"In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart" by Alice Waters (Clarkson Potter, $28)

In the few years since famed Chef Alice Waters wrote this guide — in my view, the best greens cookbook ever — many picky eaters' chants may have gone from a reluctant "greens?" to a fervent "greens!" That's how much of an explosion there has been, because of cheerleaders like Walters, in the appreciation of a rainbow of greens.

Whether it's teaching you to prepare her famed Hearts of Romaine and Green Goddess Salad or instructing you how to compost the leftovers, if there's anyone qualified to tell you how to "go green," it's Waters.

The award-winning Berkeley chef — often referred to as the "Mother of California Cuisine" — is, in fact, a green goddess herself. Waters was green way before it was trendy or even understood, as long back as when she first opened her landmark restaurant Chez Panisse in 1971, which Gourmet Magazine dubbed the best restaurant in the country.

Leave it to Waters to be as creative with her green cookbook as she is with her cooking. Unlike the glut of green "tip" books that have recently flooded the market trying to convince you to go green, Waters instead instills skills for life that will become second-nature as you work daily within your green kitchen.

Everything from washing lettuce to blanching and wilting greens to skinning peppers, shucking corn and filleting a fish is covered in the book, for which Waters is giving proceeds to the Chez Panisse Foundation's Edible Education project.

Before giving detailed instructions for washing, Waters first declares the gourmet reasons she loves salad, and you should, too. "I could eat a salad at every meal, including breakfast with a poached egg and toast," she writes. "Most of the time, I serve salad alongside other dishes and not as a separate course before or after. A salad of fresh greens with a tart vinaigrette refreshes the palate and is a bright counterpart to almost anything else, and especially to rich or fatty foods."

Of course, if you are no longer green yourself when it comes to skills in your green kitchen, you'll probably be laying off the fatty foods. You'll be a lean, mean, organic machine, and Waters' fantastic recipe collection undoubtedly will make that anything but a sacrifice.

That means the freshest ingredients, innovatively combined and prepared with techniques specifically used so as not to tamper with that sparkle, like this cherry tomato and tofu salad that uses every element — from soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and sesame seeds to sherry vinegar, olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper — to enhance the vitality of those tomatoes and soak into the fresh tofu.

CHERRY TOMATO AND TOFU SALAD

2 teaspoons soy sauce

A few drops of toasted sesame oil

A dash of sherry vinegar

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

1 cup ripe cherry tomatoes, halved

2 slices very fresh tofu or yuba (tofu skin), 1/2-inch thick and about 2 to 4 inches long

Shiso leaves, to taste

Yields 2 servings.

Combine soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar and olive oil, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Toasted sesame oil is very potent and should be used sparingly. Add the dressing and the sesame seeds to the cherry tomatoes and mix together.

Arrange the tofu on a plate and spoon over the tomatoes and dressing. Cut fresh shiso leaves into fine ribbons, or tear leaves into pieces, and scatter over the tomatoes and tofu, then serve.

HEARTS OF ROMAINE AND GREEN GODDESS DRESSING

2 or 3 heads romaine lettuce, or 6 to 8 heads Little Gem (see Note)

1 shallot

1 garlic clove

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 salt-packed whole anchovies

1/2 ripe avocado

3/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley

3 tablespoons chopped tarragon

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon chopped basil

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Salt, to taste

3 tablespoons chopped chives

Yields 4 to 6 servings.

Remove the dark outer leaves from the romaine lettuce, or any damaged outer leaves from the Little Gems. Cut off the stem ends and separate the leaves. Wash the leaves thoroughly and spin-dry in batches. Roll them up in a clean dish towel and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Peel and finely dice the shallot and garlic, and in a medium bowl macerate in the white wine vinegar and lemon juice. Rinse, bone and finely chop the anchovies and add to the bowl. Add the avocado flesh and mash the mixture with a fork. Whisking with the fork, gradually incorporate the olive oil and cream, as if making a thin mayonnaise. Stir in the parsley, tarragon, cilantro and basil, and add a few grinds of black pepper and a pinch of salt. Taste and add more salt or vinegar if needed.

Arrange the lettuce in a large bowl, on a platter or on individual plates. Pour the dressing over the leaves. Sprinkle with the chives and serve.

Note: Use whole uncut leaves; if the heads are large, you may need to remove many of the outer layers to get to the pale green sweet leaves at the heart. Little Gem and Winter Density are small tender varieties that are perfect for this dressing and for Caesar salad.

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Creators News Service "After-Work Gourmet" column. To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.