Running Athletes' Insights: Favorite dishes and recipes
Our running athletes all seem to love good food and it's not always pasta. Here is some of their favourites and a couple of receipes to try out at home.
It comes with no surprise that running athletes eat a lot of pasta. Adam Kovacs enjoys eating all kinds of pasta. Fabian Alraun’s favorite is spaghetti with mussels in tomato white wine sauce. He does a good job cooking it as well.
Ian Sharman is quite the opposite when it comes to cooking: “I hate cooking but I love food, that’s one of the benefits of running a lot!” He continues: “I generally eat a lot of carbs and the one ingredient I try to get into almost any meal is an avocado.”
Ryan Bak's favorite meal is a rice pasta dish with fresh Brussels sprouts, onion, apple, and bacon. Follow his receipe below and test it in your own kitchen.
Ryan's Pasta
1 pound brown rice pasta (preferably shells or elbows)
½ pound bacon diced
3 cups fresh Brussels sprouts
½ cup diced onion
1 large apple diced
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Add brown rice pasta to boiling water and cook until tender (approximately 10-15 minutes). Drain water after the pasta is fully cooked.
While pasta is cooking, fry diced bacon in a separate pan at high heat and cook until crisp. Drain excess bacon grease.
In a third pot, sauté fresh Brussels sprouts, diced onion and apple with 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil on medium heat until Brussels sprouts are tender, but still bright green in color.
Finish by mixing the bacon, Brussels sprouts, onion, and apple into the brown rice pasta, garnish with 1 tsp of sea salt. Serves four people. Enjoy with family or friends and a glass of red wine.
Gerd Frick: “The best meal that I am able to cook, are “Knödel”, a tyrolean speciality. Unfortunately, I haven’t been cooking it for years. Otherwise, and if I go into a restaurant, I love pizza, especially with shrimps and rocket.”
“My favorite meal is the spelt”, says Marco De Gasperi. “To be specific, spelt soup or spelt with soft cheese and zucchini. I get it from a farm in Tuscany, where they make it biologically. I cook it sometimes a week in place or the usual pasta. The spelt takes time to cook (around 40’), but I like the flavor and it’s very rich of iron and vitamins. I’m not a very good cooker, but this recipe is what I can manage easily with few ingredients!”
Marco's Spelt 
Spelt
2 zucchini
200g soft cheese (ricotta)
Oil Extravergine Olive
Salt
Let the spelt cook in boiled salt water. Cut the zucchini and cook them in a pan with a little oil. When they are almost cooked, add the ricotta. Mix the Spelt with the Zucchini and add some extravergine oil and parmesan.
Pablo Villa: “My favorite food without doubt, is the leonés cooked. It is a complete meal with carbohydrates, protein and good fats. In the cold climate of Leon it feels great. It consists of soup, chickpeas and goat meat and beef.”
Simona Staicu just loves this healthy version of a pancake:
Palacsinta- pancake
3 db tojás - 3 eggs
tej -milk
liszt -flour
ásványvíz - mineral water
só -Salt
töltelék-stuffing
0,7 kg darálthús - grout chicken
1 fej vöröshagyma- 1 onion
1 db paradicsom- 1 tomato
2 db fokhagymagerezd - 2 cloves of garlic
só, bors, majoranna- salt,pepper,marjoram
pirospaprika -red pepper
tejföl-sour cream
sajt - cheese
Celine Lafaye really loves vegetables and one of her favorites is the potimarron, a sort of roasted pumpkin. My recipe is as simple as cooking it naturally. Simply place it (without removing the skin) in pressure cooker for 15 minutes.
“Hortense, (my lovely French wife) surpasses all my skills in this arena and has taught me much about the love of a good meal. She has many dishes but having some fresh fish like sole with some potatoes cooked out of the “diable” along with vegetables and a glass of wine is at the top of the list. And many courses! Us endurance athletes need a lot of nutrition.” Kevin Everett shares. "My go to snack if I have had a long training day, or simply a need to satisfy my sweet tooth: Vanilla ice cream with strawberries, some crunchy cereal and dark chocolate chips. And plenty of good conversation to go with…bon appetite!", he continues. Below the lowndown of Hortense's menu.
MENU A LA HORTENSE
Buy some filets of Petrale Sole or others from your local fish market. This fish is usually cheap compared to others, and delicious.
Roll the sole in flour – gluten free for me.
Heat up a pan with a bit of olive oil and butter on medium heat. Throw the sole filet(s) in the pan. Cook for 3 minutes on each side (more or less depending on thickness). Sole should be flaky when cooked, but don’t overcook it or it will be too dry. Lather with lemon zest, salt and pepper.
Potatoes baked in a “diable” (makes them golden brown and slightly crusty). A diable is a french cooking terracotta dish that cooks potatoes slowly. It doesn’t require water, or oil, but preserves the potatoes full flavors.
Cook some Broccoli (steam is best) and add a touch of butter and salt.
Complement with a mixed green salad, pear slices and some chia seeds, tomatoes.
French dressing for the salad: 3+2+1 = 3 TBS of olive oil or walnut oil, 2 of Red wine vinegar, 1 of Dijon Mustard. Mix well. Adjust the quantity depending on the amount of salad or you can make the dressing, and save whatever you don’t use for later meals.
Desert: A fruit bowl mix – strawberries and blueberries being my favorite with a scoop of crème fraiche.
And good Wine!
Read all of the previous parts of SCOTT Athletes Insights:
TRIP AROUND THE WORLD'S BEST TRAILS
FAVORITE DISHES AND RECIPES