January 31, 2018
We’re onto month two of 2018, so it’s about time we ask: how’s your New Year’s resolution going? 80% of resolutions fail by February, so we want to help you succeed. For those committed to healthier routines, we’ve sourced inspiration from celebrity chef, Richard Blais. The Top Chef winner not only knows how to whip up delicious and nutritious meals, but has also lost more than 60 pounds over the last ten years with his running regiment.
“I was a chef and I wasn’t in a fitness state of mind until I revamped my plan and started training with my wife. The first race we ran was a 10k. At the end of that I proposed to her as a theme of training for the rest of our lives together,” says Blais.
Now a seasoned runner, Blais recently ran the New York City Marathon on behalf of Room to Read. With two daughters, he knows how incredible it can be to watch your child grow educationally.
"Running for Room to Read [was] just amazing because not every kid gets a great ticket in the lottery of life,” says Blais. “It also helps to know that when you're at mile 24, you're running on behalf of millions of children potentially. It helps to have that responsibility on your shoulders when you're tired at the end of a marathon."
Want to follow Blais’s lead and get active for education? Big change starts with small steps.
All that running is bound to stir up an appetite, so here are two tasty recipes from Richard Blais’s new book, So Good.
SNAP PEAS WITH FETA AND MINT
This simple side dish is popular at one of Blais's restaurants and is a great study in contrasts. The sweet, charred, crunchy snap peas play nicely with the salty, briny, crumbly feta.
SERVES 6
3 cups mayonnaise (see Note)
¼ cup hot paprika
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 pounds snap peas, trimmed
½ cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
Note: To make your own mayonnaise for the aioli, put 2 large egg yolks, the paprika, and the lemon juice in a blender. With the motor running, pour about 4 cups olive oil into the pitcher, blending until the mixture emulsifies to a mayo-like consistency. Season to taste with salt.
Snap Peas with Feta and Mint from So Good by Richard Blais. Copyright © 2017 by Richard Blais and Evan Sung. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
TUNA STEAK TATAKI AND HEIRLOOM TOMATO CRUDO
Despite the relatively long list of ingredients, this is about as easy a tuna first course as you can find. Plus, it showcases really good tuna—served nearly raw yet seared just enough to give the fish a pretty and tasty finish. The Asian hints are just right with the tuna and tomatoes. (For more on choosing the tuna, see the Notes at the end of the recipe.)
SERVES 4
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 teaspoons sesame seeds
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon togarashi (optional)
Kosher salt
4 saku yellowtail tuna blocks, thawed, if necessary
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes (choose the ripest and most appealing tomatoes)
2 tablespoons yuzu juice
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
1 to 2 teaspoons white soy sauce (also called shoyu)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons torn or coarsely chopped fresh green shiso, basil, or cilantro, for garnish
Notes: Any sushi-grade tuna can be used here; ask the fishmonger to cut it into bricks that weigh about 12 ounces each. You can also buy saku blocks, which are part of a sushi chef’s pantry: flash-frozen sushi-grade yellowtail tuna. The blocks weigh between 10 and 14 ounces and are cut so that all are the same size, approximately 6 inches long by 3 inches wide by 1 inch thick.
Tuna Steak Tataki and Heirloom Tomato Crudo excerpted from SO GOOD© 2017 by Richard Blais. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
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