Chicken tagine, artichokes and green olives with basmati and wild rice

This is a bit of a 'cheatie' tagine, but it is incredibly quick and easy, very very tasty and packed with goodness. All you need to do is pop the chicken in the oven, surround it with some nice vegatables and spices, maybe something tasty that might be lurking in the fridge like a few green olives and hey presto, an hour later you have a delicious and healthy meal for four. We ate it last night with Basmati and wild rice, a good low G.I. option for sustained energy...and it seems that the whole family needs that extra little

boost of energy at the moment what with the end of term rush with the kids, the launch of Go Faster Food and our new training schedule for the Bristol Half Marathon and the Monster Challenge in September. We like to eat this sort of dish with a green salad tossed with a nice dijon mustard dressing.

Cheat’s Chicken, Artichoke and Green Olive Tagine with Basmati and Wild Rice

Ingredients – serves 4

1 whole free range chicken

1 large onion, finely sliced

1 tin artichokes

1 tin chickpeas

a handful of green olives

2 sticks celery, sliced into 5 cm lengths

1 green pepper, chopped into chunks

1 green chilil, deseeded and slcied finely

2 tsp cumin seeds and 2 tsp coriander seeds, roasted and roughly ground with a pestle and mortar

1 tsp Spanish smoked paprika

1 cinnamon stick

Plenty of fresh flat-leaved parsley

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil (c. 3 tablespoons)

Chicken stock (enough to just cover the vegetables) plus a tbsp plain flour to thicken sauce

Glass of white wine (optional)

Basmati and Wild Rice

1. Heat the oven to 200 C.
2. Take the chicken and turn it upside down. With a sharp knife, cut through the bone and lay out the chicken "spatchcock style", breast side up, on a large roasting pan. (If this worries you, take a look at the nice man in this YouTube video who demonstrates very clearly how to do it)/span>
3. Scatter the onions, chickpeas and other vegetables around the pan.
4. Put a tablespoon of plain flour into a jug and make a paste with a little of the stock, then gradually pour the rest of the stock into the jug.
5. Pour the stock (and wine, if using) over the vegetables around the chicken but not over the chicken. Add the cinnamon stick.
6. Drizzle the chicken with plenty of olive oil and then scatter the whole dish, including the chicken with the spice mix and season generously.
7. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour, until the chicken is crispy on top and cooked through.

Nutrition for Better Running

This week has been a complete whirlwind of activity.

I gave a talk at one of the Full Potential workshops on Saturday which was specifically designed around the theme of Nutrition for Better Running. The day consisted of four talks on different aspects of nutrition - from the basics of nutrition for running, to putting all this into practice with food and meal ideas (that was my bit), views on supplements and then the latest advice on race nutrition from the Lucozade Sports Scientists. There was a totally brilliant coaching session in the middle of the day in which top class coach Nick Anderson put us through our paces - yes, I mean literally! He encouraged us to work out our 5k, 10k and threshold paces. If only I had a personal trainer like that every week....completely inspirational.

Now I'm getting organised for my book launch next week, which is going to be hosted by the University of Bristol Sports Medicine Clinic. If anyone fancies popping along, you are very welcome - 12.30 to 1.30 at the University Sports Centre, Tyndall Avenue. I'm going to give a little talk and then there will be some tasters of Go Faster Food and of course an opportunity to buy a signed copy of my new book.

Between all this activity, there's been the Cancer Research UK's Race for Life, and the British Heart Foundation's Bristol Harbour Run, my daughter's French exchange has arrived, the builders have turned up to plaster our bedroom so we have decamped to the sofa bed in the office and I made some nice little banana cakes - recipe to follow in next post...

A fresh approach to carbo-loading

I've just spent the past 9 hours doing a post-marathon clean of the house. What a workout! I have absolutely no need to run or go to the gym today! I have to say that when in training I do become a master of the art of "skim cleaning" - it is just one of those chores which gets put on the back burner as I hate it so much, so the place really needed some serious attention! 

