Western Morning News (Saturday)
Whatever you’ve got on your plate – herbs will enhance it
Martin Hesp talks to Mark Diacono, who has written a new book on growing and using
If you were to buy just one cookbook this year, you could do worse than make it the new tome by Devon based foodwriter, grower, gardener and photographer, Mark Diacono. A big claim for one title, but Herb – Mark’s newest cookbook – concentrates solely on those wondrous plants which give more bang for their buck than any other item you could take into your kitchen.
Just about anyone who has as much as a windowsill can grow a few herbs. The cost of a bag of seeds or a ready-grown plant offers a level of value which – in food terms at least – just can’t be replicated in any other way.
You’d require a small field to grow a year’s supply of potatoes for a medium sized family, while a modest bed of herbs the size of a pool table would be capable of adding flavour, interest and zing to 12 month’s worth of family meals.
Which is good news for the legions of folk who have taken up home-cooking in earnest since the pandemic lockdowns began. I was talking to Bertie Matthews, managing director of Matthews Cotswold Flour the other day, and he was telling me about the uptake in baking that has occurred in the past 15 months. Literally millions of enthusiastic new bakers have taken to bread-making, creating their own pizzas and the like – and the same boom in popularity has been replicated across all forms of cookery.
The rather pleasurable, relaxing and rewarding act of growing our own vegetables has also caught on in a way that hasn’t been seen since World War Two’s Dig For Victory drive. But if any of those newcomers to home-cooking or veg gardening were to ask me to name just one thing capable of enhancing just about anything and everything they could serve on a plate, I’d say herbs.
Sidmouth-based Mark
Diacono certainly agrees.
“Take perennials – which you buy once and they last forever – you’ve got free flavour for year and years,” said Mark when we spoke this week. “They are easy to grow and they transform meals so amazingly. You can buy half a dozen for few quid and they require so little attention
– they are certainly the one thing I’d recommend everyone to have growing at home.”
Of course, the thing about herbs is that you need to know what to do with them. And that is where Herb, A Cook’s Companion (published by Quadrille at £26) comes in. I have other cookery books which concentrate on herbs, but this is the best. “There are so many you can grow beyond the usual parsley, coriander, sage and thyme – and I love them all,” said Mark. “They offer so many brilliant flavours, way beyond the things people normally associate with herbs. “Take Korean mint, for example – its flavour is somewhere between star-anise and mint. It’s easy to grow and is attractive to look at – a perennial which looks like an elegant mint. You can also eat flowers. “Lemon verbena is an absolute cracker – use the narrow thin leaves like a bay leaf, by which I mean, add them for favour rather than actually eat the leaf itself. Great in cakes or in a syrup for cocktails.” And here’s a good bit of advice from Mark: “Have a look at the different varieties – for example, lemon thyme is a really bright and zingy version of this very common herb.”
Mark says that after decades of designing kitchen gardens and growing and using an “almost impossible variety” of herbs at Otter Farm, at River Cottage and in his own small kitchen garden, he is still “scratching the surface”.
His book starts with a chapter called Herb Skills, a guide to getting the very best out of these plants, whether they’ve been bought ready-cut from a supermarket or have been lovingly grown at home. A herb A–Z builds on this by focusing on dozens of extraordinary herbs, detailing how to grow, harvest and use them, plus a list of ingredients each herb pairs well with.
“I hope you’ll be moved to try growing even a few,” says
Mark. “It will improve your life in endless measures.”
With advice and tips on preserving, including making oils, vinegars and syrups,
Herb then offers over 100 innovative recipes for the modern cook to make the most of their new-found herb knowledge. You can sample your way across “small things, soups and sides suitable for sharing’ – like rosemary and basil aubergines in Za’atar, or a fragrant herb soda bread that is perfect for minimal-effort breakfast toast, or a simple side of herb remoulade.
Larger plates include crab and chervil linguine or a rich bowl of beef braised in ale with persillade. For a creamy, bright and lemony dish, whip up fresh Laksa or try one of
Mark’s Westcountry favourites, crispy herb-crusted mackerel with raisins, orange and picada.
And there’s a surprising selection of herb based recipes for pudding...
From an aromatic fig leaf and lemon verbena rice pudding, to a warm and comforting infused bay chestnut chocolate cherry cake. For something more elegant, Mark recommends tarragon and olive oil ice cream, or a slice of pineapple and sage upside down cake.
There are even “herbaceous drinks” like tarragon gimlet, or a homemade limoncello for cleansing the palate.
Whether growing your own or buying in herbs, Mark aims to encourage readers to step beyond their “safe zone” and explore the possibilities herbs have to offer.
“Understanding a little about herbs goes a long way towards making the best of them,” says Mark, and his new book certainly helps the home-cook to be bold and use herbs with exuberance. “Flavour or volume, it’s a choice that many of us face.
“If you are investing time in your garden, do you go for a staple like spuds or big flavours? I’d recommend the latter. Concentrate on growing things like herbs which offer big flavours and which cost quite a lot if you buy a pack of ready-grown from the shops. The big flavours of your homegrown herbs will help you turn the spuds you buy into something far superior.”
It is a logic that I, for one, buy into completely. If you grow just one thing to eat, make it a herb. And if you buy just one cookbook this year, make it Herb.