American Bento

Good morning!  I'm happy and chipper because for a second day in a row, I got to sleep in and have a leisurely morning (getting up at 5:30 seems like sleeping in to 10 right now). 

So, last night I prepared two bentos from dinner leftovers.  Dinner was:

This was recycled into a bento with some additions.  All told, bentos were made and cooling on the kitchen counter by 7:30pm; dishes were done at that point too.  While the bentos were cooling, the family played games and hung out - not a bad deal at all.


Layer 1:  The first course is actually pretty simple.  As we were making a salad to go with dinner, I sliced veggies for the bento.  So, here we have cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, and a butterfly cut from green pepper.  I also added a pinwheel sandwich of black forest ham, tomatoes, cucumbers, and mayo on a flat bread.  Between the two bentos, I used half a pinwheel roll, so I have enough for another day - easily.  I just thin sliced veggies and threw together the pinwheel as I was doing the other veg.  DH commented that he likes the lemon cake without the crunchy topping, so here it is served as dessert.  I added a lot of yellow and orange to this layer - and didn't notice until now.  There's orange slices, pineapple, and a strawberry. 

Layer 2: So here's the main course.  The leftover steak from dinner is thin sliced.  I've added some coleslaw (that I made over the weekend), sautéed onions and mushrooms (this I made specially for the bento), and as I was making potatoes for dinner, I added a few little ones for the bento. 

I think the end result today is rather pretty.  There's lots of color, variety of texture and flavor, and while dinner is refeatured, it's presented differently and side dishes are changed up. 

Portions are pretty small here.  I think there's about 2 oz (57 g) of steak, 1/4 cup of mushrooms and onions, the same quantity of coleslaw (if that), and 1.5 small potatoes.  That's one of the things I love about bentos: the tiny bits of leftovers that don't seem like they're enough to keep turn into meal.  Even layer 1 contains small portions.  There's 1/4 sandwich, 2 mini carrots, a few slices of cucumber, and some tomato.  The piece of green pepper is almost two small to mention.  Dessert is 1/4 of a small orange, 1/4 of a normal slice of cake, a single strawberry, and a tiny bit of pineapple.  Each item eaten on its own would be a ridiculous portion but the sum of the parts becomes substantial. 


With small portions and economy in mind, I have a bento challenge for you!  If you read my blog, I'd like you to go into your fridge and pull out the leftovers that have been stored in there for a day or two.  Take a good look at what you've got that's still reasonable to eat.  What can you make with it?  Tonight after dinner, instead of throwing out or pushing someone to eat that last spoonfull of veg or rice, save it!  Turn it into something special and take a picture or two.  Then please email it to me!  I'll post your bentos alongside my own.

My email:  fontevrault @  comcast dot net

What did I order last night?  If DH ordered artery spackle, then what would I call my meal?  Insipid steak, potatoes, and overcooked veggies.  Applebee's didn't do well last night with my meal but I remade its leftovers into something a bit more flavorful.  It's DH's dinner, since he's going to be at school and isn't coming home until after the "festivities" are over.

First course: a mushroom cap stuffed with herb dip, carrots and bell peppers for dipping.  Dessert: fruit (after lunch he's going to need the nutrients) orange slices, grapes, and of course, chocolate.

Main course:  Steak (leftover from my dinner), roasted tomatoes stuffed with panko breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and herbs, and one small potato topped with herbs.  I guarantee that it tastes better than what I was served last night because it's seasoned with rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, and onion powder. 

The end result: a dinner that is much, much healthier than lunch. 

My darling husband took us out to dinner last night.  Our daughter had been baking in the kitchen all afternoon and simple seemed best, so off to Applebee's we went.  Today's lunch bento is the leftovers of DH's artery spackle appetizer platter with added veggies.  Yes, folks, he ate deep fried everything and tells me that he was sure to eat the celery that came along with it (as if that makes the dinner selection healthy).  LOL  I want the junk out of the house and today is a good day to do it since he's going to be at school all day and most of the evening.  Tonight is "Back to School Night" and I suppose a little deep fried food may give him the fortitude to get through it.  Boy am I glad we don't eat this way often!

