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. 

July Daring Cooks Challenge: Cooking with Nut Butters

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

You really can't go wrong with nut butters and I've definitely wanted to explore a bit beyond my usual peanut butter, so this challenge was very exciting.  Exciting until I remembered that my food processor isn't being cooperative.  Luckily, our fearless hosts allowed some flexibility and so I got to play with peanut butter and will definitely make the rest of the recipes offered up in this challenge in coming months to try them all out. 

The upside to being a little less adventurous with this challenge is that I found a recipe that actually was really easy to prep the night before and will make an interesting, tasty and fairly healthy lunch for work.  I don't usually get that out of these challenges. 

The recipe I went with was the Asian Noodles with Cashew Dressing.  I hoped upon hope that Trader Joe's would have cashew butter for me to test out, but as they didn't, I went for peanut butter with flax seeds.  Still a bit of an experiment, if not a challenge. 

Food processing the old fashioned way!I made the dressing the night before with peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, garlic and ginger (and, of course, sriracha for heat).  The recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of sugar and while I decided to go with 2 instead, I completely forgot about substituting with another sweetener - definitely go for it. Of course the recipe also called for a food processor here, but I used some elbow grease and a whisk since bits of garlic and ginger never worried anyone around here. 

Next, I sliced up some cucumbers, carrots and fresh green beans and mixed them together with cashew pieces and chopped Thai basil (from the garden!) and let that hang out in the fridge.  Then...I rested. 

Before work I quickly cooked up some rice noodles to finish off the salad and assembled in the morning.  Success! A light, crunchy, nutty salad that is easy to assemble in the morning and bring on the road - think work, picnics, car travel...

Stay tuned for further installments of my nut butter adventures wherein I actually make my own and play with things like cashews and pecans. 

Asian Noodle Salad with Cashew (or Peanut) Dressing (adapted from Daring Cooks Challenge)
Yield: 4 servings

Recipe notes: Customize the salad by adding or substituting your favorite vegetables. Shredded cabbage, bean sprouts, and slivered carrots would make nice additions. Obviously, you can omit the shrimp, or substitute chicken or tofu or the protein of your choice. The dressing is equally as good with peanut butter rather than cashew butter. We tested the dressing with nut butters made from salted cashews & peanuts with good results.

Ingredients:

Cashew Butter:
1 cup (240 ml) cashews*

Cashew Dressing:
½ inch (1 cm) slice of fresh ginger, chopped
8 cloves garlic, more or less to taste, chopped
½ cup (120 ml) cashew butter
¼ cup (60 ml) soy sauce
3 Tablespoons (45 ml) sugar
3 Tablespoons (45 ml) vinegar
3 Tablespoons (45 ml) toasted sesame oil
¼ cup plus 1 Tablespoon (75 ml) water
Hot sauce to taste (optional)

Noodle Salad:
1/2 pound (225 g) linguine or thin rice noodles
1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
1/2 pound (225 g) small or medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 large red bell pepper, cored and seeded, cut into thin strips
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, sliced
1/4 cup (60 ml) sliced green onions
1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon (15 ml) chopped cashews (optional garnish)
Lime wedges (optional)

Directions:

1. Make cashew butter: Grind cashews in food processor for about 2 minutes until smooth. (*Or start with ½ cup (120 ml) prepared cashew butter.)
2. Prepare cashew dressing: Combine ginger, garlic, cashew butter, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, and water in food processor or blender. Process/blend until smooth. Be sure to process long enough to puree the ginger and garlic. The dressing should be pourable, about the same thickness as cream. Adjust consistency – thinner or thicker -- to your liking by adding more water or cashew butter. Taste and add your favorite hot sauce if desired. (If the cashew butter was unsalted, you may want to add salt to taste.) Makes about 1 ½ cups (360 ml) dressing. Store any leftover dressing in the refrigerator.
3. Prepare noodles according to package instructions in salted water. Rinse and drain noodles. Set aside.
4. Heat oil in large non-stick pan over medium heat. Add shrimp to the pan and sauté for about 3 to 4 minutes or until opaque throughout. Alternately, cook shrimp in boiling water for about 2 to 3 minutes or until done.
5. Slice basil into thin ribbons. Combine noodles, bell pepper, cucumber, onions, and basil in a large bowl. Add about ½ cup (120 ml) cashew dressing; toss gently to coat. Add more cashew dressing as desired, using as much or as little as you’d like. Scatter shrimp on top. Squeeze fresh lime juice over salad or serve with lime wedges. Sprinkle with chopped cashews if desired.