Alan Murchison is a Michelin-starred chef with more than 25 years' experience working in some of the world's top restaurants. He is also a multiple World and European age-group duathlon champion and national-level master's cyclist. Murchison was a consultant for British Cycling and is the performance chef for Specialized Factory Racing.
Plant Powered Performance is the fourth book in his recipe series with Bloomsbury and it takes a different approach from his previous books.
“If you go back to the first book I wrote with Bloomsbury, I was quite scathing about plant-based diets. I wrote about there not being a history of world-class athletes – I wouldn’t say I was anti-vegan food but I certainly wasn’t pro it,” Murchison says.
“If you’d told me 10 years ago that I’d have written a book like this, I’d have laughed. But the culture around it has changed.”
Murchison, who’s also a former international endurance runner, says the book responds to how people’s cycling nutrition is changing: “A lot of riders are reducing fibre and increasing carbohydrate in their diets 48 hours out from competition [to load up on fuel]. If you’re doing that 15 times a year, that’s not a healthy way to live.
“So if you can eat more fruit and veg and wholegrains the rest of the time, it’ll give you a healthier diet overall.”
Alan also says how we’re eating isn’t sustainable. “My job as a chef is not to try and change the world and impact environmental reform, it’s just to get you to think about things differently, and to give you solutions without affecting performance.”
But at its core, Murchison says he’s trying to do with the book what he’s always done with food.
“It goes back to my time working as a chef for the best part of 30 years, where the goal was to make amazing-tasting food, hitting those trigger points of taste, texture and visual appeal.”
Here, he offers five delicious meat-free recipes that’ll keep you fuelled morning, noon and night.
Mango and coconut breakfast bowl
If you’re looking for a sweeter breakfast with more carbs, you can easily replace half the coconut rice milk with pineapple or mango juice.
Serves 1
Ingredients
- 50g (2oz) oats
- 50g (2oz) vegan coconut yoghurt
- 125ml (½ cup) coconut rice milk
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon desiccated coconut
- 2 tablespoons mango and/or pineapple, diced
- 1 teaspoon dried mango
- 1 teaspoon candied pineapple
- 8 cashews, halved
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon chia seeds (for on top)
Instructions
1. Mix together the oats, coconut yoghurt, coconut rice milk, chia seeds and desiccated coconut.
2. Either refrigerate overnight or leave at room temperature for 15 minutes.
3. Stir and add extra liquid if required.
4. Top with the fresh and dried fruits, cashews and maple syrup, and sprinkle some more chia seeds on top.
Tahini banana bread muffins
These sticky and gooey muffins are an absolute winner. They’re pretty robust once cooked, which means they can also be used as ride food. To stuff these muffins, use a plant-based chocolate spread. Almond butter is also very nice.
Makes 12 medium muffins
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas
- 200ml (¾ cup) chocolate soya milk
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 45g (1½oz) tahini
- 200g (7oz) plain flour
- 50g (2oz) cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda olive oil for greasing
- 40g (1½oz) chocolate chips
- 30g (1¼oz) salted peanuts
- 2 tablespoons dried coconut, diced
- 12 teaspoons plant-based chocolate spread
- 1 tablespoon desiccated coconut, for sprinkling
- 2 tablespoons salted peanuts, for sprinkling
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas 3.
2. Put the wet ingredients – the bananas, milk, vinegar, olive oil, maple syrup and tahini – in the bowl of a food processor and blend until smoothish.
3. Add the dry ingredients – the flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon and bicarb.
4. Grease your muffin moulds with a touch of olive oil.
5. Pour the mix into the moulds, then add the chocolate chips, peanuts and coconut.
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool.
7. Once at room temperature, cut each muffin in half horizontally, add a good teaspoon of plant-based chocolate spread as a filling, then reassemble.
8. Sprinkle on some desiccated coconut and peanuts, and store in the fridge for up to three days.
Pearl barley risotto with kale and pine nut pesto
This isn't the typical risotto, but it’s delicious and delivers a high-carb hit. The pesto can be made in advance, works really well as a salad dressing and you can freeze what’s left over.
