NYTImes

 

July 1, 2009, 9:00 am

Cooking on the Run With Mark Bittman

By Tara Parker-Pope AND Mark Bittman

Your Marathon

Coaching, tips and inspiration to get you race-ready.

Deena Kastor is the fastest American woman marathoner, and she also happens to love to cook. Meanwhile, New York Times food writer and cookbook author Mark Bittman, a pace-setter in the kitchen in his own right, also is training for the New York City marathon this fall.

She runs and cooks. He cooks and runs. That sounded to us like the makings of a great video and a great meal.

Watch the video to see how Deena, Mark and Mark’s daughter Kate spent a recent morning on the run and in the kitchen. And then, check out Mark’s post below for more about the impromptu dish featured in the video (which I was lucky enough to sample, and it was simply delicious). Even if you’re not a runner or training for a race, you’ll love this dish.

[Here’s the link to the article and video—http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/cooking-for-the-run-with-mark-bittman/?th&emc=th]

Tiny Eggplants, Farro, Poblanos, Chiles, Shiitakes…and More
By Mark Bittman

When Deena, Kate and I returned from shopping, we had a couple of bags of nice stuff, and I still had no idea what I was going to do with them. I set farro to simmer and began roasting the poblanos and hot chiles together (in a toaster oven, which worked brilliantly). The eggplants just seemed too good to mix with anything else, so we trimmed and halved them, then sauteed them in oil — that was all the treatment they got.

Meanwhile, we trimmed, sliced and began stir-frying the shiitakes. By the time we got to that, the poblanos and chiles were ready to peel, so we did that and discarded the seeds, then cut them into strips and added them to the mushrooms. After they’d browned a bit, we tossed in lots of garlic and ginger.

By then, the farro was ready, and we turned the whole thing into a kind of “fried farro,” tossing everything together with salt and pepper, a fair amount of cilantro, and lime. The eggplants were now perfectly soft — and we served them on the side of our “main” dish, sprinkling all with plenty of lime and cilantro.

It was an amazing meal after an incredible run.