We had our first taste of the new season's peas today. Exquisite and packed with nutrients, with good amounts of vitamins, minerals, fibre and protein. Popped directly from their pods, they taste unbelievably good. There are all sort of ways of cooking peas if you can manage not to eat them straight from the pod -  simply boil them in water for a couple of minutes and serve with a knob of butter and a few sprigs of mint or chervil, or with some feta cheese and bacon, or fresh tender baby leeks. You could also try them cooked in a little stock with a few fresh wilted lettuce leaves. But for us athletes, they make the most delicious summery risotto - fresh tasting, quick to make and really high in carbohydrate. The combination of risotto rice and fresh peas is pretty low G.I. and will keep you sustained for hours, fantastic for the night before a long training session or a race. 

Creamy Risotto of Fresh Peas and Chervil (use mint or flat-leaf parsley as alternative).

Serves 4

50g unsalted butter, plus a knob of butter for the end

1 onion or leek, finely sliced

1 stick of celery, finely chopped

80g pancetta cubes, or bacon, cubed (optional)

350g Arborio risotto rice

1¼–1½ litres vegetable bouillon or chicken stock

250ml white wine

300g fresh peas, podded

large bunch of fresh chervil, chopped

100g freshly grated parmesan

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat up the stock in a saucepan so that it is ready to ladle onto the rice.
   
2. In a large heavy-bottomed pan, gently sauté the onion and celery in the butter/oil over a low heat until translucent. Add the pancetta and sauté for another couple of minutes.
3. Add the rice and stir until the grains become translucent and glossy.
4. Add the wine and stir until it has been absorbed.
5. Add a ladle of hot stock and stir constantly until it is almost absorbed. Add the rest of the hot stock, a ladle at a time, stirring constantly. You need to make sure that each ladleful is absorbed by the rice before you add the next one. This should take about 18–20minutes. Youmay need more or less stock according to the type of rice and the rate of absorption.
6. When the rice is almost cooked, add the peas and the chervil or mint (save a little to sprinkle over the top). The texture should be nice and creamy. You may need to add some salt at this point, it depends how salty your stock is.
7. When the rice is cooked, turn off the heat, stir in the parmesan and a knob of butter. Let the mixture stand for a couple of minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining chervil or mint and a few grinds of black pepper. 
8. Serve with a rocket salad and some fresh parmesan shavings

Stockholm Marathon

Mark and I had a most wonderful kid-free weekend in sunny Stockholm, marred only by the fact that we ran the Stockholm marathon in the blazing heat on the Saturday, when other more sensible people were picnicking in the parks or swimming on the Stockholm archipelago! 

No, it was good, really, and the support was tremendous, much better than expected...

Unlike most marathons which start early in the morning, the Stockholm marathon kicks off at 14.00, right in the heat of the day, which last Saturday was really quite intense (about 25-27 degrees), and just when the tarmac on the streets had had the chance to warm up nicely! A beautiful day for a picnic on the beach, but not for running a marathon! A girl from San Fransisco came in just after me and had almost expired with the heat and suffered serious cramping -  " Hey, we get up at 5 a.m. to run when it is hot, we don't sit around and wait until the hottest part of the day"

Having said that, I must say that, unlike the dire situation at the Edinburgh marathon this weekend where the water was stolen, there were loads of drinks stations with water, quite a nice grapefruit and lemon flavoured sports drink called Maxim, vats of water to throw over you and showers to run under. Towards the end of the race there were stations serving knorr vegetable stock drink (nice and salty but no thanks), gherkins/pickles (again, no thanks), flat cola and bananas (yes please). Next time could we have slices of orange to suck on please!

And the race is really pretty - quite slow, crowded and unexpectedly hilly but very, very beautiful. Take a look at the official video for a taster.

It was not a day for personal bests. I actually ran 20 minutes slower than my target time of 3 hrs 29 and so I was quite disappointed with that. I think I was more set on getting my drinking strategy right so that I didn't cramp. I actually stopped at most of the drinks stations and went to the loo twice (that must have wasted about 5 minutes!).

