Cue to ‘cue – Healthy Barbecuing for Runners

You’re out on a run in the late afternoon, almost a kilometre from home, when the first wave hits. Tantalizing aromas of garlic bread and marinated steak tickle your nose. Your empty stomach leaps and you pick up the pace. Your ears fill with the sizzle of vegetables hitting hot metal. You increase your stride. A curl of aroma floats over your neighbour’s fence and grilled corn on the cob sparks your salivary glands into action. Then, just as you open your front door, you catch the classic summer call – a gentle clink of cool glass, raised to cheer another awesome summer. It’s barbecue time.

Forget the 1950s scene where men with slicked hair charred red meat to black bricks and smothered baked potatoes with sour cream. Trade your singlet for an apron, grab the tongs and reach into the fridge for any combination of foods to toss on the barbecue. Whether it’s fish, vegetables, lean meat or even fruit, barbecue cooking is healthy, fast and delicious.

Entirely balanced, low-calorie meals can be made on the grill. Start with a robust protein option like tuna steaks, and use marinades to add flavour to skinless meats and tofu alternatives. A marinade can only tenderize the surface, so score your protein with one-centimetre-deep cuts and store it with the marinade in a re-sealable bag overnight. Use lower-fat marinades with acidic ingredients like lime, lemon juice or balsamic vinegar to break down tough fibres.

Vegetables are a quick, colourful addition to the grill. Cook them over direct medium heat and turn frequently for up to 10 minutes. As grill marks appear on your tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli and mushrooms, they’re ready to eat. Alternate vegetables or protein cubes with fruit, such as pineapple, mango, melon and citrus, on a skewer, or wrap the bunch in tin foil with fresh herbs, such as basil, marjoram or rosemary. Add small nugget potatoes for a replenishing carbohydrate kick, or build a speedy quinoa or bulgur wheat salad with olive oil, tomatoes and feta to round out your meal.

Despite the deliciousness associated with fresh-cooked, fast barbecue foods, cancer is a concern in barbeque cooking. What you choose to grill and how you grill these foods are both important; PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) form in smoke, particularly when fat drips onto a hot grill and HCAs (heterocyclic amines) form on the surface of well-done meat. Both occur when meat is cooked at high temperatures.

To avoid these dangerous compounds yet still reap the benefits of a meal cooked outdoors, make vegetables and fruit the mainstay of your meal and serve with lean meats that cook quickly. Avoid processed meats and reduce portion sizes of high-fat cuts of beef, lamb and pork. Better yet, trim visible fat or choose lean cuts instead to lower your exposure to carcinogens.

With vegetables and fruit high in cell-repairing antioxidants, and protein needed to rebuild quads and calves, a summer barbecue is an ideal post-run meal.

RUNNER’S KITCHEN

RECIPE

Pink Peppercorn Tuna with White Bean Puree and Herbed Olive Oil

By Ryan Jennings

Co-author, with David Steele, of Cooking With Booze and Entertaining With Booze.

Serves 4

1/3 cup (75 mL) extra virgin olive oil

6 green onions chopped (white part only)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (19oz/540 mL) white navy beans

2 tbsp (30 mL) fresh chervil

2 tbsp (30 mL) fresh marjoram

2 tsp (10 mL) fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp (30 mL) pink peppercorns

1 tsp (5 mL) sea salt

2 tbsp (30 mL) dried breadcrumbs

4 6-oz (175g) tuna steaks

1. Heat 1 tbsp (15 mL) of the olive oil in a small saucepan. Add green onions and garlic and sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in beans and liquid and bring to a simmer. Lower heat and continue simmering 5 minutes. Puree bean mixture with a handheld blender until smooth or mash with a potato masher. Cover and keep warm.

2. Meanwhile, mash together chervil and marjoram in mortar and pestle or food processor until fragrant and paste-like. Add 2 Tbsp (30 mL) of the olive oil and blend until smooth; stir in lemon juice and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, place peppercorns inside a clean kitchen towel on top of a heavy board. Crush peppercorns by hitting with a heavy sauté pan until broken. Combine crushed peppercorns with salt and breadcrumbs. Brush tuna steaks with 2 Tbsp (30 mL) of the olive oil and evenly coat with peppercorn mixture.

4. Heat grill to medium-high and sear tuna steaks on each side for 2-4 minutes (for medium rare) or until desired doneness is reached.

5. Divide pureed beans among four plates and top with a piece of tuna. Drizzle with herbed oil and serve.

Nutritional info per serving:

Calories: 508

Carbohydrates: 29 g

Fat: 22 g

Sodium: 645 mg

Fibre: 10 g

Protein: 46 g

SIDE DISH

Grilled pineapple

Ryan Jennings: “Grilled pineapple is one of my favourite things in the summer and is perfect served with any kind of meat, but it would go wonderfully with the tuna as well.”

Ingredients:

1 pineapple

1 tbsp. sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Peel and core pineapple then cut into spears. Mix together sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle spears liberally. Sear pineapple spears on a hot grill for 2 to 3 minutes per side.