A cyclist's cookbook

Chick pea pasta broth.

2010-03-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

1 large onion
2 tins of chick peas
micro pasta (best with tiny shells or tubes)
olive oil
fresh rosemary
1l of chicken stock

Finely chop the onion and fry until translucent
Finely chop the rosemary and add to the onion
Put it all in a large pan and add the chick peas and the stock - simmer until the chickpeas are softer (15m)
Now, using a slotted spoon remove have of the solid stuff from the liquid and blend what is left until it's a slightly creamy liquid.
Put the chickpeas back in to the liquid with the pasta, season with S&P and cook until the pasta is al dente.
If it starts to get too thick before the pasta is cooked keep adding small amounts of stock.
Serve in a bowl with crusty bread and a dash of olive oil.

Anything Risotto

2009-06-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Description

Really nice creamy meal that you can put pretty much anything in you have hanging around vegetable wise and meat wise as well, baguette necessary.

Ingredients

Risotto Rice (1/2 cup person, or more...)

Chicken/Turkey/Pork? Any meat you fancy, but why have meat? Why not make it a veggie Risotto? Because you are a Red Blooded Human, that’s why.

2 small onions

Garlic cloves

A pepper or 2

Some courgette?

2 handfuls of mushrooms

Carrots...Basically Vegetables

Butter (25g)

Cheese perhaps

Some Mixed Herbs (if you’ve got any)

Parsley (tasty leaves)

Maybe some chilli powder (although definitely not strictly necessary)

Olive Oil

Vegetable stock cube (if there’s one lying around)

Salt and Pepper

Anything

Cooking equipment

Frying Pan

Large Pan to put everything in

Spatula

Chopping stuff

Directions

· Chop up your veg and meat ready to put straight in

· Melt your butter in the large pan then add the onions, garlic and risotto rice and lightly fry together

· Add water to the mix, enough to just about cover it and then the same again and let it start to cook

· Fry up your meat maybe with that chilli powder in the frying using the olive oil

· Whack your veg into the risotto in some sort of order, crunchy stuff first

· Stir in the stock cube, mixed herbs, salt, pepper and meat once it’s cooked

· Bring to the boil and then let it simmer so the water evaporates, should take about 15 minutes

· When it starts to get nice and creamy mix in the Parsley and cheese so it melts in

· Let it heat and then serve...Lovely Jubbely

Galettes, Anglais style

2009-06-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

Description

A speciality of the Britanny region, the Galette is a savoury delight that can rap up any of your favourite lunch time foods. Really quick to prepare and tasty in mythical amounts, they are great for after a good training ride.

Ingredients

Gallettes (as many as you want, usually found in the fridge section of supermarkets, maybe a bit harder to come by outside of Britanny)

Fillings, here are some suggestions:

· Baked Beans

· Eggs

· Cheese

· Ham

· Onions

· Mushrooms

· Pretty much anything you want

A dash of oil or butter

Cooking equipment

Large Frying pan

Spatula

Plates

Directions (For Egg, cheese and beans Galette)

· Turn on the heat, put your oil or butter into you frying pan and let it warm up a bit.

· Put the Galette flat into the frying pan, hopefully it should fit on nicely.

· Sprinkle on your cheese and let it melt a bit

· Crack your egg on and spread it round while it’s cooking so it doesn’t all cook in one place

· Once it’s cooked to a nice white, pour on half a tin of beans onto the one side of the Galette.

· Let the beans warm up, maybe sprinkle some more cheese on then using the spatula, fold in half, then half again and serve; a taste-sensation.

· The idea is pretty similar for any ingredient, you might want to fry your mushrooms and onions before hand, it isn’t rocket science.

Banana Bread

2009-06-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

Description

A fantastic snack to go in the back of your pockets for races, you’ll actually look forward to having to eat. Alternatively you can have it as a pudding or just something to eat, but one things for sure, it won’t last long.

Ingredients

2 large bananas

1 egg

Butter (50g)

Sugar (75g)

Flour (self raising or not, it doesn’t matter that much) (225g)

3 tablespoons natural yoghurt

1 tablespoon of honey (not necessary but adds sweetness, alternatively just add more sugar)

Cooking equipment

Mixing bowl

Small non-stick oven proof dish/loaf tin

Oven

Fork for mixing

Sieve for sifting (but not that necessary)

Directions

· Preheat the oven to 180^oC and grease up your dish with butter

· Mash up your bananas in the mixing bowl, beat your egg a bit and put that in, add your honey as well if you’re putting that in

· Whack in your butter and sugar and beat the hell out of it

· Sift your flour then tip about a third into the mix, stir and add a tablespoon of yoghurt, add another third of flour then another tablespoon of yoghurt, if you can’t figure out what to do next you don’t deserve this cake

· Pour the mix into the tin.

· Bake for about 50-60 minutes, happy days.

Pork Stir Fry

2009-06-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

Description

A nice sweet meal that’s pretty easy to do, great tasting and filling to boot. Goes great with Noodles, Egg fried rice and of course the obligatory baguette.

Ingredients

Stir Fry

Some Pork (about 200g per person)

A carrot

A pepper

2 small onions

4 garlic cloves

2 handfuls of mushrooms

A jar of sweet and sour sauce

Soy sauce (if you’ve got it)

2 tablespoons of sugar (brown is better)

Mange tout (always good but not entirely necessary)

Half a courgette (as above)

Straight to Wok Noodles (however many you want if you don’t want it with rice)

Olive Oil

Egg Fried Rice

Rice (1/2 cup per person should do)

Eggs (1 per person here)

A dash of milk

Salt and Pepper

Some mixed herbs

3 tablespoons of cheap oil, Vegetable or sunflower will do.

Cooking Equipment

A large Pan or Wok that’ll fit everything in

A Pan for the Rice

A Frying pan to fry up the rice

Spatula

Cup

A fork for whisking or a whisk...

Directions

Stir Fry

· Chop up your veg into nice longish thin slices for optimum taste

· Cut up your pork into strips good for frying

· Fry up your onions and garlic in hot oil for 3-5 minutes

· Add your Pork and cook until cooked

· Mix in your sweet and sour sauce as well as a few good tablespoons of Soy Sauce

· Once that’s done you might want to attend to any Egg Fried Rice you are cooking as the next steps take a matter of seconds.

· Throw in the rest of your ingredients, veg, sugar etc and stir for a minute.

· Serve...awesome

Egg Fried Rice

· Boil up some water in a pan, salt it a bit and add your rice.

· While it’s cooking until it’s nice a soft and ready it eat, crack your eggs into a cup and whisk up adding a dab of milk.

· When the rice is cooked, drain it off and mix in your herbs and pepper.

· Heat your oil in the frying pan until very hot.

· Pour your rice into the frying pan and mix in the egg stirring constantly

· Cook for a couple of minutes, still stirring, until the egg is cooked and serve...job done

Lasagne

2009-06-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

Description

A hearty Italian dinner, perfect for the night before a big race. The more the better if you get this dish right. Goes great with a good salad and a baguette.

Ingredients

Ragu Sauce

Oil (preferably Olive)

Beef mince (500g)

Tinned tomatoes (500g)

2 onions

3 garlic cloves

1 courgette

2 small peppers

Some mushrooms

Tomato Puree

Red Wine (not necessary but gives it a great taste)

Vegetable stock cube (again, not necessary but worth a go)

Mixed Herbs/Basil

Salt and Pepper

Béchamel sauce

Flour (25g)

Butter (25g)

Milk (600ml)

Cheese (200g)

As well as

Ready to cook Lasagne sheets (several)

Salad

Tomatoes

Cooking equipment

Oven

2 pans

Oven proof dish (nice and deep for plenty of layers)

Spatula

Serving spoon

Directions

· Firstly you’ll need to make up your Ragu sauce as it takes the longest but can be left to simmer while you get other things ready

Ragu Sauce

· Chop up all your vegetables keeping your onions and garlic separate. Make sure you’ve got everything ready to go in the sauce.

· Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a pan and add the onions and garlic, cooking until lightly browned.

· Add the mince and cook, stirring constantly until brown on a nice high heat.

· Mix in a couple of table spoons of tomato puree and your herbs stirring in until well mixed.

· Poor in some red wine and stir again until absorbed or evaporated

· Put in your chopped tomatoes constantly mixing, also mix in the rest of your chopped vegetables, adding the stock cube, some more herbs, a dash more wine and some salt and pepper.

