Industrial dishes: how to improve them?

No time to prepare meals, between work, homework, and sometimes also you have to admit … not want to cook? In this case, nothing like sold ready-made dishes, it is true. Unfortunately, most of them are anything but healthy because they contain sugar, preservatives and other flavor enhancers.

If you feel guilty about having to use processed food too often (and we understand you, we, who have constantly urged you to prefer fresh products), then we will help you transform and demonabolize them. And even to make them greedy.
The easiest way to do this is to add a few fresh ingredients such as fruits or vegetables, aromatic herbs and spices.

This makes ready-to-eat foods at least a little healthier and will also improve their taste. In addition, a little vegetable touch can also work wonders visually. Some ready meals are barely recognizable once they have changed shape.

With the following tips and recipes, it's easy to revisit junk food and create a good, comforting meal.

How to get the most out of your ready-made meal?

Combining imagination, creativity and indulgence, without too much effort? But of course it is possible! By adding the touch of refinement and freshness to a dish without ambition, one can quite prepare a meal quickly WELL done.

Start by taking a look in the fridge to see what you have available, and what will soon be out of date. By accommodating your leftovers, you already have a start to a creative main course! Read on …

Indeed, certain ingredients are considered essential to refine the dishes. Herbs and spices, olive oils, cream, soy sauce, seeds …. are all elements that allow you to transform any frozen flat beast into an ultra desirable dish! So start by going around your cupboards, fridge shelves and freezer.

The 5 key ingredients to enhance your industrial dishes

1. Vegetables

> Canned peeled tomatoes, frozen vegetables, fresh vegetables waiting patiently in the fridge drawer, canned vegetables … We bet you can compose a colorful vegetable sauté ?
Choose your vegetables according to their cooking time. For example onions, tomatoes, peppers, peas or beans together. Carrots and other firmer vegetables that require more cooking can be cut into small pieces or thin slices. And you will only add them at the end of the cooking time.

> Recipe ideas : Perfect for personalizing pasta, Chinese noodles or to accompany dumplings. You can also add them to a broth or omelet with a little grated cheese.

2. The fruits

> When we think of fruits, we too often think of desserts, when they can perfectly enhance both savory and sweet dishes. Asian wok or buddha bowl recipe, salads and smoothies are all cool options with fruit.
The cooking tip of using fruit with a minimum of crunchiness, that it remains al dente after cooking, and therefore we will include it in its preparation as late as possible. With the exception of frozen fruit which must be thawed first.

> Recipe ideas : your fruits, used cooked or raw in pieces, will enhance desserts such as rice pudding or yogurt, or even integrate into ready-to-use cakes, but pieces of banana and / or apple can also be used to finds their place in a frozen Asian curry or pan, and even on a basic pizza (eg fig and ham). Also think of canned pineapple: drained, it becomes less sweet and can spice up an industrial dish with coconut milk.

3. Aromatic herbs

> Herbs and fresh herbs enhance your dishes. Thyme, oregano and rosemary give ready meals a Mediterranean touch while cumin, curry, turmeric, garlic and coriander provide real exotic touch.
Even mint, garlic, dill are perfect for making a small dip sauce for an aperitif, quickly made with radishes, breadsticks, carrot sticks, etc.
See our article for more dip recipes.

> Recipe ideas : Basil (fresh, frozen or freeze-dried) in a pasta sauce, dill in Greek yogurt, fresh coriander or chopped parsley on frozen dishes. Also don't forget that bagged soups diluted in fromage blanc can work wonders. Test!

4. The cheese

> A simple industrial oven dish with a little fresh cheese melted on it, that changes everything! So grated Gruyère cheese, Parmesan cheese or parsley cheese (such as Roquefort) will turn a boring ready dish upside down. Even your frozen pizza can be transformed with a fresh frayed mozzarella and a few salad leaves!

> Recipe ideas : Sprinkle a little Parmesan on lasagna in the microwave, and you will gain three points of taste happiness on the greed scale! Also think of this vegetable dish reheated with small touches of Bresse blue, and some homemade croutons …

5. Cream or coconut milk

Never forget that fat is life! Seriously, lipids are real flavor enhancers. Butter is not super wise, however, adopt the touch of cream on many dishes! And vegetarians (or curious gourmets) will transform their ready-made dishes with coconut cream.
In soups, on vegetables, in pasta, on dishes that are too dry … and even on ready-made desserts (a warm compote with a drizzle of cream, mmm).

> Recipe ideas : Consider replacing the oil in your dressing with cream, which is less oily.

5 ideas for a king's meal!

Most ready-made dishes contain suggestions on how to accommodate them, do not deprive yourself, on the contrary, try!

