In the kitchen, the little things make the big good – Liberation

It’s January and it’s okay. Sometimes even in the kitchen. We can praise root vegetables (turnips, carrots, parsnips, celeriac, etc.), winter salads (frisée, lamb’s lettuce, cabbage, etc.) and respect for seasonality, but sometimes we dream of a good salad. tomatoes with basil. But it’s only a bad dream because in real life, we would have nightmares if we swallowed a single slice of these tomatoes infused above ground in a greenhouse. Fortunately, in bectance as in the rest of life, the devil is in the details. We want to talk about those little things that can delight the most ordinary frichti. It is enough to dare because even if one wallows, it is nothing. To liven up the soup, add a pinch of spices (ras-el-hanout, sweet pepper, curry…) or the rind of smoked bacon that you were about to throw in the trash.

In the kitchen section of the cupboard, nothing beats a shower of sliced ​​white onions on sardines or canned tuna, a dash of soy sauce in the vinaigrette, small croutons on the salad. It’s not complicated either to add a few black olives and Provençal herbs to the tomato sauce made with concentrate. It’s easy to give color to a fillet of pale fish with a drop of fried curly parsley. To boost an apple pie with three spoonfuls of quince jelly on the dough and a little brown sugar on the fruit. And especially in winter, send the sauce to warm the mood of the taste buds.

In the cold version, we are downright addicted to yoghurt that we mix with the bottom of a pot of fresh cream (it’s anti-waste) with garlic, shallot and flat-leaf parsley, salt and generous turns of pepper mill. It’s a delight on a simple jacket potato, other boiled or steamed vegetables, smoked fish or even a slice of homemade ham from the butcher.

Finally, it is high time to rehabilitate the roux (butter + flour + liquid) white, blond and brown which are excellent bases at low cost to make a multitude of sauces. Here, take the ideal supreme sauce on a chicken breast or fish, it’s just a white roux moistened with chicken broth, cream and mushrooms. Go dare, imagine, improvise with little nothings and you will do great good at low prices.