WHEN HE WAS mistaken for an assistant chef while working in a kitchen in his early twenties, Rory Kelly decided to go along with it.
“It was a full 3 weeks before the boss realised I wasn’t the new chef. I guess I must have been doing something right because instead of firing me she offered me a permanent job,” recalls Rory, who spent the next three years training as a chef.
These days, Rory works in software development, but he keeps his love of food alive in his home kitchen, cooking up food to sustain him through his working day – and his workouts:
I weight train in the gym four or five times a week so nutrition is always at the front of my mind. I’m hyper-conscious about it, but I don’t take it to the extreme levels of only eating turkey burgers. That’s just depressing.
Here are some of Rory’s favourite homemade dishes of late, combining essential nutrients and great taste. You can follow him on Instagram for more updates, too.
1. Spicy salmon rogan josh: My go-to midweek meal is a very tasty and firey Indian dish with salmon, crunchy greens and wholegrain rice. It has everything needed in terms of nutritional balance: proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
2. Stuffed squash with beans and feta: This is a great pre-workout meal but it tastes killer as well. At the end of the day my food is my fuel and I need to ensure that my body gets the best fuel possible in order to do all the things I do.
3. Wholewheat pasta with beef and chorizo sauce: A meal like this can sustain an intense workout session thanks to all the slow-release carbohydrates in the pasta. The protein sauce consists of lean minced beef, chorizo and a lot of shredded spinach which are fried together in olive oil, I then drain off about 60% of the fat, add in some tomato passata and a lot of garlic.
4. Homemade fried chicken: If it’s Saturday night and there’s frying happening in my kitchen then it’s most likely this dish. This was my way of creating a healthy version of classic fast food using fresh buttermilk, garden herbs and my Dad’s own free range chicken.
5. Gambas with spiced tomato and lime: This is one of my favourite dishes to make at home. When cooking, I try to be adventurous and take risks- there really are no right or wrong answers with food.
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