Risottos, or I should say &lsquo;risotti&rsquo;, are a terrific food for athletes and one of my favourite dishes. They are easy to prepare, and versatile &ndash; you can use a wide variety of ingredients to flavour them and to add protein, for example seafood. The main ingredient, rice, is a good carbohydrate source. And they are tasty and nourishing, as a proper meal after a hard training session, or in small amounts as a snack. I have been known to take leftover risotto in a Tupperware box to training to eat straight afterwards! 
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Distance runner and Asics ambassador Mara Yamauchi</div>
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Life has been turned upside down this spring by the coronavirus. Northern Italy, including Piedmont, the home of risotto, was one of the areas worst affected by this pandemic. In my own mind, northern Italy means hiking in beautiful mountains, delicious food, and trail running. So I remember watching aghast when alarming scenes from Piedmont&rsquo;s hospitals were on our TV screens. So this week&rsquo;s recipe is a show of solidarity for Italy and Piedmont. I just can&rsquo;t wait to go back to northern Italy, when it is safe to do so. In the meantime, we can enjoy one of its many delicious culinary inventions.
Risotti are typically made with sticky rice varieties, for example Arborio. But in this recipe I am diverging a bit from tradition and using barley grains instead of rice, which give it a crunchy and chewy texture. Interestingly, the combination of rice and protein such as meat, fish or cheese, is popular around the world, for example Korean Bibimbap, Indonesian Nasi Goreng and Spanish Paella. With some good flavours, it&rsquo;s a winning combination.
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<h3>Mushroom and bacon risotto (risotto funghi e pancetta)</h3>
Ingredients 1 small onion 30g dried mushrooms (ideally porcini) 200g fresh mushrooms, ideally a variety eg shiitake, maitake, oyster, sliced 50g pancetta, chopped into small cubes 250g barley Approx 700ml vegetable stock made from a cube 25g butter 50g parmesan cheese, grated 2 tablespoons olive oil
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 Method &bull; Pour 500ml of boiling water over the dried mushrooms, leave to soak for 20 mins, then drain, keeping the liquid.
&bull; Make your vegetable stock according to the cube instructions.
&bull; Finely chop the onion and fry for five minutes in the olive oil. Add the pancetta and all the mushrooms and continue frying, stirring regularly, until the fresh mushrooms have softened.
&bull; Add the barley and fry for two minutes. Add half the mushroom stock and stir well.
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&bull; When the liquid has been absorbed, add the other half and continue stirring. Continue this process with the vegetable stock until the barley is cooked but still a little crunchy or &lsquo;al dente&rsquo;.
&bull; Finally, add the butter and half the grated cheese, salt and pepper to taste, and mix well. Place on dishes to serve and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
 (Many recipes call for white wine to be used as part of the liquid that you add &ndash; I have just used mushroom and vegetable stock in this recipe. Adding a little cream instead of butter at the end is another variation.)
 Mara Yamauchi for World Athletics

Risottos, or I should say ‘risotti’, are a terrific food for athletes and one of my favourite dishes.

