“I was touched by Japanese cuisine, its aesthetics, its rhythm, its textures, its colors and its flavors”

Just like the products of nature, our body has its own naturalness. Some people go to bed early, others feel better in spring, there are the lymphatics or the angry people. And diet must accompany these differences. This is what chef Émilie Félix advocates in her Wayo workshop in Paris.

This is what she calls energy cooking: “It is a cuisine which considers the ingredients, the way in which we preserve them, we transform them, we cook them, we cut them and we combine them. It is a question of increasing their potential of vital energy and of fighting effectively against fatigue.

And to get your bearings, Émilie Félix published Energy can be cookedpublished by Cherche Midi, a book where the techniques for choosing, preserving, cutting, assembling and preparing the fruits, vegetables, meats or fish that we buy at the market are deployed. It also explains how nature meets our needs. For example, in the fall, when the lungs are more sensitive to lower temperatures and humidity, vegetables packed with antioxidants appear on the shelves.

It was in Japan that Émilie discovered this form of eating, a real shock: “I went to Japan to accompany the candidate for the world sommelier championship, while I was a sommelier myself. I was touched by the cuisine there, its aesthetics, its rhythm, its textures, its colors and flavors.”

In her career, Émilie Félix left business studies to turn to catering with a master’s degree in the world of wine. She then perfected her skills in cooking with great chefs and spent several years alongside a breeder from Aubrac to think about local cuisine, before opening her own workshop in the capital where she welcomes chefs hospital or school kitchens.

As the holidays are sometimes synonymous with excess, the young woman recommends ingredients capable of giving a boost of energy: ginger, sesame, candied lemon, black garlic or, in the recipe she develops for show, little spelled.

Recipe for small spelled as a risotto, squid, ink coulis, chard leaves and butternut.

For 4 people: 2 liters of vegetable stock, 140g of diced squid, 300g of hulled organic einkorn, 150g of diced butternut squash, 40g of chopped onion, 200g of button and shiitake mushrooms cut into small cubes, 70g diced chard ribs, 30g chopped chard greens, 4g of candied lemon, 15g of Parmesan, 20g of thick crème fraîche, 20g of unsalted butter, 2 sachets of squid ink, 5g of tomato paste, 5g of black garlic paste, 1g of cumin powder, 3g of salt, homemade mayonnaise (egg yolk, mustard, rapeseed oil, salt).

The day before : soak the spelled and leave overnight in the cold. (This step is not obligatory but it is recommended because it will speed up cooking the next day).

The same day :

In a bowl, add the ink, tomato paste and 2 tablespoons of hot broth, set aside.

In a casserole dish, preferably cast iron, brown the chopped onions in 5g of unsalted butter. Once transparent, add the drained spelled, and add a ladle of broth (you can also add white wine).

Add the cumin, mushrooms and butternut squash. Brown then add 2 ladles of hot broth. Repeat the operation after evaporation until the broth is used up.

In a pan, brown the diced chard ribs in 5g of butter. Once tender, add the squid, stir for a minute then set aside off the heat.

In another pan, brown the chard greens with the preserved lemon in 5g of butter. Once tender, set aside off heat (they must not grill).

In a bowl, make homemade mayonnaise and add the black garlic paste (preferably sifted if it is lumpy).

Once the risotto is cooked, add the squid, chard, parmesan and cream. Mix. Add the ink in a thin stream then pieces of unsalted butter (3 times approximately 3 grams), cover and wait 3 minutes.

After 3 minutes, mix gently, arrange on plates and add fresh herbs for decoration (chervil or chives) and a spoonful of black garlic mayonnaise.