The result of that is that my recovery was almost immediate and I had no particular stiffness over the following days, unlike my normal state which usually entails the total avoidance of stairs etc! "Should've tried harder", my husband keeps reminding me. It might also be because there were lots of high G.I.carbs in the goodie bag, which I managed to get down me immediately to replenish my glycogen levels, within the magic 15 minute window when the muscles are at their most receptive.

I'm quite amazed and very chuffed to see that I came 38th in my age group and 227th overall (women, that is).

So, to the pre-marathon meal. This was fab! We found a delightful little Italian restaurant called Paparazzi and had the most amazing fresh pasta - better than I have ever cooked myself. I had papardelle with lobster in a cream and brandy sauce (I would normally avoid creamy sauces and seafood before a marathon, but I couldn't resist). Luckily it wasn't too rich and the lobster was very fresh. After the marathon we were taken to the coolest bar in Stockholm, apparently, the Lydmar Hotel, http://www.lydmar.com/ where we had the obligatory entrecote, delicious potatoes and salad, preceded by some of the best fish soup I have ever tasted. Someone once told me that Scandinavian food was nothing special, but I have to say that my experience of Swedish food was a very positive one. Perhaps that is because I avoided the hotdogs and meatballs (yes, just like you get in Ikea) which seemed to be on offer everywhere!

Just staggered in from running the Stockholm Marathon to find this lovely book review waiting for me from the resident runner at Fitness Footwear. Thanks a lot Adam, I'm glad you liked the book! 

Go Faster Food Book Review

May 29th, 2009 • Related • Filed Under

Go Faster Food already has a list of recommendations as long as your arm with endorsements from Olympians, running magazines along with a foreword by double Olympian Liz Yelling, but what stands out about this book is not only the excellent advice and recipes, but how wonderfully written it is.

From the very start, Kate Percy’s personality shines through, delivering helpful tips concisely, but in an everyday language that’s a pleasure to read. So not only are you taking advice from a real person with their own real life experiences, but this person is also being realistic about what to eat and when to eat it.

Even a nice cold beer is recommended as a recovering drink if you’ve been working particularly hard, simply because you deserve it.

Before getting down the recipes, Kate speaks about her own experience in running and how diet is such an important part of it. It’s not about just eating well, it’s about eating the right things in the right amounts and how to maximise the energy they offer to literally Go Faster.

The book is very well laid out and easy to follow, especially for someone who reads as impatiently as myself. As such, the book is divided into two sections, the first detailing nutrition and training, like what to eat and when, as well as the importance of hydration.

Meanwhile the second half is all about the recipes, which run from morning meals to midday and evening. With over 100 recipes, Go Faster Food deserves a permanent place in your kitchen.

Quotes from Kate’s running friends can be found throughout the book, recommending their favourite meals, all of which have been included within this 280 page volume. Naturally, these vary from steak and chips washed down with a beer to pasta and more exotic dishes, proving that to train efficiently you don’t have to eat nothing but sensible salads.

Go Faster Food is an essential recipe book that will turn runners into faster runners, food connoisseurs and maybe even master chefs. Who ever imagined that beautiful cooking could go hand in hand with health and fitness?

To buy the book, learn about the nutritional value of food which will help you go faster and read Kate’s regularly updated blog for her latest dishes and training methods, visit www.gofasterfood.com

Go Faster Food is available from the 2nd of July and is priced at £12.99

Report on Stockholm to follow in next post...

Steve Cram at Bristol Half Marathon Workshop

I can hardly believe that a whole week has gone by without me writing a post about the brilliant talk/Q & A workshop given for the Bristol Half Marathon. It has been a busy week; my book Go Faster Food has become available for pre-order, I've been getting ready for the Stockholm marathon on Saturday, my eldest daughter has started her GCSEs and the kid's half-term has crept up on me rather too quickly. 

