Super-chef Jonny Marsh explains pride at Ilkay Gundogan goal, why Prem players celebrate Christmas Eve and Kevin De Bruyne’s favourite dessert
Man City's main man De Bruyne celebrated the birth of his baby with a strawberry-topped cream creation known as Slagroomtaart
WATCHING Ilkay Gundogan score that third goal for Manchester City on Sunday afternoon was extra special.
It was great seeing him get the last few minutes of the brilliant 6-0 Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday too. But I know how much the derby goal would have meant to him, after his injury.
One thing I have noticed working with Premier League footballers is how much injuries hurt them, the mental anguish they suffer and how hard they work to get back.
There’s a great sense of pride in the thought that I have contributed toward getting a player back to fitness with his diet.
The players and clubs do so much work on injury prevention, recovery and sports science but if the food that I prepare and create can help a player get back even a day quicker then it’s great.
There are ways to adapt diets and meals to help aid recovery, simple changes can be made to make a big difference.
Jonny Marsh's Chilli Con Carne Nachos
Ingredients:
Mince
Garlic purée - 2 second squeeze
Onion x1
Tomato purée - 2tbsp
Smoked paprika - 2.5
TbspGround cumin - 1tbsp
Cinnamon stick - 1/2 stick
Passata x1 carton
Beef stock x 3/4 cup
Pack of Nachos
Procedure:
- Cut off florets of broccoli and place in food processor and blitz until broken down and resembles couscous, then heat in microwave for 1min, stirring every 30 seconds
- Fry the beef mince off until a nice colour and drain the excess liquid in sieve
- Add the pan back to the heat with a little bit of oil and add the onion, garlic and sweat for 2 mins, then add the spices
- Add the mince with the tommy purée and sweet for a further 1min
- Add the beef stock and reduce for 2mins on high heat (this means to basically boil the stock away to intensify the flavour, so now you know what they mean when they say this on masterchef)
- Add the passata and leave to simmer for around 15mins
- Serve with nachos
Iron can play a big role as it helps with red blood cells that help with energy and strength.
You can get extra iron in green veg, lentils, beans, nuts and some dried fruits so a diet can be adapted to get those things in when needed.
There are times when the sports scientist or nutritionist at a club will message me to say a player needs some more of this or less of that, it happens more and more.
I have never seen professionalism like it with these players and it makes my job easier because they are willing to do and try anything to get back playing for the fans.
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With December and the festive period approaching I have to plan for a serious carb increase because of the sheer amount of games and constant need for energy.
Some players are playing three-games-a-week so they need an almost constant intake of carbs to be able to do it.
Christmas dinner for me is just about portion control. For some reason in England we always try to do too much, three plates piled on to one mountain of food and swimming gravy!
A lot of players celebrate on Christmas Eve so Christmas day isn’t as heavy and for Boxing Day they are fine.
We have tricks to keep it healthy; flour can crisp potatoes up instead of oil, steam veg instead of boiling. But for a lot of people this is their favourite meal of the year so I want them to enjoy it.
One player I know who enjoyed a specific recent meal is Kevin De Bruyne.
To celebrate the recent birth of his second baby, I made him his favourite dessert.
It’s a cream cake called a Slagroomtaart, something we dont tend to make here in the UK but it's actually very nice.
I like researching different types of food, from different countries that players might struggle to get over here.
Often the best way is not to plan for a day of studying, but if I am looking up one specific recipe I can often end up getting carried away and spending 90 minutes on loads. You never stop learning.