Skratch & Mo's Sea Otter Meal Menu 2022
Racing bikes has long been a part of the Skratch Pathos, even before Skratch Labs was a name in nutrition. Our founder, Dr. Allen Lim, spent ample time on the pro cycling tour, and has worked with athletes for most of his career. Living this experience, he learned that the best athlete care– closely linked to performance– does not require meticulous evaluation of power output or biomechanics (though these are important variables of the sport). Rather, Lim found that if he boiled down athlete care and relations to one simple acronym, he could best cater to their needs and subsequent outcome on the bike. Lim asked athletes to HALT- were they Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired? This rule of thumb acronym made space for talking through sadness and anger or providing a home-cooked meal before hammering on “what the hell happened out there?!”. This encapsulated the breadth of human experience rather than reducing any single athlete to a datapoint; a spot on a podium.
By connecting with the emotional experience occurring in all of our bodies, Dr. Lim had found the magic dust to success (whatever that may look like). Today, Skratch labs has built upon this bedrock offering connection through food and support via emotional intimacy to all who come through our doors, including our athletes. When crunch time rolls around and races are on the horizon, Dr Lim and the Skratch entourage spend countless hours cooking, cleaning, eating, and laughing leading up to the big event. This is exactly what happened at the Sea Otter Classic this year.
Leading up to days of racing, and supporting athlete Mo Wilson, we had some serious planning to do. With the help of Chef and creative director, Ellory Wien, we were able to see an incredible menu through 4 nights of feeding 10 people! Ellory made the menu, wrote the recipes, and ordered all the food- a real unsung hero of the week. Allen and the team then spent the week throwing it all together with blood, sweat, and tears. Okay, maybe just sweat.
Here is what the week of good food and good company looked like (recipes below):
Wednesday
Mediterranean Dinner x10 people
● Seared Salmon with Sundried Tomatoes & Za'atar
● Roasted Cauliflower & Chickpeas with Kale & Lemon Tahini Sauce
● Steamed Quinoa with Olive Oil and Herbs
Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 425. Grab 2 sheet trays and line them with parchment. Cut the cauliflower into florets and put them on the lined sheet tray. Open/drain/wash cans of chickpeas and add them to the trays of cauliflower. Toss with olive oil and salt and put them in the oven for 30- 45 mins. When Cauliflower has some nice color and chickpeas are crispy, pull out of the oven and mix in the kale.
2. Put some water on to boil and cook quinoa covered. Once quinoa is cooked add olive oil, lemon juice, salt, chopped parsley, and zaatar then fluff with forks till mixed and set to the side.
3. In a hot pan sear the fish to get some nice color. Then put on a lined sheet tray and sprinkle zaatar and salt over the fish. Lastly add the sundried tomato on top. Finish fish in the oven till cooked to your liking.
4. To make the tahini sauce take about 1 cup of tahini, 2-3 juiced lemons, 2-3 cups of water, and salt and whisk together. Drizzle the sauce over the cauliflower and kale.
Thursday
Breakfast - simple and delicious, a millennial classic with a twist.
● Veggie Scramble with Zucchini, Spinach, Mushrooms & Goat Cheese
● Crispy Bacon
● Smashed Avocado Toast on English Muffins Shaved Radishes
Asian Fusion Dinner x12 people
● Braised Chicken with Coconut, Miso, Shiitake Mushrooms, Bok Choy & Turmeric
● Braised Shiitake Mushrooms with Bok Choy, Coconut, Miso & Turmeric
● Steamed Sushi Rice with Scallions
● Toppings (Chopped Peanuts, Cilantro, Sambal)
Directions
1. Sear boneless skinless chicken thighs on high heat and put in a hotel pan. Add 2-3 sliced yellow onions, chopped fresh ginger, shiitake mushrooms, and chopped garlic to the pan as well. Mix coconut milk, water, turmeric, and miso paste together in a bowl and pour over everything in the hotel pan.
2. Cover the hotel pan with parchment paper and aluminum and put in a 425 degree oven for 1 ½ hours. Once fully cooked add chopped bok and mix into a pan with 1 more can of coconut milk to cream it up. Taste for seasoning.
