This recipe designed for the Olympic Games by a starred chef surprises with its ingredients and textures.
Three chefs were selected to offer the athletes of the Paris Olympic Games recipes that would represent French gastronomy. For two and a half years, they worked in collaboration with nutritionists, sports doctors, physical trainers and federations to develop the dishes that they would serve to the athletes, because nutritional and energy needs are not the same depending on the disciplines.
With his ten recipes selected to feed athletes, the 3-star chef Alexandre Mazzia, based in Marseille, will offer athletes the chance to “enjoy and eat something totally different”, he told AFP. And it’s a success! The main ingredient in one of his recipes, with an original look, will be chickpeas, “assembled like hummus, very soft, very light”, without fat, with “dots of peas decorated all around to have different textures”, to which are added smoked beetroot which “will bring a deliciousness” with “its residual cooking sugar”, as well as a lemon ointment which will bring a little acidity. Olympic rings of cereal bread and flax bread will top it all off to bring structure and texture to the plate. And finally, the starred chef adds a sage flower “typical of our territory” and all around the piece, presented like a Chantilly, smoked fish milk garnished with mixed coriander and dill oil, and lightly spicy smoked pepper.
This dish by Alexandre Mazzia will be presented throughout the Olympic Games, every Sunday and Monday at the entrance to the Olympic Village, alongside other signature dishes. The 3-star chef based in Marseille will finally be able to combine his two passions for the Olympic Games: sport and cooking. Indeed, Alexandre Mazzia is a former professional basketball player. At 1.92 metres tall, he played second shooting guard. “Basketball was very important at the beginning because I came from Africa, at the age of 15, so it’s true that I had a significant social break. I had no reference points. Team sports helped me straight away, there were siblings. I played up to National 1, but I was lucky enough to be able to continue cooking,” he confided to Le Bonbon.
Two other chefs, Amandine Chaignot and Akrame Benallal, will accompany him in this great adventure. “We have represented our territory through these recipes: seafood, the joyful vegetables of our regions and also borrowings” from what we are. “Tapioca, the burnt/smoked side, the gentle roasting, slightly spicy. All of these are elements that are part of my DNA,” he added to Bonbon.