'Cook at home, live longer'

It's all about taking an interest in what we eat not just the act of cooking itself... 

  • Eat home-made meals and live longer. A tip from Sweden’s "Masterchef" Sigrid Bárány is to use beans. “The bean is an extremely useful product, which is also very good for the body.” Bárány with the cookbook, which was part of the prize from the televised competition.

  • “People who cook at home are more interested in food, and perhaps more interested in the energy and nutrition food can give. It’s not like you automatically feel better just because you cook your own food, but it is a covariance with other factors that are decisive for good health,” says Elisabet Rothenberg, nutritionist at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Göteborg, and chairwoman at Dietisternas Riksförbund, the national association for nutritionists.
    Rothenberg is commenting on a study made in Taiwan, that shows that people who cook their own food on a regular basis have better cognitive and physical functions, and that children who eat home-cooked meals are less likely to become obese. The study also shows that the person who cooks at home five times a week, lives a longer and healthier life.
    Sigrid Bárány, who was crowned Sweden’s Masterchef of the year winner on Sweden's TV4 ('Sveriges Mästerkock'), recently told Metro.se about her three ideas on how to make cooking at home easier.

  • Beans work with everything. Here's an even simpler variety that works well with fish: Simply mix cannellini beans, black and kidney beans and spice the mix with a garlic clove, a finely chopped yellow onion, parsley and a tbsp each of oil and lemon zest. Add tomatoes if you're looking for even more color.

  • 1. Always keep beans at home. “The bean,” says Sigrid, “is an extremely useful product, which is also very good for the body. I usually have five or six different beans, canned beans, at home. It’s easy to do a warm bean salad with whatever you have at home, bean dip, bean soups, stews…”

  • 2. Make an omelet. “Rarely do we think of the omelet as a good dinner. But it is, and it only takes minutes to make and you can fill it with almost anything: Olives, caviar, cooked potatoes, or ham or sausage.”

  • 3. Fish need not be complicated. “Making fish for dinner is simple if you buy a filet on your way home. I like haddock. Salt it, use sugar, squeezed lemon, perhaps even cayenne pepper and put it in the oven. Serve with the bean salad, for instance.”

  • Bean indeed works with most other dishes. We found an easy bean salad recipe with fennel and sliced onions at alltommat.se
    Serving 10, you’ll need the following:
    1 can of white beans (preferably big ones)
    2 cans of kidney beans
    3 shallots (or one red onion)
    1 fennel.
    Dressing:
    Juice from 1 lime
    1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
    1 Tablespoon water
    0.5 teaspoon salt
    a pinch of black pepper
    2 teaspoons black currant jelly
    ¼ of a cup of olive oil.
    Rinse the beans. Cut and chop the shallots/red onion, and slice the fennel thinly. In a small bowl, mix the dressing and add it to the rest of the ingredients.