peanut butter tacos, enlivened with sriracha and smoked tempeh. There are green beans with blood-orange juice, and an orange-colored sauce made from butternut-squash soup, flour, and butter that becomes the centerpiece of a butternut mac and cheese. April Rankin of ChewNTell, a self-professed produce nerd, provides 50 color photos, highlights of which include a large dollop of Greek yogurt floating atop a bowl of balsamic strawberries and small plates of watermelon salad writhing with kelp noodles. [em](June) [/em]