3. Cook sushi rice in a rice cooker and once done add coconut oil, salt, and scallions then fluff with a fork.
Friday
Breakfast
● Tortilla Espanola with Aioli
● Pan Con Tomate
● Sauteed Greens with Caramelized Onions
Directions
1. In a hot cast iron skillet drizzle a healthy amount of olive oil (around ½-¾ cup). Caramelize onions and garlic together. Once onions are caramelized add thinly sliced roasted potatoes and gently mix together. Then pour over seasoned whisked eggs and let it simmer over open heat for 3-5 minutes. Then put in a 350 degree oven and let it finish cooking. Once fully cooked and cooled, pop it out of the pan and slice it into cake and garnish it with aioli and chopped parsley.
2. Taka baguette and cut in half length size. Grate fresh tomatoes into a bowl and drain the residual liquid. Add minced garlic, salt, and olive oil. Rub on both sides of the bread and cook in the oven at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
3. Caramelize some onions in a pan and add some hearty green to and cook till done and season.
Mexican Dinner x 30 people
● Braised Carnitas with Pickled Red Onion & Lime with Corn Tortillas
● Cabbage Slaw with Scallions, Shaved Radish & Citrus Vinaigrette
● Beans & Rice with Roasted Zucchini, Spinach & Cilantro Garlic Oil
Directions
1. Rub pork with cumin and salt. In a hot pan sear pork on all sides to get nice browning then move into the hotel pan. In the same browning pan add onions and cook to pick up the yummy flavor (feel free to add some water to deglaze). Add cooked onion to the hotel pan with pork. Then add chopped garlic, lime juice, orange juice, water, and bay leaves. Cover the hotel pan with parchment paper and aluminum foil. Braise in a 250-300 degree oven for 8-12 hours.
2. Mix thinly sliced cabbage with scallions, and radishes. Make citrus vinaigrette with oj, lime juice and olive oil. Mix together thoroughly and serve.
3. Cook rice in a rice cooker or hotel pan. In a small pan, confit garlic. Blend confit garlic, cilantro stems and olive oil in vitamix. Once rice is cooked add drained/washed beans, chopped raw spinach, garlic cilantro oil, and salt. Then fluff with a fork and reheat in the oven for 5-10 minutes.
4. Thinly slice red onions and set to the side. In a pot boil red wine vin, sugar and salt together. Once it comes to a boil add in red onions and turn off heat and let it sit in liquid for 20-30 mins.
Saturday
Breakfast - this was the big race day for Mo, breakfast started 3 hours before the race.
● Steel cut oats with coconut milk, regular milk, maple syrup, salt, blueberries, raspberries, and crushed cashews
● Fried eggs
● Bacon
● Pour over coffee.
Spanish Dinner x12 people
● Braised Pimenton Chicken with Peppers & Olives
● Braised Pimenton Summer Squash with Peppers & Olives
● Roasted Potatoes with Aioli and Herbs
● Sauteed Greens with Caramelized Onions
Directions
1. Sear bone in chicken on high heat to get skin crispy and put into a hotel pan. Add roasted peppers, garlic, sliced yellow onion, pimenton, crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, olives and salt. Cover with parchment and aluminum foil.
Braise in 425 degree oven for 1-1 ½ hours. Uncover for the last 15-20 minutes to get skin crispy again.
2. Cut potatoes and roast in a 425 degree oven for 45 minutes. Commit some garlic with oil and blend in vitamix with mayo and drizzle over roasted potatoes. Garnish with some chopped parsley
3. Caramelize onions and put them into a hotel pan. Add destemmed chopped kale and massage with the onions and salt and finish in the oven for 5 minutes
Beyond these recipes, breakfast was also covered with granola and yogurt, not to mention eggs, oatmeal, and bacon. Lunch teased out to be infinite combinations of leftovers, snacking on samples at the Skratch booth, and hitting the food trucks at the event.
It's not always all about the home-cooked food, and no event in California is complete without going out to compare dumplings, including at our founders’ favorite California restaurant: Din Tai Fung.
