Bento Lunch Special: Sesame Balsamic Chicken, Pineapple Fried Rice and Roasted Broccoli

I largely focus on dinners here, although I do occasionally throw something in about leftovers or re-purposing a big batch of something.  On the rare occasion I do focus on a lunch or a lighter meal, it's usually something I threw together on the fly. 

These days, in an effort to mix things up a bit and stretch the local food budget, I've been planning dinners more specifically for the effect they will have on our lunch boxes.  My husband has often asked me to just make up a big batch of rice, a stir fried meat (like Kung Pao Chicken) and a vegetable.  A very simple formula to a healthful, filling and more-frugal-than-midtown-Manhattan lunch, but I knew I could do better. 

I've been fascinated with homemade bento lunches for some time, but never really got into trying since I was focusing on elaborate dinners.  I picked up some organic chicken from the old standby Trader Joe's and decided I would set to work on a specifically bento-intended set of meals for the week.  Turning to a fabulous blog on the subject, Just Bento provided all of the inspiration and many of the recipes that I will use going forward.  

For this bento, I used Balsamic Sesame Chicken, rice, snow peas and my Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon Pickle.  It kept really well and actually was reasonably delicious cold.  My favorite part (I'm a kitchen toy freak) was using little silicone cupcake liners for the pickle so it could be removed and the rest of the box heated up if we decided to go that route.  Fun and useful! 

Balsamic Sesame Chicken (adapted from Just Bento)

• 1 lb organic chicken breast, cut into roughly 1 ounce pieces (about 16 chunks)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 4-6 tbsp sesame seeds (or sesame oil if you don't have)
• cooking oil

1. Combine soy sauce, vinegar and chicken chunks in a bowl and set aside for at least 10 minutes (more if you have time).  If you don't have sesame seeds (as I didn't), add about 1 tbsp sesame oil to this mixture before you set it aside.   
2. Drain chicken and press into sesame seeds, trying to get chicken as covered as possible. 
3. Cook in one of two ways: 

• BAKE - preheat toaster/convection oven to 400F and bake for 6-8 minutes until cooked through.
• STIR FRY - heat small amount of cooking oil over medium heat for 4-5 minutes until cooked through. 

Rainbow Chard with Anchovies, Pine Nuts and Cranberries on Polenta

On a cool rainy morning, it is hard to believe it is summer.  I'm sure many of you out there are grumbling and a bit blue, but, aside from the fact that I generally love cool rainy mornings most of all, I'm particularly satisfied because I'm stuck at home for a little while and I don't feel like I'm missing out on quite so much outdoor fun when it's gloomy. 

The other upside is that I have a chance to explore some summer comfort food.  Even on cool days like this, summer comfort food can't be too heavy or thick.  I crave warmth and a smooth texture, but still some lightness.  What could satisfy that call better than polenta? 

I used to buy the pre-prepared tube of polenta from Trader Joe's to keep on hand for these sorts of meals.  After buying a box of polenta, I realized how silly I was.  The biggest pain is that you have to keep stirring the polenta to discourage clumps, but otherwise there is no finesse and hardly any time involved in making a nice base for all manner of soothing meals. 

For this one, I took advantage of the beautiful rainbow swiss chard that we picked up from Phillips Farms at the farmers' market and turned to my friend Mark Bittman for inspiration.  I'd like to say that I tinkered and played with his recipe and improved on his perfection.  It's generally not possible since Bittman has a nice healthy simple (Minimalist, if you will) approach and his recipes generally do not go wrong.  I did use anchovy paste instead of anchovy fillets, cranberries instead of raisins and the polenta was all me.  His recipe was also for greens generally and I, of course, used the chard.  

I was drawn to this recipe because of the anchovies.  As gross as I always believed them to be, I can no longer deny that they are good for you.  Even my husband asked me to somehow slip more of them into our food after reading Real Food by Nina Planck (I haven't even read it yet and I'm eternally grateful for its effect on my household).  I use the anchovy paste to sneak some into pasta dishes and have come to like it.  This recipe was my attempt to go more full throttle into the world of anchovies.  Expect more to come.  

The most exciting addition was 1/2 of a Hot Portugal chili pepper straight from our garden.  I only used half because I had never worked with a Hot Portugal before, but they are on the light side, so I would use at least a whole one in the future.  If you don't have fresh chilis on hand, you can substitute about 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes or as much or as little as you prefer. 

Rainbow Chard with Anchovies, Pine Nuts and Cranberries on Polenta (adapted from Mark Bittman's The Minimalist Cooks Dinner)

• At least 2 servings prepared polenta (find your favorite slow version, it's worth it)
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp anchovy paste or up to 8 anchovy fillets to taste (or more if you're really a fan)
• 1/2 fresh small red chili pepper, sliced (optional)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins
• 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
• 4 cups trimmed rainbow swiss chard or other greens, washed, dried and chopped
• sea salt
• freshly cracked black pepper

1. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic, chili slices and anchovies.  When garlic is pungent and anchovies dissolve into oil, turn heat to low. 
2. Stir in cranberries and pine nuts.  Cook for one minute. 
3. Add greens and 1/2 cup water.  Cover and cook until chard is tender (about 10-12 minutes). 
4. Season with sea salt and black pepper to taste. 
5. Serve greens over polenta in a bowl with greater proportion of greens than in the picture above.  Pour broth generously over each bowl. Enjoy!

