Back to Bento Basics

Now that I'm in regular 6 hour rehearsals again, I've gotten back into making easy-pack bento meals to cut down on 'dining out' spending. Plus, it's just fun to get back in the swing of packing lunches/dinners.

I started easy, with old favorites. This week's bento: baked tilapia with balsamic/honey glaze, broccoli and raisin salad, egg white tamagoyaki, and fresh blueberries. Here's how!

Baked Tilapia with Balsamic-Honey Glaze

(makes 1 serving - I do this one fresh each night before packing it)

1 filet tilapia

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tbsp honey

Preheat your oven to 400 F. 

Place a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet. 

Place a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the cooling rack. 

Place the filet on the aluminum foil.  Drizzle honey and balsamic vinegar over top. 

Fold the aluminum foil up, so that there is no room for dripping out the sides, but there is still space for air to escape out the top - think 'loose burrito'.

Bake for ~20 minutes. When you start smelling wonderful things, test the fish with a fork. If the meat flakes, you're good to go. 

Didn't I tell you it was easy?

Broccoli and Raisin Salad

(makes 6 servings)

2 small heads broccoli

1/4 white onion, diced

1/4 raisins (more to taste)

3 tbsp sunflower seeds, raw and unsalted

1/4 cup Vegannaise

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp agave nectar

1 tsp honey dijon mustard

Wash and chop your broccoli into thumb-sized florets and steam them until tender. When they're done, pour them into a colander and rinse them under cold water to stop the cooking process.

Mix vegannaise, vinegar, mustard, and agave in the bottom of a medium sized bowl. Add the steamed broccoli, raisins, and sunflower seeds. Toss to coat. 

Still super simple, isn't it?

Egg White Tamagoyaki

(makes 2 servings)

3/4 cup egg whites

1 tsp agave nectar

1 tsp mirin

1/2 tsp soy sauce

olive oil

Preheat a small, oiled skillet over medium low heat. 

Prepare a small bowl with some olive oil (~1 tbsp) and a heat-safe brush.

Mix your ingredients in another bowl. 

When the skillet is warm, pour three tbsp of the egg mix into the skillet. Let it cook most of the way. Then, using a fork (or two, depending on your dexterity), roll the egg on itself until it's like a scroll on one side of the pan. Re-oil the remaining part of the skillet and pour in another 3 tbsp of the egg mixture. Make sure that some of the newly added egg seeps under your egg scroll. When this new egg sheet is mostly cooked, roll the egg scroll back across, incorporating the new sheet. Continue this process, back and forth across the pan, until all the egg mixture is gone. 

Remove the rolled omelet to a paper towel and lightly pat off excess moisture. If you have a bamboo sushi mat, you can use this opportunity to square your tamagoyaki into having more defined edges. Otherwise, simply place the omelet log on a small cooling rack and let it rest in your fridge for ~ 20 minutes. Remove from the fridge, cut into finger width 'slices', and enjoy. 

The whole process takes about 15 minutes and is actually pretty fun. 

Go on! Have a peace!

Bento Box 4: Sweet Sesame Bento

Another Monday, another bento!


When I was growing up, the only thing I would eat at chinese restaurants was sesame chicken. I loved it! To be honest, I still do, but most of the time when you get it, it's covered in breading and thick syrupy sauce. That's just no good.


Here's an alternative, along with some delectable spinach. Enjoy!

Sesame Chicken

(makes 2 servings)

meat of 4 chicken thighs, skin and fat removed, cut into bit size pieces

1 tbsp soy sauce (+ more to your discretion)

1 tsp mirin

2 tsp sesame oil, divided

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (use a nice thick one for this)

1 tsp honey

toasted sesame seeds

Mix the seasonings together in a bowl and marinate the raw chicken in it for 10-20 minutes, making sure the chicken is well-coated. Spray oil on a non-stick pan and pour 1 tsp sesame oil into the pan. Heat to medium heat. 

Lay out the marinated chicken on a piece of wax paper and shake sesame seeds out over the chicken and press them into the meat with a fork. Turn them over and sprinkle sesame seeds over the other side. Press them into the chicken again. Then transfer the chicken to the pan and cook until both sides get a nice, delicious seared brown color (took me about 4 minutes a side). As always, make sure your chicken is cooked all the way through!!

And you're done in no time. So good!

