Sahwasdee khrap! Have you eaten?
This week’s Fitness & Thinking Fridays is brought to you from an ice cool coffee shop just off Bangkok’s Khao San road. Let’s gooooo!
I know it’ll be a while since I have European cheeses again, so I thought I’d live vicariously through yas with a gluten-free pizza-esque that Beth and I cooked last week and I’ll introduce you to Sarah and what motivated her to try something different when it cam to her health and fitness.
Polenta “not a pizza” pizza
For foodies who struggle with bread, finding an alternative that doesn’t compromise on taste can be challenging. Enter the polenta-based pizza, a delicious, gluten-free option inspired by Ottolenghi. This recipe delivers a crispy, golden crust that pairs perfectly with your favourite toppings.
We were actually blown away by how good this was, and how much better it was the next day cold!
Ingredients
300g instant polenta
100g unsalted butter, cubed
200g feta cheese, crumbled
600ml whole milk
50g plain flour
400g cherry tomatoes, halved
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons za’atar
Fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Prepare the polenta: Bring 1.2 litres of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and slowly pour in the polenta, whisking constantly. Cook for 2-3 minutes until thick. Remove from heat, stir in half the butter, and season to taste.
Form the crust: Spread the polenta evenly onto a greased baking sheet, forming a thin layer. Allow it to cool and set for about 30 minutes.
Prepare the bechamel: In a separate saucepan, melt the remaining butter over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the milk until smooth. Cook for another 5 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in half the feta. Season to taste.
Bake the polenta: Preheat your oven to 220°C. Spread the bechamel sauce over the cooled polenta. Arrange the cherry tomatoes on top, cut side up, and sprinkle with za’atar. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Bake the pizza: Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and the edges of the polenta are crisp.
Garnish and serve: Remove the pizza from the oven and let it cool slightly. Garnish with fresh basil leaves before slicing and serving.
Enjoy!
Reading
Recipe adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's "Baked Polenta with Feta, Bechamel, and Za'atar Tomatoes." Retrieved from Ottolenghi's website on July 12, 2024.
Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter. If you’ve made it this far, I reckon you’ll enjoy what we serve up in every issue. So, if you’ve not already, hit subscribe, tell a friend and keep on trucking! I appreciate you!
What pushed Sarah to do things differently?
I know it takes an amount to say, you know what, I’m not where I want to be right now, but not many people will reach out to someone else to get them to where they think they might want to go. Instead, they’ll attempt to go it alone as I did – numerous times – hoping that they’ll end up somewhere different this go around…
Until I worked with a coach, my “results” were the kind that didn’t stick around. Until I worked with a coach, I had no idea what I was capable of. Until I worked with a coach, I didn’t understand that the goals I had were actually based on what other people wanted rather than what I wanted.
When Sarah saw other people in her gym classes making more progress quicker with PTs, that’s when she decided she’d try something different.
And I’m glad she did!
Within months she’d dropped 11kg and, one year on, had lost double digits inches of fat from around her hips, waist and legs while building strength and tone. For Sarah, this was obviously a nice to have, alongside the life changing increases in energy and mobility we noticed, as well as the confidence to do effective movements in a busy gym on her own steam.
Not everybody’s journey is the same but a lot of what contributes to success that hangs around is – namely consistency, purpose and, over time, positive habit formation. When you start to subconsciously do the things that are good for your goals, you’ll be a lot closer to where you want to be: roughly somewhere between counting your chickens before they hatch and beating yourself up for not being where you think you ought to be…
Wait. Is that Buddhism?!
And we’re off at Wat Arun! Sadly those harem pants lasted exactly three and three quarter hours: if you want Thai-trouser splitting legs, you know who to call!
Don’t you worry, there’s, ahem, polenta more of those travel bits to come.
Much love and I’ll see yas in the next one!
Jack x