For anyone who wants to try something new, here are five really cool recipes, super easy to pimp. No need for proven cooking skills. As a rule, it is enough to chop a few additional ingredients and throw everything in a pan or in the oven.

1. Margherita pizza revisited with some extras

Everyone has already eaten ready-made pizza, either from the frozen or fresh section. You can opt for a basic pizza customization, or be more ambitious with a ready-made pizza dough that you garnish. And there, it borders on real cuisine!

Why a margherita? Because, on your pizza dough, just add a tomato sauce, Provene herbs and a little cheese. And if you want to take the prowess up a notch: remember to add the mozzarella when the pizza is very hot (we don't cook it on the pizza because it remains to make water), a dash of olive oil and a few pieces of smoked ham.

Other ideas of ingredients to add to your pizza:

• Salami
• Chicken
• Artichokes in oil
• Marinated Peppers
• Olives
• Cherry tomatoes
• Frozen seafood just sautéed in garlic
• tuna
• already cooked spinach
• returned onions
• Roquefort before cooking
• Mushroom
• An egg

Tip: With your pizza dough, you can also prepare an aperitif! Salt it, sprinkle with a little oregano or rosemary, olive oil, cut it into small pieces and brown for 5 minutes. You can chew them as is or serve them with a little pesto.

Your shopping: Pre-cooked pizza dough bases, like the pros, of artisanal French manufacture, GMO-free, which prove to be super practical. Did you know you can find them in the Amazon grocery store? € 18.90 for 5, super quality.

2. Japanese soup soup ramen pasta

We all know these little Asian soups with their square block of ramen noodles. We quickly pour hot water, stir and it's done. Except that, these instant noodle soups are never enough to satisfy appetite and gluttony.

You can easily change this by adding grated carrot, pepper strips or by adding chopped sweet onion that you will sweat in oil, not forgetting a piece of ginger the size of a nail (cut into dice) and half a clove of chopped garlic.

Other ideas of ingredients to add:

• soft-boiled egg (cut in half)
• bean sprouts
• pakchoi cabbage into strips
• Nori leaf (as decoration)

3. A sushi-burger with rice already cooked

Preparing homemade sushi sometimes seems like a mountain. Perfectly cooking rice in particular costs a lot of time (and can be very nerve-wracking!). You can avoid the problem if you buy cooked rice at the supermarket.

You tamp it down to form round rice cakes like the halves of a burger bun. And between two pieces of rice, you can garnish with everything you usually like for sushi. The best? Add a little rice vinegar in your rice before forming your patties, you will be on top!

The perfect ingredients for a sushi burger:

• Smoked salmon
• Pre-cooked shrimps
• Canned tuna
• Surimi sticks
• Lawyer
• Carrot (even better in pickles)
• Cucumber
• Trout eggs
• Omelette pieces

Also don't forget the mayonnaise, a little wasabi and a few drops of soy sauce. You can also refine your sushi burger with pickled ginger and sesame. In the top !

VIDEO – Discover the sushi burger:

4. Express chicken with onion and cream

You don't want to get down to cutting onions? Never mind ! Then take a sachet of onion soup. Mix the dry powder with liquid cream to obtain a creamy sauce which will coat a few chicken breasts quickly cooked in a pan.

Ingredients for two servings:

• 1 sachet of onion soup
• 20 cl of cream
• 2 chicken breasts
• Salt and pepper
• optional: dill

Heat a little olive oil in a very hot pan. Mix the powdered onion soup with the cream and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Sear the meat for 2 min on each side, then lower the heat and leave to cook. At the last moment, pour the cream and onion mixture, and coat the pieces of meat with.

This dish goes well with pasta, rice or couscous express super easily. If you want quick vegetables, you can also reheat a pan of frozen mushrooms, or open a can of peas.

5. Simpler you die: cheese fondue without doing anything!

Leftover stale bread or a packet of nachos lying around in the cupboard will slice this super simple dish, like a cheese fondue. You don't need to touch a processed cheese mix for a long time in a specific device. What you need is a damn. But to pimp this melted cheese, quickly add a few more ingredients.

The ingredients for 4 people :

• 12 walnut kernels
• 1 whole Mont d'Or
• 5 sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 small glass of dry white wine
• A little garlic

Preheat your oven to 180 ° C. Coarsely break up the nuts and roast them in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Cut the crust from above the Mont d'Or, without removing it from its wooden box. Place on the surface of the cheese: dried tomatoes in strips, chopped garlic, pieces of roasted nuts and pour the white wine.
Bake the whole cheese as is in the oven for 25 minutes. Enjoy with bread or croutons.

VIDEO – Find out what this study says about cheese consumption: