The last week has not been the most productive from a running point of view. It's been about recovery, recovery, recovery! After finishing the Sätila trail 120 last Saturday, I've not managed to do too much.
It was exhausting! That's a seriously hard race, great fun, really lovely volunteers and a fantastic organisational team behind it. But it absolutely destroyed me! Almost 20 hours of mud, hills and scrambling. Last night I managed my first pain free run (read shuffle) around a wet and slippery Stockholm.
I'm really looking forward to sharing some recipes and a little bit of trail training talk in the coming months, I hope you enjoy cooking and eating these recipes as much as I have enjoyed testing them.
All the best,
Billy
Hispi Cabbage with Turkish yoghurt, Pear, Mint & Sesame
This is a really quick warm salad with some flat breads, or works perfectly served with a roast chicken or perhaps some steamed salmon or trout. Just put the cabbage in the oven and essentially forget about it. Once it’s cooked, everything comes together at the end in a couple of minutes.
Serves 2-4 depending on how long you just ran for….
1 hispi cabbage (spetskål)
2 pears
4 table spoons full fat Turkish yoghurt
1 tin of chickpea
A handful of mint
A handful of flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
Extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon
Turkish chili flakes (optional)
Sea Salt & black pepper
Set the oven to 200 C.
Drizzle a little olive oil over the cabbage and rub it in sprinkle with salt and put it in the oven for around 45 minutes until you can easily push a knife straight through the middle. The outside should be lovely and charred and golden brown.
Peel the first few leaves from the outside of the cabbage off, leaving the beautifully roasted inner part and cut it into 6-8 wedges.
Take the core out of the pear and slice it into pieces around 1 cm thick.
Roughly chop the parsley and mint.
Drain the chickpeas and dress them in a little olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, a touch of salt and pepper. I like a big pinch of the chili flakes in this, but that’s up to you.
Spoon the yoghurt on to the plate, spreading it out a little so it covers the whole bottom. Place the cabbage wedges on top, chickpeas next, then the slices of pear, scatter over the mint and parsley.
Now you need to dress everything with a generous drizzle of olive oil and squeeze over half the lemon. Be generous when seasoning with sea salt, the cabbage needs it and the lemon should stop it from becoming too salt, a grind or two of black pepper, a little chili flakes and you are ready to go.
Enjoy!
