A Flexitarian Runner’s Dinner

Not long ago when my sister came to visit, I was faced with an interesting, but not entirely new, dilemma. What to cook for dinner? She had recently gone vegetarian, and after 15 months of experiencing France, I have found a grand total of – wait for it – one vegetarian restaurant. That was my first day in this crazy land, and that fantastic meal created a first impression of vegetarian dining in this country that it subsequently could not live up to. Of course, regular restaurants offer up vegetarian options, but they’re always added as an afterthought. More to the point, how do I introduce her to the delights of French cuisine when she wouldn’t touch a well-done steak, let alone escargots in herbed butter, foie gras on pain d’epices and blood sausages with mashed potato and applesauce?

End of sibling torment.

I will come clean and admit that I had my own stint with vegetarianism many moons ago, when it was easier to do so as I lived in Adelaide and knew of quite a few vegetarian places that served up great tucker. Since my favourite food group is booze, I did not miss meat at all (except salmon sashimi; there were moments I could kill for it, and walking past sushi places meant averting my eyes and counting to ten). Then, I started training for my second 12km City to Bay after not exercising in longer than I had been vegetarian by that stage. It was then I could no longer get away with eating whatever-as-long-as-it’s-not-meat. I had to be very attentive to macronutrients and micronutrients, much more than I cared for it. I was at a crossroads, do I stop running and continue being vegetarian, or keep training and eat meat again?

Not a hard choice, since I’m one to take the path of least resistance. I’d made my point well enough by then, and raised awareness among my friends (who were by and large not vegetarians) that they could enjoy decent meat-free meals, save some money, and reduce the environmental pressures by having a couple of vegetarian meals a week (basically, whenever they ate with me). I also did it out of curiosity as to how long I would last at it, and over a year was longer than I fancied I could manage. Thus, I bade farewell to my vegetarian days with salmon and avocado maki.

Note, I do not mean to say that runners cannot be vegetarians. I know of many runners with race times that make me wonder if we are even the same species, who are vegetarian or even vegan. I find their genetics/discipline most remarkable. All I am saying is that I personally have no interest/ability to commit both to running and to being strictly vegetarian.

I do, however, continue to enjoy meat-free meals when I cook at home. One of my resolutions for 2013 is to eat out only once or twice a month, and cook the rest of my meals. Dining out is expensive, often too salty, and even in France they sometimes come in obscene quantities.

I found Italian Rose Beans in the supermarket a few days ago, and bought a bag because their mottled appearance fascinated me.

Beautiful, in a freakish way. Will eating this give me leprosy?

Tonight’s dinner, without further ado:

The Flexitarian Runner’s Pasta

200g Italian rose beans, soaked overnight and simmered till soft
200g wholemeal spaghetti
150g spinach
1 large onion, chopped
Black olives
Olive oil
Chicken stock cube (vegetable stock cube’s good too)
Oregano
Salt
Pepper

Directions

Boil pasta. Drain and set aside.
In a large skillet, sauté the onion in some butter.
In the same skillet, add the spinach.
To help the spinach wilt, add half a cup of water with a stock cube dissolved in it. This also helps cut the oil required.
In a large bowl, add the pasta, spinach, onion, beans and olives. Toss.
Drizzle with olive oil until it’s not so dry, then add the oregano, salt and pepper.

I think I have earned this, along with some Roquefort on bread and a glass of red wine, after my 5km hills waddle today.