You don’t change the nature of a muffin. Why, then, change the recipe each time rather than learning to master the base – just one – and then flavoring it as you wish? Nutritionist Jessika Langlois took an interest in the question with Cook with what we have, a second book in which she demonstrates that eating well does not require hours of preparation or complicated ingredients. Ultimately, maybe even no recipe!
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
” What are we eating ? is the question that inevitably comes up every day in every home. That of Jessika Langlois is no exception. “Simplicity” was the watchword and the reference for developing this book, which draws its inspiration from his experience: that of a parent in a hurry who, like many others, must compose daily, and under pressure, meals, healthy lunches and snacks.
Standardization
“I found that there was a lack of standardization in the recipes. When you have time and want to explore, it’s okay to try lots of them, but when you need it to go fast, it often lacks efficiency. Hence the idea of designing recipe outlines that can be varied according to one’s inspiration, what one has in the fridge, seasonal products and bargains at the grocery store. In short, quick meal formulas that we may want to memorize for more efficiency.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
The nutritionist Jessika Langlois offers us simplified versions of our classics, which we can learn to master to decline them in multiple ways.
For example, a One Pot Pasta, a dish that will generate only one pan to wash since all the ingredients go in the same one, is made up of 300 g of dry pasta and 2 1/2 cups of water – all put on the fire for 9 minutes. You can add 1 cup of liquid, 1/2 lb of meat or fish, 1 cup of tofu or legumes and 2 or 3 cups of vegetables: simple!
The book offers a total of 10 all-purpose recipes ranging from starter to dessert: soups, roasted vegetables, quiches, risottos, grilled chicken, pasta, dumplings, cookies, puddings and muffins. For each of these frameworks, five variants are proposed and give a different personality to the dish. The same quiche recipe will be declined, for example, in salmon quiche or in egg tart, in marinara or coconut milk balls, in tofu pad thai as well as in farfalle verde. Same base, really? There is no doubt that these 10 recipes will make miles over several weeks without fatigue setting in.
Do we simplify life for real
“The variations are inspirations to give yourself a boost, but if an ingredient is missing, you can very well replace it with another and even improvise something completely different,” says Jessika Langlois. The principle, if it may seem obvious to some, is less so for others who are less skilled in the kitchen.
To improve your art, you have to try things and give yourself the right to make mistakes. The idea of this book is precisely to learn to trust oneself. If a recipe calls for asparagus and it’s overpriced at the grocery store this week, beans might do just fine.
Jessika Langlois
To be able to improvise, of course, it takes a little creativity. But it also takes knowledge, notes Jessika Langlois. “Once you understand how a recipe works and what the ingredients are for, it’s much easier to improvise. And being able to improvise in the kitchen allows you to be efficient, save money and avoid food waste. A soup, for example, includes a source of starch. It is a question of knowing it to understand that the potato can be replaced by legumes, rice, a sweet potato or leftover croutons.
At the beginning of the book, the author gives an overview of the necessary equipment and essential herbs for intuitive cooking — a few spices, a scented oil, condiments that work miracles to transform a dish quickly, well done. With each recipe, she also associates a few notions of food chemistry, nutrition advice, tips for increasing efficiency and options for spicing up the preparation. So much information that will be useful for beginners, but worth reviewing, regardless of your skills, if only because the next meal to be made closely follows the previous one!
Cook with what we have
Jessika Langlois
Quebec America
232 pages
Linguine puttanesca with prawns
Jessika Langlois declines the formula of One Pot Pasta in rosée sauce, pad thai, farfalle verde, tex-mex rotini and this very simple version of puttanesca. In all cases, the pasta/liquid ratio (330 g for 2 1/2 cups) remains the same.
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
PHOTO PROVIDED BY QUEBEC AMERICA
Linguine puttanesca with prawns
Ingredients
- 300g (10oz) linguine
- 625 ml (2 1/2 cups) water
- 2 ml (1/2 tsp) salt
- 250 ml (1 cup) whole canned tomatoes, drained
- 225 g (1/2 lb) fresh or defrosted peeled raw shrimp
- 1 chopped onion
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) black olives in oil, pitted and coarsely chopped
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) drained capers
- 2 ml (1/2 tsp) hot pepper flakes
- 250 ml (1 cup) arugula
- Freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
- 1. In a large skillet or braiser, place the linguine, water, salt, tomatoes, shrimp, onion, garlic, olives, capers and hot pepper flakes.
- 2. Using a pestle, crush the tomatoes.
- 3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 9 minutes, stirring a few times. Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Pepper to taste.
- 4. Divide among four soup plates. Garnish with the arugula.
Advice
For a quick shortcut, use black olive tapenade. Reduce the quantity to 60 ml (1/4 cup).