This Week in Bento: November 2 - 6, 2010

Hi there, bento lovers!  It's been a rough week for me, but I had some mighty fine bentos to keep me going!  I made some old favorites, and found some new favorite recipes as well.  Here we go...

November 2

The other day Steve and I ordered some food from our favorite local Chinese place, Friendship Chinese.  I tried out their spicy garlic chicken dish, which they describe as their version of Kung Pao chicken, with an extra spicy kick!  Well, as always, the food was great, and I had some leftovers to include in my bento lunch.  Steve made some veggie fried rice from the leftover takeout rice, so I tucked that in the bento as well.  I made a spicy red cabbage slaw and seasoned some edamame with nanami togarashi, and garnished the lunch with mizuna.  A lunch with a lot of spice... just as I like it!

November 3

Here's one of the "old favorites" I was talking about: Grilled salmon topped with a three-olive tapenade.  I first made it back in August, and posted the recipe for the tapenade too if you want to try it out.  It's so good on the salmon, but it's suited for all sorts of things (I've been eating the leftovers with pita crackers for a snack)!  You can barely see it, but beneath the salmon is some tasty pearl couscous.  I love Greek salads, and this seemed like the perfect time to make one. It has cucumbers, tomatoes, red pepper, red onion and feta cheese, and the mini bottle holds a creamy lemon vinaigrette I whipped up.  Finally, in the back there, are blueberries, dates, and pistachios.

November 4

Here we have a sort of "His & Hers" bento thing going on.  I took some delicious filet mignon leftovers and made open-faced sandwiches: toasted baguette, black pepper toscano cheese, steak, and mizuna.  Steve spotted the mizuna at the farmers market last weekend (the last market of the season) and was intrigued.  I'd heard of it but never eaten it, so we bought a bunch of it and really enjoyed it throughout the week.  It's a lively green with a peppery, almost horseradish-y flavor.  It was perfect on the sandwiches, which were sooooo tasty.  With it there's garlic mashed potatoes, dates, and for me, blueberries.

By the way, we like our steak rare (if you couldn't tell!) ^_^  When it's cooked that way it's always a shame to reheat it and lose that nice pink center, so these sandwiches were the perfect way to enjoy the leftovers!

November 5

I was all excited to say that this was a vegan bento, but then I realized the furikake over the rice has shaved bonito in it...damn!  Pretty close though I guess, especially when you see it right after those vividly pink steak slices!  Anyway, we've got the rice with the delicious, but not vegan, wasabi fume furikake.  The grilled red pepper and spring onions are topped with a spicy peanut sauce, inspired by Just Bento's pan-roasted red pepper and leeks with peanut sauce.  The last of the blueberries made a lovely little dessert for this delicious and satisfying little lunch (although I'm still bummed that I can't call it vegan!)

November 6

Here's another pair of "His & Hers" bento lunches!  A few months ago I saw this mochiko chicken bento over at Not A Brown Bag.  Mochiko chicken is a Hawaiian dish of chicken flavored by a savory soy marinade, coated in mochiko flour, and fried up.  I'd never had it before, but was intrigued.  Mils got the recipe from Debra over at Hapa Bento, which is for a baked version.  I was all for trying out the chicken, especially without the extra calories (not to mention mess) involved in deep-frying.  Well, the chicken was absolutely fantastic, and we had it for dinner with black rice.  I picked up a rutabaga at the farmers market as well, since I'd never tried one before, along with some "Easter egg" radishes.  I tossed them in olive oil and roasted them with some minced ginger, and finished with soy sauce and a little seasoning.  I also sautéed the rest of the mizuna with garlic and fish sauce, and it all came together for a great meal, which in turn made some tasty (and colorful) bentos!

Well that's it for this week, kids.  Hope everyone enjoyed that extra hour of sleep last night (I know I did!).  Have a great week, stay warm, and make lots of tasty bentos! ^_^