Marinated Spinach

(makes 2 servings)

~4 generous handfuls of baby spinach, roughly chopped

1 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp soy sauce

toasted sesame seeds

Blanch the spinach. [Boil it for 3-4 minutes, then take out, drain, and douse in cold water.] Mix the seasonings in a small tupperware container. Add spinach in, mix. Sprinkle in a generous portion of sesame seeds. Cover. Shake to really soak the spinach. Set in your fridge and chill for 15 minutes to overnight. 

Go on! Have a peace!

Q&A: What is Mirin?

Mirin is a Japanese cooking wine, or 'seasoning wine', made from glutinous rice. It has a low alcohol content and a very sweet taste. You should be able to find it in the liquor department at your local supermarket, or at a wine and spirit shop, even though it's extraordinarily low on the tipsy scale. (Manufacturers of Mirin only ferment it long enough to achieve the proper sweetness, without an eye for alcohol content.)

Mirin has a golden hue, sort of like the color you find in Tej or mead - very pretty. It is generally used as an additive in sauces and can even tone down the tastes and odors of a variety of meats (like fish). Apparently it is sometimes brushed onto fish and roasts to give these dishes a "sheen". In Japan, pleasantness of presentation is half the battle.

So that's my little expose on Mirin. Use it in very small amounts - a little goes a long way. :)

Watermelon-Strawberry Mint Sorbet, or Momo's Frozen Mash-up

In honor of Mother's Day, I decided to try making something that I think my mother would like. So I took a few of her favorite things - watermelons, strawberries, lemons, and mint - and went mush. :)

Here's what I came up with:

Watermelon-Strawberry Mint Sorbet, or Momo's Frozen Mash-up
(Serves many momos)

juice of 1 lemon, about 2 Tbsp
~1/3 cup date sugar (I used a little less, because that was all I had left)
1 cup pureed, frozen strawberries (5 large strawberries, frozen, then pureed)
4 cups pureed, chilled watermelon
2/3 cup water
~1 Tbsp minced mint (I used the awesome mix of mints that my parents grow at home and dried for me - see picture below - but any mint will do.)

In a food processor, puree frozen strawberries, then set aside in a large bowl. Without cleaning out the processor, puree the watermelon and add that to the bowl with the strawberries. Add lemon juice. Stir until all mixed up. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge to chill.

Pour water, sugar, and mint into a small saucepan and set over low heat. The date sugar takes longer to break down than normal sugar - one of the good and bad things about it. It took me about 20 minutes before it finally melted completely, which worked out quite nicely as the mint had really saturated the sugar with its oils by then and smelled heavenly!

(Looks a bit like soup, doesn't it? But nope - it's date sugar water and mint!)

Set to medium heat and let boil for 1 minute. Then pour through a wire-mesh sieve into a heat-safe bowl and mash with the round side of a spoon until nothing else will go through. Save the remaining non-liquid date/mint mixture for later. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge. Set a timer for ~1 hour. It can stay in longer if you want. I don't think an hour or two will make much difference at this stage.

When you come back after at least an hour, pour the liquid sugar/mint mixture into the strawberry/watermelon mush and stir until well combined.

Pour this into a metal pan (about 8x8 should do), cover with plastic wrap, and place in the freezer for 4-8 hours. Scoop all the frozen fruit and sugar out, run it through your food processor until it's chopped up, and pour it back in the metal pan again. Freeze again. In 2-4 hours, it should be crisp, cold, and delicious. Although you may need to let it thaw a bit before serving.

Now if you want to make it extra delicious - take the leftover mint and date sugar mash and stir it thoroughly with ~1 tbsp of fine balsamic vinegar. I used FINI, which if you haven't heard of it is one of the yummiest balsamics around. [I thought of it because it's awesome when drizzled over fresh strawberries.]

The slight sour builds on the sweet and makes it a savory delight on the tongue. Just a little goes a long way. With or without the balsamic, this treat makes a delightful light dessert or a refreshing palate cleanser. Enjoy! And Happy Mother's Day, Momo! Go on, have a peace. :)

Falstaffe Sauce

After three long, wonderful weeks up in Washington with my family, my long absent heartmate, and his family, I have finally returned back to Los Angeles. My first thought upon disembarking from the plane was 'wow, I don't need my coat down here'; the second, 'thank God - I'm only twenty minutes from my kitchen!'