Athletics@Home – risotto funghi e pancetta

Sushi is the most exquisite, sophisticated and beautiful art, made into food form.
Always delicate, colourful, and carefully presented, it is like a lifelong artisan&rsquo;s craft. The famous sushi chefs of Japan are indeed like craftsmen, who have honed their skills over a lifetime with patience and dedication. But sushi is also delicious &ndash; light yet quite filling, with an interesting mixture of being sharp and a little sweet.
Because I love cooking, when I lived in Japan as an athlete, I tried to learn Japanese cooking. Of course that included sushi &ndash; perhaps the most well-known of all Japanese foods. But I often heard people say that sushi is something you eat out, not at home. This is because sushi made by properly-trained chefs is so delicious, and it&rsquo;s difficult, at home, to produce sushi that is anywhere near as tasty and varied. This is a fair point and it&rsquo;s mostly true. But I also think it&rsquo;s a bit of a shame because it discourages ordinary folk from having a go and learning how to make it. So this week ordinary me is making sushi! 
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Distance runner and Asics ambassador Mara Yamauchi</div>
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I&rsquo;m keeping it simple &ndash; maki-zushi with (mostly) readily available ingredients (traditional filling ingredients like takuwan, shiitake and kampyo aren&rsquo;t widely sold outside Japan so I have used more common ingredients). My sushi will never reach the dizzy heights of sushi made by a Japanese person, let alone a sushi chef. But it is fun to learn, and it is possible to make a basic but tasty version of this art-form at home.
Making it at home will hopefully whet your appetite for trying proper, authentically-made sushi in Japan. So if you&rsquo;re planning a trip to Tokyo for the Olympics next year, make sure eating sushi is on your to-do list!
Sushi is best eaten on the day it is made. The rice hardens up after that, as it does if you refrigerate sushi, which is a definite no-no. So set aside enough time to make your sushi feast and then enjoy the fruits of your labours soon afterwards.
<h3>Maki-zushi</h3>
Ingredients Nori sheets White sticky rice 480g, water 600ml Rice vinegar 4 tablespoons, salt 1.5 teaspoons, sugar 1 tablespoon Wasabi paste, sushi ginger, soy sauce Fillings: cucumber, tuna mayo, ham, smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado, asparagus, carrots. All &lsquo;long&rsquo; items cut into thin strips.
Kit: a bamboo rolling mat
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/1476927e-ceef-49ac-aab4-2b7968e2b5b7.jpg?cachebuster=8e7b33dc-714b-4ecd-9016-0e1d76c9ac0c" alt="Sushi fillings" width="600" height="400" />
 Method Start by making vinegared sushi rice. Mix together the vinegar, sugar and salt. Rinse the rice in a little cold water in a saucepan by stirring the rice vigorously with your hand and pouring off the starchy water. Repeat 3-4 times until the water runs clear. Add 600ml water and leave for 60 minutes. Then cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes bringing it to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and leave to stand with the lid on for 10 minutes. (Ideally a piece of kombu seaweed should be added to the rice and removed just before boiling point, but if you cannot find kombu, just boil the rice without it).
Empty the cooked rice on to a large clean tray (ideally a wooden &lsquo;sushi-oke&rsquo; bowl but these are hard to come by), spreading it out, and sprinkle the vinegar mixture over it. &lsquo;Cut&rsquo; through it using a spatula. Cool the rice by fanning it.
Now you can start rolling. Cover your rolling mat in cling film. Place one sheet of nori on it, shiny side down. Cover the nori with a thin layer of rice, leaving a gap at the top. Rinse your hands in cold water frequently to stop the rice from sticking. Add small amounts of your fillings along the length of the nori.
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Tucking the fillings in with your hands as you go, roll the nori away from you, giving it a good squeeze at the end to make it compact. Using a very sharp knife, slice off the ends of the roll and discard, then slice your roll into bite-sized pieces.
Arrange on a large plate. Mix a little wasabi with your soy sauce on a small dipping plate, and enjoy your maki-zushi with sushi ginger.
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Sushi is the most exquisite, sophisticated and beautiful art, made into food form.

Athletics@Home - sushi

High summer is nearly upon us in the UK, from where I am writing, and nothing heralds its arrival quite like the flowers of the elder tree.
Delicate, pretty and fragrant, the tiny flowers grow together in large, flat clumps which can be as wide as dinner plates. Elder trees grow prolifically in temperate regions all over the world. When their flowers are fully open, their fresh, light and summery scent is unmistakeable.
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The arrival of high summer also means returning from training gasping with thirst! When your mouth is parched dry and you can&rsquo;t get hold of an icy-cold drink fast enough, elderflower cordial is the answer.
I am always trying to include seasonal and local foods in my cooking, and making cordial with freshly foraged flowers ticks both these boxes. The only downside of this cordial is that it includes a large amount of the dreaded white stuff: sugar. However, you only need a tiny amount of cordial diluted with lots of water to make a refreshing drink, and I reckon it&rsquo;s better than drinking processed, shop-bought drinks which may include all sorts of artificial ingredients as well as sugar.
Athletes aside, this drink is perfect for fans, spectators and officials of our sport when they&rsquo;re spending a long day at the track on a hot day. 
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Distance runner and Asics ambassador Mara Yamauchi</div>
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The most common elderflowers are creamy yellow, and make a cordial with a similar colour. But their darker cousin, the &lsquo;Black Lace&rsquo; elder, makes gorgeous peachy-pink cordial. These tend not to grow wild, so I have &lsquo;borrowed&rsquo; some flowers from my neighbours, Peter and Val Lowman. Peter was a mentor for the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, and helped me when I retired from elite competition to forge a new life after sport. Both Peter and Val spend their retirement racing Ironman triathlon &ndash; amazing!
The elderflower season is just getting going in the northern hemisphere, so if you fancy making this cordial, the next few weeks are the perfect opportunity to give it a try. If you&rsquo;re even more adventurous, elderflowers can also be made into delicious tempura and the flower buds into pickles.
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<h3>Elderflower cordial</h3>
Ingredients 10 large elderflower heads (pick when just open and full of pollen) 900g granulated sugar 500ml water 40g citric acid (a preservative, can be found in pharmacies or health food shops) 1 lemon
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Method &bull; Trim the stalks and leaves from the flower heads and carefully remove any insects or debris. Do not wash them as this washes off all the pollen. Place in a large bowl.
&bull; Slowly heat the sugar and water in a large saucepan until the sugar dissolves. As it reaches the boil, turn off the heat and stir in the citric acid. Allow the mixture to cool slightly and pour over the flower heads.
&bull; Grate the zest off the lemon and cut the lemon into small pieces, then add to the flower mixture. Stir gently and leave covered in a cool, dark place for 24 hours.
&bull; Strain the mixture through a piece of muslin over a sieve, and pour into sterilised bottles. It keeps well in the fridge for a few weeks.
&bull; Dilute a small amount with cold water to serve, adding ice and mint leaves as optional extras.
 Mara Yamauchi for World Athletics