· Bring to the boil and then simmer with the lid on, this should be left for about 45 minutes, but the longer it’s left the better it should be.

· Pre-heat your oven to about 180^oc

· Butter up the inside of your oven proof dish and start to make you béchamel sauce

Béchamel Sauce

· Melt the butter in a pan and mix in the flour so it’s a weird yellow paste.

· Slowly pour in the milk bit by bit and mix in the yellow paste so there are no lumps

· When all the milks in, mix in the cheese bit by bit until it’s melted, it should start to thicken up nicely. This should take about 15 minutes altogether

· Layer up the Ragu, béchamel and lasagne in your oven proof dish. To do it properly the Ragu and béchamel sauce shouldn’t really be in the same layer but I couldn’t give a damn whether they are or not.

· To finish off your top layer of lasagne, poor on any remaining béchamel sauce, grate on some cheese and add some sliced tomatoes to make it look pretty.

· Whack it in the oven for about 45 minutes.

· Serve with a nice green salad, a few tomatoes and a baguette; job’s a good-un.

Creamy Sweet Chilli Pasta

2009-06-01T14:04:00.000-07:00

Description

A fantastic tasting pasta dish that will have you scraping out the bowl, make sure you make plenty as it’s pretty addictive. A spoon will make eating quicker and it’s full of those great carbs as well.

Ingredients

Pasta, Fusilli or Penne works well (however much you want 2 handfuls per person usually)

Chicken/turkey breasts (1 per person, less if there are lots of people)

2 small onions

4 garlic cloves

2 peppers

Mange tout (one pack or about 100g)

Sweet chilli sauce (about 150ml for 3 people)

Single cream (100ml per person approximately)

A knob of butter

Chilli powder

Some Olive oil

Plus any extra veg you fancy

Some salt

Cooking equipment

A Pan for cooking the Pasta

A big pan for frying the meat, veg and also for mixing everything together

Spatula

Chopping stuff

Directions

· Cut up you veg into nice chunky cubes, leave the mange tout whole

· Dice up the meat

· Put some water on to boil for your pasta and salt it a bit

· While it’s coming to the boil fry up your garlic and onions using that oil I told you to get

· Put your pasta on to cook giving it a quick stir

· Whack in the meat with your onions and stir away

· If you like your food spicy sprinkle in some chilli powder in to give it a kick

· Add your peppers and the knob of butter and mix together

· Once the meats cooked nicely add the mange tout and heat

· Your Pasta should be just about cooked by now so go and drain it out ready to mix in

· Pour the sweet chilli sauce in with your meat and veg and stir until it’s nicely distributed

· Pour in the pasta and mix it all together so it’s all nice and even

· Pour on your cream, stir lots, give it some heat to warm it up and serve...super duper

Creamy Pork and Mushroom

2009-03-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

Description

A very tasty creamy dish that will have you scraping the pan out for more, great with rice and a baguette.

Ingredients

Pork 500-700g (about 200g per person)

Mushrooms (2 handfuls)

Cream (300ml)

Vegetable Stock cube

2 small onions

Parsley

Salt and Pepper

Rice (1/2 cup per person or more if you’re hungry)

Cornflower/Arrow root (a teaspoon, for thickening)

Natural yoghurt (if there’s any hanging around)

Cooking equipment

Small pan

Large frying pan

Pan for rice

Spatula

Directions

· Cut up the pork into thin slices, remember to wash your hands afterwards

· Chop up the onions and mushrooms ready to go in.

· Put water on to boil for the rice with a bit of salt then whack your rice in.

· Put your stock cube and about 2 cups of water in the small pan and boil until it has reduced by half.

· Add half your onions to it and all the cream and reduce by half again, then let it simmer. If it still needs thickening mix your teaspoon of cornflower into a very small amount of water until pasty, then mix into the sauce

· Fry off the pork with the rest of the onions and season with parsley, salt and pepper in the frying pan

· Once the pork is cooked, add the sauce and mushrooms to the frying pan and mix in a bit more parsley with that bit of natural yoghurt if you’ve got any.

· Sort out your rice and serve it up, nice one.