It is not often that us mere mortals get to meet, run with and receive sound wisdom directy from top sports people, and the Bristol 1/2 organisers have really got it together this year, with talks from eminent Olympians and top coaches such as Liz Yelling, Steve Cram, Bud Baldaro, Nick Rose etc. Last week's session, hosted by top coach Bud Buldaro, was given by Steve Cram, along with Full Potential's Nick Anderson (who, by the way, coached the top three finishers in last year's 1/2 marathon) and Clare Callaghan, from Bristol University's Sports Medicine Cinic. For my part, the most interesting comment from Steve Cram was that he had really never enjoyed training, it was the winning that made it worth it! 

Tops points to go home with were:

• Build up a good aerobic foundation before you start training hard
• Train at least three times a week, with one long run, one speed session and one steady run.
• Alternate your interval/speed sessions to make it more fun (fartlek, tempo runs, 1 min fast, 2 mins slow etc)
• Warm up and warm down properly, think about stretching during and after runs (but not before the run) and stretching late at night before you go to bed
• Listen to your body, don't overtrain or start doing too much too soon, as this will normally lead to injury 
• Refresh targets, be realistic with your ambitions

Run Bristol have one more training camp before the Half Marathon on September 6th 2009 and it sounds like it will be absolutely brilliant - 18/19th July - you get advice from top athletes and you get to run with them, it only costs £10 per day and the lunch is always fabulous.

Triathlon Pasta

As an ardent pasta eater, I always welcome any new types of pasta  with open arms...and this one really made me giggle. It's brilliant. I can't imagine who might have had the time to think up such a mad idea - the triathlete's/runner's answer to alphabeti spaghetti! Great to eat yourself or a perfect gift for any of your friends who are addicted to running, swimming or cycling! You can also get packs for cyclists (just pasta bikes) or marathon runners (just pasta men running).

This brilliant company Foska certainly puts the fun into training, whether you are a runner, cyclist or swimmer. Take a look at their website and you'll find cool kit like marmite cycling tops and running shirts.

I tried the triathlon pasta out on my daughter and she was sort of impressed (although slightly embarrassed about eating little pasta men and bikes). I cooked the pasta in salted water, drained it and added it to some sauteed lardons (bacon pieces), mushrooms, spinach and garlic. We ate it topped with some parmesan shavings and torn up basil leaves in large bowls and then drizzled the whole lot with some tasty extra virgin olive oil. Fun to eat and very tasty! We fought over the green bikes though...for some reason they tasted the best.

 

Spaghetti with mussels and how to prepare well for a long training run

I have just had the joyful experience of running 20 miles twice in 4 days. The first run was just abysmal, my worst run ever and a blow to the confidence; the second was thankfully much better...really good, in fact. I 've run 20 miles tens of times before, but it has never been this bad. That is why I decided to do it again with Mark at the weekend instead of doing the 10k that I had booked myself in for. I am not sure about the physiology of doing another 20 mile run only 4 days after the previous one, but it was necessary psychologically to put myself through it.  And it was worth it. Everything about the second run was brilliant and having analysed why, it is really not surprising...

"Bad 20 miles"...or.."what not to do before a long run"

The days before - I sang in a choral concert the night before.I stood on my feet all night and ate very little supper, and then drank a glass or two of red wine before I went to bed. Singing makes you really thirsty - I should have drunk lots of water instead. In fact, I was so busy with other life matters (kids, work, house) that I failed to drink enough fluids in the days leading up to this run as well. All my running the week before had been on the Devon coast path so my legs were tired from all the steep hills.

Morning preparation - I was feeling a bit wobbly - a sure sign not to embark on a big run - and I only ate a small bowl of porridge (although it was with blueberries and honey), no toast. And then I set off with a tiny running bottle filled with lucozade and forgot my gels....and consequently suffered dehydration and glycogen depletion. 

Actual run - it was very, very windy, grotty weather and I set off at breakneck speed with the wind behind me. By mile 4 I felt like giving up but I persevered and then turned round to run back after 10 miles - into the wind and feeling exhausted. At mile 16 I started to feel dizzy and a bit disorientated; I stopped and sat down for a while and felt sorry for myself and then struggled back home, running/walking.

