FOR many people, the main meal on New Year's Day is very often another heavy-duty affair, with the excesses of the previous night being blotted up with a large amount of carbohydrate, but according to Tim Bouget, of the renowned ODE Restaurant, in Shaldon, that is probably the worst thing we can do.

He is sharing his recipe for Lyme Bay mackerel with spelt salad and raw winter slaw with Echo readers who might have made a resolution to eat healthily in 2012 and want to get off to a flying start.

"The idea behind this dish is that after a night out on New Year's Eve you need to load your body with as much natural, healthy goodness as you can. We try to include all the best things we can in this salad," he says. "This is high is protein and with the addition of nuts it is also high in vitamins and minerals and good fats. You can load it into a bowl and eat it all day. Oily fish, obviously, is very good for you as it is full of omega oils. Raw vegetables are very good for you – and particularly easy to digest.

"When it comes to fish, it is important not to just eat locally, but also sustainably. Mackerel is a great option but you can use sardines or any other oily fish in this recipe because locally there are lots of line-caught options."

Tim has worked alongside several of the world's finest chefs. After training in the UK with the three Michelin-starred chefs Michel Roux, Louis Outier and Gaulteiro Marchesi, Tim accepted executive positions with luxury hotels around the world. Now he and his wife, Clare, inspired by their travels, have opened ODE and, in April, will launch a new cafe in the heart of Shaldon.

"We have just got planning permission for our project. We hope, all being well, to open our new cafe, takeaway and deli the second week in April. We have been working on it for about nine months and it has been a real work in progress. We are really quite excited about it," he says.

The Ness Stables, formerly owned by Teignbridge District Council who named Tim as their preferred bidder, will be transformed into an eco-friendly café following the same sustainable footprints as ODE, which was recently given the highest rating of any restaurant to date by the Sustainable Restaurant Association. The cafe – as yet to be named – will offer both indoor and outdoor seating in addition to takeaways so that customers can picnic on the nearby Ness Cove Beach and the village's River Beach, or just sit and admire the views of the South Devon coastline from the cafe.

Tim says this has been ODE's busiest year to date – the summer was the busiest ever – but November and December have been quieter and he is now looking forward to a moving in a different direction with the new cafe.

"The nice thing is with this is that it is a cafe – family-friendly, affordable food. We're looking at fish and chips for under £9 and that sort of thing. We want people – locals and visitors – to come and eat locally sourced, sustainable food without having to spend a lot of money. It's important to get families involved. It sounds like a cliche, but it's really important to get everyone eating more heathily. New Year is a great time to start."