So, as you can see, I can't claim ownership of anything but the veggies.  He's got a bacon cheeseburger slider, a single boneless wing, ranch dip, and celery, carrots, tomatoes, and yellow pepper.  None of it is good for you because even the veggies have ranch dip - just in case there wasn't enough fat in this meal as it was. 

I guess it could be worse: he could be eating fast food for lunch every day!

DH ate what I had intended for his lunch - yesterday as a snack!  Crappola!  What do I make this morning?!?!  We had gone away for the weekend and I didn't go grocery shopping.  Desperate times call for desperate measures!  A horrible discovery of cucumbers that had spoiled while we were away didn't help.  Crisis!  Should I tell him to order pizza or go out to lunch???  No . . . if we're spending money eating out, I'm going to enjoy it . . . darn it!

Dear Hubby needed a lunch today for teacher training.  I had leftover Chinese food in the fridge to serve as lunches this week and keep it simple.  BUT, the school ordered Chinese for lunch yesterday for all the teachers.  To change it up, I decided to make a more western meal.  So we have a two tiered bento with a three course lunch.

This is the top level. The first course is veggies: carrots and cucumber with a Laughing Cow wedge as a dip. The dessert is apple bars cut in half (to fit in the space), slices of frozen strawberries, and a some thin orange wedges. The center cup contains Parmesan cheese for the next level.
This is the lower level of the same box. Here I whipped up some ramen noodles with a tomato sauce - sauteed red onion, red wine, crushed tomatoes, and herbs - and pulled some lovely petit farci balls from the freezer.  Lettuce leaves and cherry tomatoes fill the gaps.

What's a petit farci?  Glad you asked!  :)  It's a French meatloaf - sort of.  There is a lot more veg in a petit farci than in any American meatloaf.  This makes it a great way to sneak veggies into a picky eater's diet.  It also stretches a small amount of meat.  The actual dish might look something like this:
Each veggie is hollowed out and restuffed with the meat and veggie mix.  This image has a lot of bread in it.  Mine doesn't have any bread at all. 

Basically, I take whatever veggies I have on hand: mushrooms, small eggplants, zucchini (this time of year we have lots), tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and peppers (the mini peppers can be very cute) and I hollow them out.  I take the pieces I've removed from each veggie and put them through a food processor until I have a finely grated veggie mix.  I sauté the veggies in butter and olive oil (a little butter - just for flavor) with garlic and herbs de Provence until tender and fairly dry (there can be a lot of moisture in the veggies).  I let the mixture cool and add it to about a pound of ground beef.  I add an egg, some salt and pepper, and mix together (à la meatloaf).  You can also add Parmesan cheese if you like. Then, restuff the veggies and bake at 400 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. 

I typically make A LOT of this when I decide I have the time to play in the kitchen.  They make a lovely dinner when you have guests and can be made a few hours in advance which is always nice. 

I always have leftover farci filling.  I use a cookie scoop and fill mini muffin tins and bake that way.  Because the pieces are smaller than your veggies, these cook a lot faster, so do watch them in the oven.  I then freeze the mini muffin trays until the farci balls are solid and then remove the farci balls and place them in a labeled bag in the freezer for lunches and quick snacks. 

Variations:

• Deglaze your sauté pan with white wine (a little - you don't want too much moisture)
• Try different meats.  This is traditionally done with veal but it's expensive, so I usually just use beef.  But you could do half ground pork, half beef.  You might also try turkey or chicken.
• Add bread or perhaps some leftover rice to the mix (you may need to add a little milk or egg to keep the mix moist).
• Try different cheeses.
• Press the farci filling into different shapes - hearts, stars, leaves, dinosaurs, whatever.  Small cookie cutters would be cute for this.  You could even pan fry the shapes for your little audience; little kids like to help make the shapes.
• Take the farci filling and make dim sum with it.

Do you have any ideas?  Please share!