" 20 miles strong"..."how to prepare well for a long training run"

Preparation - I realised my error as soon as I returned from my failure of a run and immediately got some fast-acting carbohydrate down me - a lucozade gel and a sports drink, a peanut butter sandwich and some rice pudding which was in the fridge. I spent the next couple of days really making sure that I was well-hydrated all the time.

Night before - a quiet night with the kids and a delicious bowl of spaghetti with mussels (click for recipe) which is a great meal for endurance - high in low G.I. carbohydrate and brimming with vitamins, iron and protein. Breakfast was a decent-sized bowl of unrefined porridge with forest fruits and walnuts, followed by a slice of homemade wholemeal toast and honey.

Actual run - it was a beautiful day, sunny, warm and not too windy. I started off at a very easy pace and gradually increased this pace over the 20 miles - start easy, finish strong is what the experts say and they are right! We took plenty of water and popped a lucozade gel every 30 minutes. This worked brilliantly for me.

Post run - At about mile 12, I started to dream of pancakes. It just had to be pancakes with ham and cheese, (I often dream up recipes when I'm running! - click for recipe). These pancakes are not only delicious but tick those post run nutrition boxes - protein, salt, minerals, carbs. It really helps recovery if you eat within about 15 minutes of completing any endurance exercise as 

this is when the muscles are at their most receptive.  I knew there was some pancake mixture already waiting as the kids had been feasting on them as we left the house, so as soon as we walked in the door, I started to cook and we were replenishing all that depleted glycogen within 5-10 minutes of finishing our run. Perfect!

Sweet Potato and orange soup with garam masala

Anyone who ran the Bristol 10k yesterday might enjoy this delicious and comforting...and cheap...soup tonight for supper. It is dead easy and quick to make and absolutely stuffed with goodness. Sweet potatoes are really high in anti-oxidants; they are an excellent source of vitamin A (beta-carotene), they are high in vitamin C and manganese and also contain copper, fibre, vitamin B6. potassium and iron. Yes, they are basically very healthy; they are good for the immune system and contain anti-inflammatory properties to help tired muscles. Worth including in the diet then, especially if you are pushing your body with training. 

Although sweet potatoes are sweet in flavour, they only have a medium G.I. so they won't give you a quick blood sugar rush and then leave you desperate for more food an hour later. This soup should satisfy your hunger and keep you going for a while. The garam masala seeds still remain partly intact after the soup has been liquidised, and so you can enjoy tiny bursts of flavour with each delicious mouthful.

Here's the recipe:

Sweet Potato and orange soup with garam masala

Knob of butter

1 tablespoon rapeseed oil

1 onion, sliced

450g sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 tbsp whole garam masala*

Zest of one orange

1 litre chicken or vegetable stock

Salt

Preparation

1. Gently saute the onion with the butter and oil until soft.
2. Add the garam masala seeds and stir around for a minute until the delicious aroma of the spices starts to release.
3. Add the sweet potatoes and the orange zest. Stir around for a few moments and then add the stock.
4. Bring to the boil and then cover and simmer for 25 minutes or so until the potatoes are really tender.
5. Whizz it all up until smooth, season with salt and serve with some lovely crusty wholemeal bread. You could decorate the soup with some orange zest and some coriander leaves.

*The garam masala I use in this recipe is from a pack of whole seeds (from TRS) but you can make your own by combining a teaspoon each of cardamom seeds, whole coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, a few cloves, a cinnamon stick and a little nutmeg. 

Telegraph Plug

I've just had a lovely plug on the health section of the Telegraph.

Matt Potter has listed me in Wellbeing on the Web - "The 9 wellbeing blogs you need to bookmark".  Thank you very much for that, Matt and welcome to any new readers. I hope you enjoy the recipes.

Whilst looking through these 9 sites, I came across a video made by Flora which made me laugh and laugh out loud and brought back some hilarious post-run memories. Anyone who has run a marathon will just love this...but don't let it put you off if you haven't, the pain only last for a few days! 

I've just made a delicious new soup - Sweet potato and orange with whole garam masala. Recipe to follow in the next post as I need to take some photos first!