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. 

Daring Cooks August Challenge

Voila!, originally uploaded by Brooklyn Forager.

This month, our challenge over at The Daring Kitchen, was to make a Spanish dish called Rice with Mushrooms, Cuttlefish and Artichokes. This was a beautifully simple (a bit heavy on prep, but worth it) and yet yielded some great complexity of flavors.

The key to this recipe is a little bit of planning (and probably a glass of wine as you go). I started with the allioli which was a happy surprise for me. I don't eat anything that is called an "aioli" because my stomach turns at the hint of mayonnaise. The traditional recipe, however, is an emulsion of garlic pulp and olive oil and contains no eggs at all.

Aside from the initial excitement at ingredients, however, I was a bit stumped because the recipe required a mortar and pestle. My first mortar and pestle was left in a previous apartment in a fit of frustration and my current mortar and pestle is an unseasoned molcajete which has a knack for adding volcanic rock to any paste. I improved with a rough ceramic bowl and a Chinese spoon and while the results were perhaps not as perfect as the true method, the consistency was pretty close. (Note: use the freshest garlic you can find. Mine was a bit on the "antique" side and the taste was super strong)

Next up was the sofregit - a stew of sorts including tomatoes, garlic, onions and spices. A simple recipe, but crucial since it imparts most of the flavor to the dish. I would up the cumin since I love the flavor, but the recipe alone builds a nice base for the rice dish itself.

The next step would have been preparing the artichokes. I watched the video provided in the recipe instructions for preparing the artichoke and was horrified to see the instructor carelessly tossing the entire outer portion of the artichokes around the kitchen. I will not waste and am not confident enough with artichokes yet to figure out a better way to improvise. The artichokes will be steamed with another dinner this week and eaten whole.

Instead, I moved on to peeling the shrimp. I wimped out on the cuttlefish, partly because of the eaters in my household and partially because I had a really nice set of shrimp ready to go. I used these interchangeably with the cuttlefish, and I believe this did not detract at all.

The only other substitution I made was to use sherry in place of white wine for deglazing and in my broth. For a number of reasons, I couldn't open a bottle of wine and did not prepare/purchase stock. In place of the water, I used a mix of water, sofregit broth (the recipe makes a lot more than you need, but I ended up using a lot more than the recipe called for), and more sherry. In my opinion, this was really integral to building the flavors. I think broth would have been great, but in place of it, a good mix worked well.

This recipe got rave reviews and will absolutely go into the regular rotation. With a bit of prep work beforehand, this is a fun, festive dish that can actually be put together in relatively good time.