Sunday 2 February 2014

Scott Jurek - Eat (Good Salsa) and Run



Another great book that Phil gave me for Christmas was Scott Jurek's 'Eat and Run'.  I devoured it; both the story and also the recipes included.

For those of you unfamiliar with Scott Jurek, he has dominated the sport of ultra marathons for almost twenty years. The man has run 165.7 miles in 24 hours.   He is also vegan and therefore a great advocate of the physical benefits of a plant based diet.   I just about manage 3 miles in 26 minutes so, although some may argue that he is 'a tofu dog short of a picnic' for running those distances in one go, I personally think the man is a legend.  

His book, 'Eat and Run', documents his unremarkable childhood and his quest to find his own personal meaning, in his case through running.  It then documents his ascent to global dominance in long distance running, and his realisation of the importance of a plant based diet to fuel such mind and body boggling success.  It is with this in mind that he includes simple but effective recipes within his book.  One such recipe is that for a seemingly ordinary Salsa Verde but, just like the unassuming qualities of Scott belie the extraordinary physical talents of the man himself, this recipe too is full of surprises.  It is no ordinary salsa verde.  We know because we recently made it.

Scott's version is meant to be 'brilliant green' (hence Salsa Verde) but due to using a dried poblano chilli, Phil's was rather more brown in colour.  We were fortunate to have a little stash of home grown tomatillos in the freezer which were just crying out to be involved in this particular recipe once suitably thawed out.

Scott Jurek's Salsa Verde (p.220 Eat and Run)

Coconut oil or canola oil (Phil used rapeseed oil)
12 medium tomatillos
3 garlic cloves unpeeled (Phil used just 2)
1 small white onion, peeled and quartered
1 - 2 Jalapeno peppers (optional) (Phil used 1 teaspoon of Serrano green chili sauce)
1 Poblano pepper (Phil used 1 dried and soaked)
2 sprigs of fresh coriander
1 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C and oil a baking tray.  Roast the tomatillos, garlic, onion and peppers for about 20-30 minutes until lightly browned (Scott's recipe mentions covering the tray with foil but Phil didn't bother with this).  Cool slightly then peel the garlic and de-seed and stem the pepper (if you used fresh).  Add everything into a blender and blend until smooth.

Keeps about a week in the fridge or it freezes well.

We have enjoyed this 'salsa marron' (brown in our case!) in various capacities this week but quite the simplest and most delightful has been in a bowl sprinkled on top of tortilla chips and fresh green lentil sprouts.

Enjoy!.........and have a read of 'Eat and Run'.  It will inspire regardless of whether you are a runner or not.

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