3 Exclusive Recipes for Cyclists from Hayden Groves – Le Col

Male cyclist in long sleeve navy jersey cycling downhill with three circular images of food overlayed

3 Exclusive Recipes for Cyclists

Award-winning chef and dedicated cyclist Hayden Groves has spent his life balancing two great loves: food and the bike. He brings those passions together, documenting a 10,403km ride across the 3 Grand Tour routes; Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España, all to raise money for blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia. Along the way, he draws inspiration from the landscapes, cultures and flavours of each region he rode through to create a vibrant collection of recipes. Here, we share three exclusive recipes from the collection designed to inspire and fuel cyclists on and off the bike.

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Orecchiette, Nduja Sausage with Broad Beans & Ricotta

Puglians pride themselves on their small ear- shaped pasta, Orecchiette — this regional speciality combined with the spicy Calabrian ‘nduja sausage is typical of Puglia’s comforting country cuisine. Traditionally this dish is with cima di rape (turnip tops) which are quite hard to find in your uk local supermarket, so I’ve suggested broad beans, which like Peas are also great as a frozen staple.

Ingredients: Serves 4

600g Fresh broad beans or (200g frozen)
400g orecchiette pasta
30ml extra virgin olive oil
50g ‘nduja sausage (more if you prefer it spicy)
200g ricotta
sea salt and black pepper
50g pecorino Freshly grated for authenticity but you can use parmesan instead

Method

If using fresh in season broad beans- Pod the beans and cook them till tender in boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Chill the beans in cold water and remove the skins. Reserve on a plate. (if using frozen just defrost the broad beans and remove the skin).

Bring a large pan of generously salted water to the boil and cook the pasta to manufacturer’s instructions: as a guide, it should be ready after about 9 minutes.

While the pasta is cooking, in a sauté pan gently warm half the olive oil and the ‘nduja sausage which will begin to break up and melt deliciously into the oil.

Drain the pasta when cooked, reserving 2 tablespoons of cooking water. Add the reserved water to the sauté pan with the sausage creating a quick sauce, then add the pasta and mix well to ensure it is well coated.

Stir in the broad beans and finally dot with the ricotta, briefly shaking to barely ripple it through, season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Divide between warm pasta bowls, drizzle with the remaining extra virgin olive oil and scatter over the grated pecorino, very tasty and all in less than 15 minutes or so…

Circular pasta shape dish with green beans in a white bowl

Tarta de Santiago

Galicia is home to the almond cake Tarta de Santiago, named for St James, the patron saint of Spain. The EU has granted the cake PGI status and therefore only cakes actually made in Galicia can be sold as such. The traditional Santiago cross on the top is of course optional, and in truth I found cutting one out was the hardest part of making this super simple delicious Dairy, Gluten free and protein rich cake.

My good friends Rachel and James who manage the super popular Musette café at the foot of Col de Rates use my recipe, so it may have even fuelled a few of the pros on their early season training efforts up the climb!

Circular cake covered in icing sugar with decorative shape blocked out

Ingredients: Makes one 24 cm cake

250g caster sugar
250g ground almonds
1 pinch cinnamon
zest 1 lemon
zest 1 orange
5 large free-range eggs
25ml dark rum
icing sugar, for dusting

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C

In a bowl mix the sugar, almonds, cinnamon and citrus zests. In a separate bowl crack the eggs and lightly mix with the rum. Add to the almond mixture and combine well.

Line a 24cm cake tin with baking parchment, pour in the cake batter and bake for 35-40 minutes until the surface is toasted and golden. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes before carefully unmoulding and allowing to cool completely on a cooling rack.

For an authentic finish you could make a paper stencil of a Santiago cross (you will find lots of examples in Google images). Place in the centre of the cake, and using a sieve, simply dust the cake top with icing sugar – take care to remove the stencil so as not to smudge the image. But unless you are going to post it on Instagram tagging me in, just simply dust the top of the cake with icing sugar, have a decent size slice with a good coffee and go and smash that Strava segment you’ve had your eye on.

Almond, Cherry and Chocolate Energy Balls

A mash up of two classics, ‘Bakewell tart and black forest’ all in a handy 40g parcel. Cocoa nibs give a pleasing textural crunch and are high in magnesium to support mental wellbeing and high in in copper for energy levels and support immunity, the dried cherries add a tart chewiness where the dates and the oats are great for fast and slow releasing carbs, and then a good hit of protein via the almonds and almond butter.

Ingredients: makes 18 energy balls

150g of porridge oats
100g skinned almonds
250g Pitted Dates
100g almond butter
50 ml shot of espresso
25g Cocoa powder
50g Dried Cherries
25g Cocoa Nibs

Method

Pulse the almonds and Porridge oats together in a food processor, tip into a separate bowl and reserve to one side.

In the same food processor bowl Blend the dates with the espresso, the nut butter and the cocoa powder until smooth, add the reserved chopped nuts and oats, dried cherries and Cocoa nibs and pulse together until the mix starts to come together (you still want the pleasing texture from the nibs and dried cherries so try not to mix too long)Turn out into a bowl and ensure it’s well combined with clean hands divide the mix into even pieces and roll into balls, this mix will make 18 x 40g energy balls, but of course you can do any size you like, smaller or larger.

Reserve in an airtight container in the fridge for two weeks, or if you need a longer shelf life place in the freezer for up to 6 months, they defrost pretty quickly.

Five brown balls of oats and cocoa on a grey plate

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