High summer is nearly upon us in the UK, from where I am writing, and nothing heralds its arrival quite like the flowers of the elder tree.

Athletics@Home – refreshing elderflower cordial

If you&rsquo;re training hard and are physically active, chances are you will be hungry often! Running a lot of miles and being starving seem to go together. Sometimes you just can&rsquo;t wait till the next meal, or need to eat something straight after training to help with recovery. Having snacks to hand is the answer, but many snacks you can buy just aren&rsquo;t very nutritious &ndash; they might be highly-processed, low in fibre or have excessively high sugar in them.
My answer to this dilemma is home-made granola. Like <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/be-active/lifestyle/healthy-cake-recipes-mara-yamauchi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my healthy cakes</a> from a few weeks back, you can adapt the recipe by substituting or adding in as many nutritious ingredients as possible. The fundamentals of granola &ndash; nuts, seeds, dried fruit and wholegrains &ndash; are sound ingredients, so you can make a healthy, nutritious version by using your imagination and creativity. 
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Distance runner and Asics ambassador Mara Yamauchi</div>
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How you eat granola, on top of what you put in it, is another way to increase the variety in your diet. Of course it is traditionally a breakfast food, but I use it in all sorts of ways: as a night-time quick snack if I am hungry; sprinkled on fruit compote with yoghurt; or taken on trips away as portable emergency rations in a sealable plastic bag! 
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 The basic recipe I use is below, but here are some examples of other ingredients you can use as substitutes to ring the changes and add variety.
&bull; Oil: coconut is the best but you could also use olive, sunflower or vegetable oil.
&bull; Grains: oats are the simplest; jumbo rather than small oats give better texture. Rye, spelt, and barley are good alternatives. It&rsquo;s even better to mix your grains.
&bull; Nuts: today I have used almonds with pecans &ndash; a bit expensive but a special treat! Walnuts, cashews and pistachios work well too.
&bull; Seeds: I always use mixed seeds to increase the variety, but if you want one type, pumpkin are the best for me. Sunflower and sesame are alternatives.
&bull; Dried fruit: to go with the pecans, I have used cranberries today. But I have successfully used raisins, sultanas, dates, figs, and apricots. To make it a bit exotic you could use pineapple, mango, papaya or even ginger.
&bull; Honey: maple or agave syrup are the best substitutes. The dried fruit also gives the granola sweetness so you can reduce this sweetener to taste.
&bull; Extras: I often add spoonfuls of coconut flakes, wheatgerm, oatbran, linseeds or bran. These aren&rsquo;t in the recipe but I just add them to increase the nutritional value. 
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 Ingredients 40g coconut oil 120ml honey (this makes it too sweet so I always reduce this amount by about half) 180g jumbo rolled oats 180g another type of grain (I was not able to buy another type under lockdown shopping, so used oats again) 200g nuts, roughly chopped 100g seeds 1 egg white 100g dried fruit
Method &bull; Line a baking tray with baking paper. Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Heat the oil and honey gently in a saucepan until melted. Allow to cool slightly.
&bull; Mix all the other ingredients except the dried fruit in a large bowl, add the oil and honey and mix well.
&bull; Whip the egg whites separately and stir them into the mixture too. Spread out on your baking tray and bake for about 40 minutes until golden brown.
&bull; Stir the mixture after 20 minutes, and add the dried fruit and stir again after 30 minutes.
&bull; Allow to cool completely and then store in an air-tight container. Enjoy!
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/7f04a112-8916-44bd-b262-83614686e7b2.jpg?cachebuster=182f7c35-9e15-4eb5-aa76-320b57e19ed2" alt="" width="600" height="400" />
 Mara Yamauchi for World Athletics

If you’re training hard and are physically active, chances are you will be hungry often!

