Spicy athlete friendly pork roast

Spicy athlete friendly pork roast

This is a very fast and easy dish to prepare and if you have a timer on the oven then this dish can be left to cook itself. This roast is perfectly ok left to sit in the oven for a few hours should you start this in the morning and then leave it until your return after work or training.

Efficiency is the name of the game in all aspects of your life if you are a hard training athlete.

If you are a busy athlete, then I highly recommend planning as much of your nutrition and cooking in advance as you can. This will assist achieving your nutrition goals while also balancing your hectic work-training-family life balance.

I use this strategy often; for example:

• I make fresh juices in advance and store them in a large glass jar in the fridge.
• I roast trays of vegetables or steam a stack of vegetables or dice a large salad in advance early in the morning before the day starts or in the evening after my dinner.
• Meals for the following day can be left to cook while I am doing other work or chores.
• Once a week I will make a batch of chickpea hummus, or lentil dhal or some form of bean or sprouted bean dip. Beans and lentils are a helpful source of minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, fibre, protein and slow-releasing carbohydrates.
• I always have a fresh herb and nut pesto to hand; this gets dolloped on every meal to add magnesium, vitamin K, antioxidants and alkalising nutrients.

I cook a meat joint or similar at least once a week when I have a half hour available to me for food preparation; this is then kept in the fridge for fast meals and snacks. Large shoulders of nitrate-free ham or bacon, pork loin or pork roast, lamb off the bone, beef off the bone or turkey are all suitable candidates for cooking in bulk ready for lunches, snacks and fast meals.

If you prefer then freeze several portions for later use; these can be taken out of the freezer the night before they are needed to allow them to defrost overnight.

Simply serve your meat with vegetables or soup, condiments and optional carbohydrates if you have worked for them or about to work using them as energy.

Athletes must earn their carbohydrates or use them to invest in their training. Consider carbs your energy currency.  

Ingredients:

For the meat seasoning use a generous amount of the following:

• Mustard seeds
• Ground cumin
• Ground turmeric
• Garam masala
• Sea salt and black pepper

Large pork roast – I removed the string but I left all the lovely fat on the meat. Good quality meat fats should pose no concern in the diet of a healthy endurance athlete. You are burning fats every day in your training.

Dollop of extra virgin olive oil

Le Creuset pot (or other solid pot that can be used on the hob and in the oven for baking roasts and other slow cooking dishes)

Water

Instructions:

1. Heat the Le Creuset pot on the hob.
2. Add your dried herbs and spices and allow them to start toasting. Once they start to cook (you will smell the scents of herbs as they get hot), add a dollop of olive oil and then sear all sides of your meat.
3. Remove the pot from the hob and pour in filtered water to a height of about an inch in the pot. Place the cover / lid on the pot.
4. Place your Le Creuset pot containing the meat, spices and water in a pre-heated oven at 150 ° C for approximately 1.5 to 2 hours or until the meat is slow cooked through. It is preferable if you can check the meat on occasion to ensure the oven temperature is suitable and that the water in the pot does not dry off. However if you have to leave this then this is ok too once you have a nice depth of water in the pot.
5. Remove from the oven and allow to sit before serving.
6. Enjoy!