In case you haven't seen it, my kitchen is, frankly, a wonderland. At least it is to me. Every tool and gadget is exactly where I expect it to be - because I put it there - and I know for a fact that everything I own is well within it's expiration date (don't ask). Now, having only recently arrived, I made do last night with a bowl of Trader Joe's Miso Soup and some popcorn that my friend Megan brought over. But today, I hit the store and let my stifled creativity loose on an old favorite. I used what I remembered of an old Emeril pasta sauce recipe and then added two of my favorite things. Broccoli and cauliflower. Broccli is good for you and delicious in any capacity, but especially when roasted. Cauliflower has this amazing capacity for creaminess when cooked just right - you can even use it as a replacement for mashed potatoes! But here, I use it to turn my homemade marinara into a decadent fake alfredo.

I call it Falstaffe sauce for two reasons. 1) Because Falstaffe (Sir John, from ol' Shake's Henry IV 1-2 and Merry Wives of Windsor) was aware that life is a charade and would probably appreciate the sneaky nature of this misleading recipe. And 2) because poor, portly Sir John wouldn't have been nearly so portly if he'd been eating this instead of butter and cream sauce. :)

Falstaffe Sauce

Broccoli and cauliflower, lovingly mixed in olive oil and balsamic, roasted and then blended with tomatoes and garlic to make a delicious, creamy pasta sauce.

1 head broccoli
1 head cauliflower
3 heads roasted garlic (or more if you like)
1 large red onion, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
.25 cup tomato paste
1.5 tsp salt
.25 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
.25 tsp italian seasoning
.25 tsp dried basil
2 cans whole italian tomatoes with juice (28 oz each)
Salt and pepper to taste.
1/2 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Prep- Wash and cut broccoli into 1 inch thick pieces. Wash and cut cauliflower into 1 inch thick pieces. Chop large red onion into 1x1 inch pieces (or smaller if you prefer). Open both cans of tomatoes and pour into a mixing bowl, juices and all, and crush (either with your hands or with a potato masher).

Roasted garlic: Peel the outer layers of garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the cloves intact. Cut off about 1/4 inch of the tops of the cloves, exposing the individual cloves. Place the garlic bulb in a baking pan. [If you're making a lot of these, then use a muffin pan. If not, then just toss them in a small bread pan or something similar.] Drizzle olive oil over each bulb and make sure it's well coated, then cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the bulbs feel soft when pressed. Take the pan out, and set it to the side. If you're serving folks, you might want to make a few extra bulbs and let people munch on the delicious roasted garlic as an appetizer. Just remember to save three of them for the recipe.

Broc and Caul: Mix cut broccoli in a bowl with 1/4 cup olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Repeat for cauliflower. Use olive oil to coat a couple baking pans and use one pan for the broccoli and one for the cauliflower, trying to keep from making any puddles of olive oil on the pan. Put both pans in the 400 F oven for 20-30 minutes. [I like my veggies a little crispier so I tend to leave them in 10-15 minutes longer, but its up to you.]

Sauce base: While that's cooking, take out a large saucepan and saute the chopped red onion in olive oil over medium-high heat for about 6 minutes. Add 1 tbsp minced garlic and cook with the onion for another minute. Then add tomato paste, salt, balsamic vinegar (I love this stuff), crushed red pepper flakes, italian seasoning, and basil, and cook for a minute. Smell that. Awesome, right? Now add the tomatoes you prepped earlier, juice and all, and stir with all the other ingredients so they're all well combined. Reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Take out the broccoli and cauliflower when they're done and empty the entire cauliflower pan into a bowl along with the non-leafy broccoli parts. For this portion of the program, you're going to need a nifty thing called an immersion blender [if you don't have one, buy one - it's one of the most handy tools I own]. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can throw the aforementioned things into a food processor or blender, but you'll have more clean up than me. Blend all the cauliflower and the broccoli stems together. Serve the leafy parts of the roasted broccoli on top of the pasta, or mixed with the sauce, as a side dish, or stick them in a tupperware box and eat them later as a snack. Heck, eat them while you're cooking. They're delicious.

Back to the sauce. Add the roasted garlic cloves you made first to the simmering sauce and stir to combine. Simmer for another 30-40 minutes, or until you taste test and find all the flavors alert and marching on your tongue.

Now. Add the cauliflower/broccoli blended mixture and stir. See how that marinara just turned into a soft pink creamy looking sauce?

Serve over pasta (I use whole wheat spaghetti or vegetable rotini), and enjoy. :)

Note: This recipe makes about 1.5 quarts of sauce. You can also use it as a creamy pizza sauce or a topping for steamed or roasted vegetables.