Marathon Meals

As I’ve said on many an occasion to my sporty friends, my sport of choice is cake-baking. As such, when it came time for this past Sunday’s London Marathon I lent my support in the only way I knew how, by cooking. FM was running and for the past 6 months I’d been privy to hearing about her somewhat busted knee (which was fixed in time to run) and been woken up by the front door opening and closing as she headed out on her many early morning runs. I must say it was admirable. I’d snuggle deeper into my covers, role over and proceed to sleep for at least another hour before getting up for work.

I wasn’t entirely sure what a good post-marathon meal would be but I decided something with protein and carbohydrates would do quite well. Oh, and truffle oil. Every good marathon runner needs a bit of truffle at the end of a gruelling 26.2 miles.

Finished with triple chocolate cookies, it might not have been the meal a nutritionist would have prescribed, but it still managed to do the trick.

Herbed Chicken and Shitake Mushroom, Leeks, and Truffle Risotto

In typical fashion I’ve taken a recipe I’ve found and changed it to my specifications. As it read, it seemed much too heavy for a post-marathon runner, so off I went tweak, tweaking away.

In a nutshell, incorporate the following into the recipe hyperlinked above.
1. Replace the cream with semi-skim milk
2. Replace the butter with olive oil (if butter is a necessity, finish the risotto at the end with a bit – it’s not necessary with the mushrooms)
3. If you are not using freshly shaved truffles, triple the amount of truffle oil you use and finish the dish at the end with a little swirl on top
4. I used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock, just because it’s what I had available (and I was cooking chicken to serve with the risotto anyway)
5. Pass on the “chopped fresh parsley”. Seriously, it’s not going to add anything but a bit of greenery (of which I just served dinner with a green salad instead)

Herbed Chicken -This might be the easiest recipe ever…and it was FM's favourite part of the meal.

1. In a small bowl mix together bread crumbs (I used Japanese panko crumbs), chopped garlic, and fresh/dried herbs (I used thyme and oregano)
2. Take skinless/boneless chicken breast and coat with a thin layer of olive oil (I had a little bit of hummus left over so I used this as well). Once coated, dip in crumb mixture and cover chicken. Repeat if necessary.
3. Bake in an oven at 350° F or 175° C until cooked through – about 35 minutes
4. Serve with risotto

Triple Chocolate Cookies

I definitely had something in mind when I was making these cookies but because I couldn’t seem to find any of the ingredients I wanted or needed they ended up taking on a life of their own. Somewhat cake/brownie like instead – they still managed to be moist and quite flavourful. I brought the leftovers to my eager team at work. When I opened the container the smell that wafted out was so delicious and chocolaty that I was told to immediately close the lid or I should expect them to all be gone in the next few minutes.

I’ll definitely make these again – they were more popular than I would have imagined when I first took them out of the oven.

8-10 ounces (225-285 grams) semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup flour
4 tablespoons cocoa (I used Cadbury)
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3 eggs
2 tsps vanilla extract
8 oz (225 grams) white chocolate broken into chunks
½ cup milk chocolate chips

- Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
- Melt semisweet chocolate, set aside to cool
- Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt
- With electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in another medium bowl until well combined
- Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition
- Continue to beat until 3-4 minutes more until light in colour
- Add melted chocolate and vanilla and beat together
- Fold in flour mixture, white chocolate chunks and chocolate chips
- Place a tablespoon full of batter onto cookie sheets, space at least 1 inch from each other
- Bake cookies, 1 tray at a time, for about 10-12 minutes per tray
- Cool cookies

Storytelling

There have been cringe-worthy (and hysterical in their irony) tales from the last week. Not really centred around gorgeous culinary creations (unless you count cookie crisp cereal and cheese bread at 3:30 am) or even fabulous grown-up cocktails – no, this time the stories are woven together with a mojito or two, tequila shots (which I thought I’d retired after that NYE on Babcock Street) a few (6) beers, oh – and half a bottle of wine for good measure. Living in a city of gold-medal binge drinkers, I would have preferred to pick up a fake British accent like Madonna or an interest in cricket, but alas…when in Rome…

As a result of my ridiculous weekend I thought it best to submit myself to something calming, straight-forward, and consistent (the complete opposite of what I’ve been experiencing) and decided that a lovely risotto would fit the bill. Once you get the knack of making risotto you realise that even when you change what you put in it – it should typically turn out the same as long as you add the right amount of wine/stock. Sometimes it can be a bit of work having to stir it frequently, but it’s an uncomplicated task, and always worth it in the end.

As a side note, I’d like to invest money in a mobile phone with a built in breathalyser. When the owner’s blood alcohol reaches a certain level, the mobile goes into lock-down mode. No calls and texts are allowed, unless it really is a dire emergency. Not sure how this last bit would work, but even if it couldn’t filter the legitimate emergencies – I’d risk it for this guaranteed lock-down.

Ok, so probably not the most typical risotto out there, but even calming and uncomplicated needs a teensy bit of drama, no?

Butternut Squash Risotto with Garlic and Panko crusted Prawns*

Based on the following recipe from epicurious.com: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/240105

Ingredients:
- 1 butternut squash (I bought a bag at Waitrose already cut up…I was going for uncomplicated remember?)

- 20 uncooked large prawns (about 1 1/4 pounds), peeled, deveined

- 3 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

- 3 large garlic cloves, peeled, smashed, plus 2 large garlic cloves, chopped (again, I used minced “lazy” garlic already smashed and chopped)

- 1 cup panko crumbs

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

- 5 cups low-salt chicken broth

- 1 1/2 cups chopped onion

- 4 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme, divided

- 1 1/2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain white rice

- 1/2 cup dry white wine- Vegetable oil (for frying)

- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 400°F.

- Roast squash for approximately 45 minutes with a bit of olive oil, cool and mash together with a fork to make a puree (or use a food processor, which I still don’t have)

- Place prawns, 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, and some garlic in large resealable plastic bag; turn to coat. Chill for an hour or two

- Stir panko, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in medium bowl. Add shrimp; toss. Arrange in single layer on large plate.

- Bring broth to simmer in heavy small saucepan; reduce heat to low and keep hot.

- Heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat.

- Add onion and cook until beginning to brown, stirring often, about 5 minutes.

- Add garlic and 2 teaspoons thyme; stir 1 minute.

- Add rice and stir 1 minute.

- Add wine; stir until almost absorbed, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium.

- Add 1 cup hot broth and cook until almost all liquid is absorbed, stirring often. Continue adding hot broth 1 cup at a time and stirring frequently until rice is almost tender, about 20 minutes.

- Meanwhile, heat vegetable oil in a heavy large skillet

- Sautee prawns until golden brown and cooked through, about 1 1/2 minutes per side.

- Rewarm squash puree in microwave and add to risotto and stir until rice is tender but still firm, about 2 minutes.

- Stir in Parmesan cheese and remaining 2 teaspoons thyme. Season with salt and pepper

*Prawns = Shrimp