The Chef's Garden - Hardcover

Conran, Terence; Clevely, A. M.

3.4

15 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1579590500 ISBN 13: 9781579590505

Publisher: Soma Books, 1999

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A in-depth guide to growing healthy foods at home includes ideas on growing fruits and vegetables in everything from a green house to a window box, and also contains twenty recipes, utilizing fresh fruits and vegetables.

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Review:

British tycoon Terence Conran has turned to gardening with the same exacting eye and aesthetic sensibilities that have made his books on home decorating such a success over the years (The Essential House Book, Terence Conran's Easy Living, etc.). His modern, clean, uncluttered look extends here to the kitchen garden, his simplicity and good taste to the recipes. Conran believes it worthwhile to cultivate a kitchen garden in even the smallest of spaces, seeing it as a chance to grow chemical-free, more intensely flavored varieties of fruit and vegetables than can be found in the supermarket.

The Chef's Garden is a beautiful book, full of color photographs of luscious produce. Who would have thought purple broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and chard could be so ornamental? Best of all, you don't need an acre of farmland to cultivate these fruits and vegetables; most are shown growing in small urban gardens or in pots on decks and patios. There is even a plan for growing a kitchen garden on a rooftop.

The point of all this bounty is in the cooking and eating, and Conran emphasizes taste and appearance by using herbs and edible flowers, with information on growing, propagating, and preserving a variety of the most useful kinds. Conran recommends container culture, but also gives a detailed plan for a tiny, formal herb garden (10 by 3 feet) which will hold a generous array of herbs enclosed by rosemary hedges. Detailed instructions are given for pruning dwarf fruit trees, and training espaliers, to encourage fruit production in the smallest possible spaces.

Conran goes beyond aesthetics to cover all the practicalities: selection, soil prep, sowing, thinning, protection from pests, disease and weather, harvesting, and finally, cooking. Eighteen delicious and simple recipes inspire the gardener. Gratin of chard, a spinach and ricotta tart with tapenade, caldo verde, and a mouthwatering salad of figs, ricotta, and honey are a few of the international recipes showcasing homegrown fruit and vegetables. --Valerie Easton

About the Author:

Terence Conran is one of the world's best-known designers, restaurateurs and retailers. In the 1960s he founded Habitat - the chain of homeware stores that brought good, modern design within reach of the general population for the very first time.Over the subsequent 50 years Terence built another group of companies centred around design, retailing, restaurants and hotels. Today, Conran owns restaurants and shops in eight cities throughout the world and a design business serving many international clients that includes architecture and interior design, product and graphic design and brand licensing.In January 2011 Conran began working with Marks & Spencer in the UK, designing an exclusive range of homewares for the store. In 2012 Conran signed a deal to collaborate with US retail giant jcpenney to design an exclusive range of furniture, lighting and accessories for the home. The initial collection launched in spring 2013 into 300 jcpenney stores throughout the US and there will be new ranges launching each spring and autumn.Terence was knighted for his services to design in 1983 and has been provost of the Royal College of Art in London. In 1982 he opened the very first museum in the world dedicated to design, which is now the celebrated Design Museum in London, due to move to new premises in 2015 thanks to a massive expansion programme.

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