The Great Haul: A Trip to the Farmers' Market

Perfect Brooklyn morning: a great yoga class and a leisurely stroll through the farmers' market shoving beautiful summer produce into sacks and running away with it.  I may amend this with pictures, but I'm a little distracted as I dream up our meals for this week with our amazing haul of goodies.  

My ingredients for the week: 

• Rainbow Swiss Chard
• Collard Greens
• Scallions
• Beets
• Cauliflower
• Kirby cukes
• Heirloom tomatoes: Cherokee green, Orange Russian and White Beauty
• Regular beautiful red tomatoes
• Raspberries
• Blackberries
• Red Currants
• Cape Gooseberries
• Hot peppers (a whole cup for $1!) - jalapeno, habanero, thai chile and maybe some others
• Raw unfiltered local honey

And the featured items from the Amish stand and my perennial favorite Valley Shepherd Creamery: 

• Cheddar
• Butter (ingredient list: cream.  What could be wrong with that?)
• Smoked bacon (get ready, collards!)
• Valley Shepherd fresh ricotta - mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. 

I can't wait for dinner.  And breakfast.  And lunch.  

Clean Eating Whole Wheat Bread

Have I mentioned it's hot? It's really too hot to bake.  But it's also too hot to cook.  And it's a whole lot easier to have a quick sandwich for lunch or dinner than to deal with even the lightest of chopping or boiling or stir-frying.  So, because it's also too hot to even go grocery shopping, I decided that baking in the air conditioning using the convection oven to minimize heat made the most sense.  I think I chose correctly.

I've shied away from breads that required kneading and have become a bit of a one-trick pony with my no-knead bread.  I came across a recipe at a clean eating blog that I enjoy, Clean Eating Machine. With a short list of ingredients, the title of clean eating and a not-so-lengthy amount of rising time, this seemed like the one to try.

A loaf before baking - on it's last rise.A couple of thoughts:

• The original recipe calls for a small bowl.  You're adding 3 cups of flour and 1 3/4 cups of water to this bowl and letting it double in size.  Use a large bowl. 
• The dough is very sticky.  There wasn't a lot of discussion about flouring your kneading surface or adding extra flour.  I did a less robust kneading job in the bowl (again, large is very good here) to minimize mess and avoid adding more flour. 
• If you do use a mini-oven like my toaster/convection oven, a traditional loaf pan is a little large, so the top browns more than it should.  A small price to pay for fresh bread in this ungodly heat. 

 

Clean Eating Whole Wheat Bread (adapted from Clean Eating Magazine)

• 3 cups white whole wheat flour (whole wheat is also fine)
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp honey

1. Mix flour, water and yeast in a bowl.  Let rise until double in size, about 30 minutes. 
2. Add remaining ingredients and knead well.  (Note: I used the kneading process to incorporate the wet ingredients and then just kept kneading for a bit).  Let rise for 30 minutes. 
3. Knead one more time.  Place in standard loaf pan and let rise until it fills the pan (for me it was more like 15 or 20 minutes, but did I mention that it's hot?). 
4. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes or slightly less in a convection oven (mine was done after 30-35).

Pineapple Mango Smoothie: An Experiment with Rice Milk

Too hot to cook.  Too hot to write.  Too hot to even think about the back-logged posts that I have with some delicious recipes waiting to share.  And yet, here I am with a new post! A suitably frozen one, at that. 

Over the past few weeks, A and I have been independently reading and discussing the various problems that people have with dairy.  Don't worry - I'm not giving it up (although I am as convinced as ever that organic is really the only way to go for milk if you're partaking).  I did, however, pick up some rice milk at Trader Joe's to give it another try.

I had tried rice milk on its own quite a few years ago and found it tasted like watery rice.  Which it is, so I guess I got what I deserved. I'm not sure how vegans take their rice milk, but I think that once one is committed, you might not be craving a glass of milk with your PB&J in quite the same way that I do now.  After this attempt, as an ingredient with other tasty ingredients, I'm sold on rice milk. 

The other thing that made the rice milk enjoyable is that I bought myself a little treat.  I love toys.  That's why I have too much stuff in the kitchen, but this one additional purchase may have made my whole summer.  I got myself the Fit & Fresh Smooth Blend Mixer.  We have a blender, but it's full size and makes great smoothies for four.  This is much like the ones you've seen on TV where it is a single cup that attaches to a machine and then you can take it on the go with you.  Love the toys.  

So, to give my new toy a test drive, I threw together some vanilla rice milk, fresh squeezed orange juice (I wanted lime, but alas had none and it was too hot to leave the house), frozen pineapple (I bought one fresh a few weeks ago and cut it up and threw it in the freezer), and frozen mango (Trader Joe's).  A quick buzz and voila! A tropical orange julius-like smoothie that definitely helped take the edge off the heat.  Except to see more smoothie recipes in short order.  Yum! 

(Please forgive me the photo quality - some poor battery charging planning and I was left with only my phone's camera.)

Pineapple Mango Smoothie

• 1/4 c. fresh squeezed citrus juice (orange, lime, lemon, maybe even grapefruit!)
• 1 c. vanilla rice milk
• 1 c. frozen pineapple chunks
• 1/2 c. frozen mango chunks
• fresh mint leaves (optional)

1. Add ingredients into your mixer according to the directions (mine called for liquids first, then heavier ingredients, so I added in the order listed above).
2. Blend it.  
3. Garnish with additional mint if you'd like. 
4. Enjoy!
5. This makes 16 ounces of smoothie.