Big Shiny Bento

Since nobody writes me letters anymore, I just buy books. Its more fun opening a book anyway cause they have nice big colorful pictures, and they tell me things I want to hear. Letters from that aunt everyone has can be less than complimentary at times (even if i do deserve it I don’t really want to read it!).

This time the books are Fun & Fancy Sushi by Seiko Ogawa, Ine Mizuno, and Ken Kawasumi; and Japanese Homestyle Cooking by Tokiko Suzuki.

Fun & Fancy Sushi has all kinds of sushi ideas from the traditional piece of fish on rice with a seaweed belt, to rice ball ice cream cones and even a sushi cake of sorts. There is something in here for everyone it seems, and most of this would be awesome to serve at a party most of it would be great for kids!

Japanese Homestyle Cooking is a great book that not only walks you through the basic tools before getting started but spends a whole chapter just on cutting techniques. Also at the back of the book is how to prepare foods - like clean fish, and devein shrimp. In between are lots of little recipes for tasty dishes or meals. Some of the best ones are one pot meals and the variations on miso soups!

Now if I can just find time to try these out…

This title may seem strange, until you realize just how long its been since I had a real bento to post about.

No picture since things were rushed this morning. Hmm.. Maybe I should hand draw something in PhotoShop..

The Big Blue box has slivered cabbage and carrots softened with zesty italian dressing on them. Next to them is leftover lemon chicken that has been really tasty, and lastly is slices of marbled cheese and apples.

If there was a picture, you’d be asking me what those little round things were standing up between the cheese and lemon chicken. Well, I took an apple corer and took core samples of my apple slices. They look kinda neat, and are really easy to squeeze in around things. I think next time I’ll try my fry cutter for square cut versions. Hmmm.. the fry cutter would be good to use on any veggies soft enough for it to cut now that I think of it.

And part of lunch, but not in the box, is a slice of oreo cake.

I shouldn’t have written this now, cause now I’m hungry.

On the weekend I made homemade egg noodles for the first time in ages. Its easy enough but messy, and you need to cook them right away for the best result. I had the chicken vegetable base made for the soup, so noodles were the only thing left.

I don’t have a pasta machine since I make noodles so seldom. So its just rolling pin, and sharp knife. I make something thats pretty close to fettucini noodles generally although this time they varied towards spagetti which was nice. It means I’m rolling the noodles thinner and cutting them thinner than usual. At about 2″ long they were just about perfect for eating.

Apparently they were good because a repeat performance was requested!

These days I don’t feel inspired to come up with fancy lunches. Part of it is the prices and selection at the grocery stores, and part of it is my lack of sleep I’m sure.

But an even bigger part is likely the weather. This time of year, don’t you just want to curl up with a warm blanket and a big bowl of stew, chili, or good soup and read a book?

Last night I made a pot of  chicken corn chowder. Honestly its easy enough for anyone to try if you have a slow cooker. Dice up 2 stalks of celery, 1 large carrot, half an onion, and a can of potatoes (I was out of fresh one). Cook and dice a large chicken breast along with the veggies. Add a can of kernel corn or frozen corn, then the diced food, a can of creamed corn, and a can of either cream of musroom soup or cream of chicken soup. Add any water that is in the cans as well. You may want to add water to top it up in the slow cooker, as well as spices to taste. Then put the lid on, turn it on low, and wait for a few hours. Everything in there is safe to eat any time, but the more it cooks the more the flavors will mellow together and taste better. To make it richer you can add some butter to the mix.

I’m looking forward to curling up with that tasty soup tonight!

I had a great breakfast today, never mind lunch yet!

On the weekend I used some leftover stewed chicken, carrots, onions, and frozen peas along with a pack of instant noodles to make a really tasty noodle bowl. But I only got a couple bites out of it before I had to leave it. Since then it has been my breakfast twice now, and will be again tomorrow.

I scramble 2 eggs in a bowl and add soy sauce them. Take a portion of that noodle dish and heat it up in a fry pan until it smells good! If I had fresh green onions I’d add them at this point. Then pour the eggs over the noodle mix - there should be enough eggs to make sort of like a pancake in the pan. If not, next time use more eggs or a smaller pan. Then just let it cook until almost firm. Loosen the edges, and flip it in the pan to brown the top. If its good and firm, you can plate it, slice it, and add hoisin sauce (or other sweet sauce) and hot sauce to taste. Otherwise, it will be a bowl of stuff. Either way its very yummy!

This dish is very much like the one I cooked a while back using leftover fried rice - click here to view bento #28.
PS - anyone know the quote this article’s title is taken from?

For those of you who don’t cook that much here is a tip.

If you want things to cook faster, cut them into smaller bits. When you hear that it seems to make perfect sense, but many people don’t think about it. Potatoes, carrots, turnip, or any other hard food that you want to cook will take a long time and benefit from dicing before cooking.

And here’s a tip on presentation. If you are dicing one thing in the dish, say ham, it makes sense to dice it all. Unless you want something to stand out, uniform shape and size will make the dish better. Think about it - have you ever seen string beans in the same dish with cubed ham? If you did, you likely didn’t even notice the ham at first. And to go with the diced bits, rice fits perfectly since its about the same size.

Next time I’ll talk about matchstick recipe tips.

Today was leftovers from supper, but they were really really good!

Last night I wanted to cook supper fast. I cubed 2 cm thick ham slices, diced 1/2 medium cooking onion, 1 large carrot, and 1 royal gala apple. I boiled the carrots, while cooking the rest together on high to brown. Then simmer on low, add some water, and after a while drain off the juice for sauce and add the carrots. I only used 1 onion, 1 apple, and 1 carrot but it was a really big carrot it seems. While that is simmering cook some small pasta - I used over a cup of gnochini. Use the juice to make a cream sauce - milk, butter, heat and stir on low, and add corn starch to thicken - you don’t need much sauce for this, just enough to coat things. Combine pasta, diced bits, and sauce in pan and toss. I decided to add some worchester sauce to the cream sauce and it added some zing to it.

Supper was a hit with the whole family, and with me again at lunch! Plus it pretty economical to boot.

Again sorry about no picture, but lunch went down fast today!

I’m cleaning out the canned goods at home so this week may find some strange lunches.

Today isn’t bento - its homemade chilli. Anyone can make it, and its fairly cheap to do.

Throw a can of diced tomatoes, beans (pinto or romano are best), mushrooms, browned onions, and spaghetti sauce into a slow cooker. You can add meat if you like as well. Let it cook away for a few hours, stirring to keep it from sticking to the bottom. When its done you have a great base for other dishes, or a feel good meal for winter months.

Here’s a fast and easy idea for a nice lunch.

Make up a pack of ramen noodles, no sauce yet. Drain the water off after well cooked.

Microwave some eggs (not in the shell!) and when done, dice them up small. 2-3 eggs should be about right.

Combine noodles, eggs, sauce powder, hot sauce, soy sauce, and anything else you’d like (herbs, diced veggies, etc).

Enjoy! I didn’t add any veggies since I’m at work with limited resources, but its good!