The promo this morning on the Today show promised that Martha Stewart would make four recipes in four minutes.

Reality check: She got four recipes ready for cooking in four minutes. You too could get a chicken dinner assembled that fast if someone had considerately zested the lemons, stemmed and chopped the parsley, minced the garlic and otherwise prepped everything you needed.

Martha was promoting the March issue of her Everyday Food magazine, which includes ideas for 50 no-recipe meals. And that’s a strategy worth considering: When you’re rushing to get dinner on the table, you don’t need a recipe. Really. Just think about what ingredients complement each other, use a cooking method that’s worked well in the past, and wing it.

Take the chicken “recipe.” Here are the directions as printed in Everyday Food: “Toss chicken cutlets with olive oil, minced garlic, lemon zest and parsley (reserve some for topping). Broil; serve with steamed new potatoes and topping.”

You could use a little rosemary instead of or in addition to the parsley, or substitute fish for the chicken. Or bake the chicken instead of broiling it, tucking the new potatoes alongside. In the mood for pasta? Stir-fry chunks of chicken in olive oil with garlic, stir in lemon zest and parsley, then combine with cooked pasta (whole-grain pasta would work well with these assertive flavors). If it’s too dry, add a bit more oil or even some warm chicken broth. Crisp cooked green beans would be another nice addition to the pasta dish. Or add some artichoke hearts — whatever you like.