Athletics@Home - crunchy granola

Mara Yamauchi finished sixth in the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, won the 2008 Osaka International Women's Marathon, and earned the 10,000m bronze medal at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/ed88df49-9246-4842-a978-362cf59837d3.jpg?cachebuster=0ec4047f-1194-4526-91fe-cd68b8a64d52" alt="Mara Yamauchi" width="600" height="400" />
She retired in 2013 and now works as a coach, commentator and speaker. And to help pass the time while in lockdown, Yamauchi has focused on one of her other passions: cooking. Here are two of her recipes for healthy bakes. 
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 We are living in extraordinary times, but as runners we are very lucky that we can still do the sport we love. Swimmers, gymnasts and athletes in other sports aren&rsquo;t so fortunate. We&rsquo;ve lost some of the best things in our sport &ndash; races to work towards, the joy of running with friends, and top-class competition to inspire us. But this lockdown also brings positives and opportunities that we won&rsquo;t have again, like running without the pressure of looming races, and plenty of time at home to work on strength and conditioning.
This is the ideal time to take a long hard look at what you&rsquo;re doing on all the things which support your running, including nutrition. I&rsquo;ve decided to use this lockdown to raise my game on what I&rsquo;m eating and drinking &ndash; reducing coffee intake, trying new recipes, and aiming for 10-a-day on fruit and vegetables.
In the next few weeks, I&rsquo;ll be bringing you some ideas and recipes from my years as an elite athlete, when I was fuelling 100+ miles per week. Now I&rsquo;m 46, well into retirement and much slower than I used to be&hellip;but we can all, at any age or stage in life, fuel ourselves like elite athletes. Ready for the ride? Here we go!
First up &ndash; healthy, nutritious, high-fibre snacks. Know the feeling when you have to go out for a run soon, but you&rsquo;re absolutely starving? I&rsquo;ve been there many times. You can&rsquo;t eat much, because there&rsquo;s no time for digestion. But you need something, or the world will end. My answer to this is snacks based on simple banana bread recipes, but substituting as many of the ingredients as you can to make them healthy &ndash; high-fibre, low GI, and nutrient-rich. Here are two examples. 
<h3>Sweet potato bread</h3>
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/9ed2b7f9-b8dc-452b-816f-b624a9d6c913.jpg?cachebuster=81c99ced-92d2-43ea-b2ba-ce6922973779" alt="Sweet potato bread" width="600" height="400" />
Ingredients 250g boiled &amp; mashed sweet potato 140g sugar (use honey/mashed dates instead) 140g butter* 2 eggs 140g plain flour (use wholemeal; can substitute with other flours) 50g raisins (optional - if you use these, reduce the amount of sugar/honey) Handful of chopped nuts/seeds/bran/wheatgerm (not in recipe but I add to improve nutrient &amp; fibre content)
* I don&rsquo;t follow the advice that saturated fats are all bad, so I use butter but you can substitute with vegetable oil.
Method &bull; Mix sweet potato, butter/oil and sugar/honey/mashed dates and beat well.
&bull; Add other ingredients and mix well.
&bull; Pour into greased/lined loaf tin and cook at 180 degrees for about 45 mins.
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<h3>Peanut butter blondies</h3>
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/4b762e75-7470-414a-9907-0e9caf8aaf3a.jpg?cachebuster=cb40ac40-a880-4658-8c8c-c0670a868301" alt="Peanut butter blondies" width="600" height="400" />
Ingredients 2 large tablespoons peanut butter 140g sugar (use honey/mashed dates instead) 100g butter/oil 140g ground almonds (or flour, ideally wholemeal) 2 eggs
As above, add small amounts of anything nutritious eg seeds, dried fruit, bran, wheatgerm
Method &bull; Mix everything together, starting with peanut butter, butter/oil and sugar/honey/mashed dates.
&bull; Cook at 180 degrees for 40-50 mins.
 I always slice and freeze healthy snacks, so I can quickly microwave a slice before runs when I need to. Variety is important in what we eat to ensure we get all the micro-nutrients (vitamins and minerals) that we need. So try substituting the sweet potato/peanut butter with things like mashed pumpkin, cashew nut butter, or grated courgettes or beetroots. Enjoy!

Mara Yamauchi finished sixth in the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, won the 2008 Osaka International Women's Marathon, and earned the 10,000m bronze medal at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

Athletics@Home – risotto funghi e pancetta

Athletics@Home - sushi

Athletics@Home – refreshing elderflower cordial

Athletics@Home - crunchy granola

Recipe: healthy cakes