Year at Otter Farm

WINNER OF THE ANDRE SIMON FOOD BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2014‘Otter Farm is all about flavour. It starts and ends with the question: What do I really want to eat?’The taste of a perfectly ripe mulberry was Mark Diacono’s inspiration for creating Otter Farm, a unique smallholding in Devon with every inch dedicated to extraordinary produce. Sprouting broccoli, asparagus, artichokes, borlotti beans and chard flourish in the vegetable patch; quince and Chilean guava grow in the edible forest; and pigs and chickens roam freely.Here Mark shares his colourful, beautiful recipes, all brimming with flavour and with fresh vegetables, herbs and fruit – including a warm salad of Padron peppers, cherries and halloumi, a stew made from chicken, pork and borlotti beans, a curried squash and mussel soup, and cucumber ice cream, quince doughnuts and fennel toffee apples. He charts the seasonal challenges and excitements of rural living, and offers practical advice for cultivating the best of the familiar, unusual and forgotten varieties at home. With luminous photography that captures life in the kitchen and outdoors, this ground-breaking book reveals how even the most exotic and exciting tastes can have their roots in British soil.

Encyclopaedic and accessible ... Diacono paints a wonderful picture of a farm life, Brimming with off-the-beaten-track recipes and novel ideas ... This is a tale of culinary adventure, It’s thrilling to have Mark Diacono’s account of what it is like actually to live the dream … a useful country companion/cookbook, Excellent … full of gardening advice and palate-teasing recipes, from cucumber ice cream to quince doughnuts, Splendid

Mark Diacono is an award-winning writer and photographer. Known for his commitment to sustainable, ethically produced food, Mark was head of the Garden Team at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage for many years before setting up Otter Farm, the Britain’s first and only climate change farm.@MarkDoc / @OtterFarmUK / otterfarm.co.uk