Messi's favourite recipe: Roasted chicken with root vegetables

Ingredients

• 30 g olive oil
• Salt
• 4 smashed garlic cloves
• 1 onion 1 bunch of carrots (peeled and cut on the base)
• 1 leek, rinsed and cut into large cubes
• 700-800 g quartered potatoes
• 4 chicken thighs
• Fresh thyme

Even the simplest dishes can help you to stay healthy during confinement. We have prepared some of the favourite recipes from FC Barcelona's athletes and nutrition experts for you, adapting them to serve you in this very special situation, and to fill you with energy and good cheer.

A 10 for you every time you serve it at your table

Suitable for the main meal or dinner, this is a recipe designed for cooks who are beginners, and that pleases all palates. Above all, it provides us with all the nutrients necessary for a balanced diet: protein from lean meat; energy from potatoes; and the minerals and vitamins from the vegetables that accompany it as a garnish.

How this recipe nourishes you

• Gives you power = complex carbohydrates from potatoes.
• Improves your agility and coordination = very powerful antioxidants of thyme + leek and onion with antimicrobial action that are good for our defences + carrot that provides carotenes, the antioxidants that take care of your skin.
• You gain strength = complete protein from chicken with all the essential amino acids that maintain your muscle mass.

Adapt it to your goal

If your protein needs are higher, add one more piece of chicken. And if you also need more energy having conducted an intense training session at home, put more potatoes on your plate.

And also to your palate

Here, spices and aromatic herbs can give you endless flavours to ensure this roast chicken is cooked to your liking. Try rosemary, which has plenty of antioxidants, or turmeric and pepper to add anti-inflammatory action.

Cook it with fewer calories

Make sure you remove the skin from the chicken - this is where there the most unhealthy fat is found. Substitute the potatoes for pumpkin by cutting it in the same way ... they are delicious in the oven!

And so that "your technique is perfect ..."

Pay special attention that the potatoes are not roasted too much, and that they are not too brown on the outside. That could produce undesirable substances that would make the recipe lose its properties, meaning that your plate is no longer a 10!

Keep taking care of yourself. We want to be with you now, but also upon your return.

For those who can't wait for our next recipe, you can discover more healthy meals on the website Eat Like a Pro:

* This article was written by Maria Antonia Lizarraga and Mireia Porta.