Serves 3
Ingredients
- 300g (11oz) kale
- 200g (7oz) chopped pine nuts, 50g (2oz) black olives
- 40g (1½oz) green olives
- 40g (1½oz) tahini
- 100ml (½ cup) extra virgin olive oil
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 8 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 300g (11oz) pearl barley
- 1l (4 cups) vegetable stock
- salt and pepper
- 2 medium avocadoes, cut into chunks
- 100g (3½oz) pine nuts, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
Instructions
1. To make the pesto, put the kale, pine nuts, olives, tahini, 100 ml (½ cup) of olive oil and lemon zest into a food processor and blitz until you have a nice chunky paste.
2. To make the pearl barley rice, heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan, add the onion and garlic, and cook over a medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Add the pearl barley and stock, and simmer for 18 to 20 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed and the pearl barley is soft.
4. Remove from the heat, allow to rest for 4 minutes, stir in ¾ of a tablespoon of the kale pesto, correct the seasoning, add the avocado chunks and sprinkle some chopped pine nuts and thyme on top.
Moroccan-style sweet potato and apricot casserole
This low-fat, high-carb, high-protein dish has a cool North African vibe and the flavours remind Murchison of bikepacking around the foothills of Marrakech. Serve with boiled brown rice or couscous and flatbreads. This keeps well and is great the next day.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 mixed peppers, diced
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 2 tablespoons garlic, chopped
- 2 tablespoons ras al hanout
- 2 tablespoons Schwartz Moroccan spice
- 500g (1lb 2oz) sweet potatoes, cut into medium chunks
- 350g (12½oz) cooked chickpeas
- 500g (1lb 2oz) chopped tinned tomatoes
- 100ml (½ cup) vegetable stock
- 100g (3½oz) dried apricots
- salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons flaked almonds
- 1 tablespoon each of fresh mint, parsley and coriander, chopped
- Brown rice or couscous, topped with 1 tablespoon of mixed pumpkin seeds and chopped almonds, or flatbreads as an alternative, to serve
Instructions
1. Add the olive oil to a large non-stick saucepan and sauté the veg for 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and spices, and cook over a medium heat for a further 2 minutes.
3. Add the sweet potatoes and cook for another 2 minutes.
4. Next add the chickpeas, chopped tomatoes, vegetable stock and 50g (5oz) of the dried apricots.
5. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 minutes (or throw into the slow cooker), but don’t cook the potatoes until they are mushy!
6. Correct the seasoning and slice the remaining apricots. At the last minute, add these, the flaked almonds and the fresh herbs.
Cashew tiramisu
Murchison loves devising a plant-based version of a classic such as this, but he advises using good-quality coffee.
You can either make one big dessert dish for sharing or individual portions. Just make sure you have enough layers of coffee-soaked sponge fingers to cut through the richness.
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 350ml (1½ cups) espresso or instant coffee
- 75ml (4½ tablespoons) Amaretto, optional
- 400g (14oz) silken tofu
- 400g (14oz) raw cashews
- 100g (3½oz) coconut oil, melted
- 125g (4oz) icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 18 vegan sponge fingers
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
Instructions
1. If you’ve just made the espresso, allow it to cool and pour into a deep dish with the Amaretto, if you’re using it.
2. Blend the tofu and cashews together to form a smooth paste.
3. Add the coconut oil, icing sugar and vanilla extract, and blend until it all comes together. Set aside.
4. One at a time, dip the sponge fingers into the coffee and then place in a large, flattish dish or individual dessert glasses.
5. Once you have a layer of sponge fingers, spoon in the creamy goodness, making sure you have enough mix left to do at least one or two additional layers, alternating between a layer of sponge fingers and a layer of cream.
6. Refrigerate for at least 90 minutes, but ideally longer.
7. When you’re ready to serve, mix together the instant coffee and cocoa, and dust over the top.
These recipes are extracted from the new cookbook The Cycling Chef: Plant-Powered Performance by Alan Murchison (£22.00, Bloomsbury). Available to buy now
