Not every Impromptu Friday Night is a culinary event. We had a dinner party before my son, Brian Kenny and his best friend, Eric Brown, competed in the Ironman 70.3 Boulder. The keys to the menu included:
- High carb
- Low fat protein
- Simple/bland
- Fueling an arduos endurance test
The resulting menu included:
- Cheese Gougères
- Pasta With Mama Agata Sauce
- Grilled Chicken Breast
- Grilled Focaccia
- Green Salad With Mom-mom’s Vinaigrette
- Mango Sorbet With Fresh Berries
(From top left clockwise: Grilled Chicken, Pasta with Mama Agata Sauce, Salad, Grilled Focaccia, Gougeres)
The party was fun, but fueling for an Ironman is serious. Unlike many runs, an Ironman is serious stuff and anyone that completes one is a real athlete. The Ironman 70.3 Boulder consisted of:
- 1 mile swim
- 56.1 mile bike race
- 13.2 mile run
The cool thing is that preparing for the Ironman has kept these two friends close. Brian and Eric have been best friends since they were three years old. When Eric and Whitney moved from Memphis to Colorado Springs last year we wondered how the friendship would evolve. Preparing for the Ironman has kept them in close contact. And yes, they are competitive.
(Brian and Eric at 3 and after running the Boulder Ironman. Note the cowboy boots and shorts on Brian. Always the trend setter)
The Boulder event seems like more exercise than many of us will have in a summer. For Brian and Eric, it was just training for Ironman Florida that is 140.6 miles in November:
- 2.4 miles swim
- 112 miles bike
- 26.2 miles run
The Boulder Ironman was tough. There is the Boulder altitude and 95 degree heat that was a challenge. To test the guys even more a straight-line wind of 30 to 40 miles per hour kicked up as they were running the last mile. Of course the wind was blowing right into them. Did the guys have enough fuel in their system from the pre-race dinner? You know they did.
(Brian, Eric, Whitney and Lauren)
Trying to develop menus that are lower fat has become the norm. High carb on the other hand was a bit of a twist. Keeping everything relatively bland was a bit of a challenge for me, but the results were tasty enough.
- Gougères have become a staple of entertaining at our house. These cheesy puffs are always a crowd pleaser. They are definitely high carb and high protein with lots of egg and cheese. Not exactly low fat, but they are a tasty starter for any meal. Baking at over 5,000 feet altitude did present a bit of a challenge. I added an additional half-cup of flour to add structure and eliminated bacon (Boo-Hoo) and shallot. The result was more of a cheese pancake than a cheese puff.
- Pasta With Mama Agata Sauce There is nothing better than a simple sauce with great ingredients. Susan and I spent the day on a hillside farm in Ravello Italy with Mama Agata. It was truly a great culinary experience. One of our many takeaways was a great tomato sauce that has become a foundation for many supper club menus. If you need a simple, quick tomato sauce that will be a crowd pleaser, this is the answer. It is also low fat and uncomplicated, two things that were key to our pre-race strategy.
- Grilled Focaccia. In place of a high fat garlic bread, I made this grilled focaccia that worked well. We found a crusty French country loaf at Costco. I sliced it open lengthwise, brushed on a light spread of olive oil and then grilled it for 1 to 2 minutes on high on each side. After taking it off the grill I sprinkled with kosher salt and rubbed with raw garlic. The result was quite tasty as well as lower fat and high carb.
- Green Salad With Mom-mom’s Vinaigrette. The meal needed something green and this was easy and always a favorite. My mother’s vinaigrette is quick, easy and probably the most copied recipe from anything I have published
Check out the Facebook Live video from the event. https://www.facebook.com/Pkhedge/videos/10156624816699675/
The meal was great. The guys did well in the Ironman. They had no gastro issues (yeah). While they had planned to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Gatorade endurance energy gels during the race, they didn’t. They finished the Ironman in 7.5 hours and burned off over 4,000 calories all fueled by our Ironman Supper Club.
If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.
Comments on the Feature Image: I love this one for several reasons.
- It shows two friends living a dream together.
- Great attitude
- The magnitude of the swim behind them (distance, throng of competitors)