La petite biscotte Now in Munich…

Busy Time!

Just a quick heads up that things got quite busy over the past few weeks, with Christmas/New Year’s Eve preparations. Also we just about entered the stressy period of exams. Still a quick picture of a bento we made not so long ago!

Contents

• Taboulé
• 2 Onigiri (with tuna)
• 1/2 Egg
• 2 Cherry Tomatoes
• Peas
• Raspberry Roulade

Best wishes for 2008, may you stick to your resolutions longer than I did. I managed to stay without eating a cookie for about half a day

Bento no°11: Veggie Burritos

Contents

• 2 Onigiri
• 1 Vegetable burrito, cut in half
• Salad (Baby spinach leaves, cherry tomatoes, surimi)
• 1 Hard-boiled egg
• 1 Store-bought raspberry roulade, cut in half

Verdict

The bento was really tasty, especially the vegetable burritos, and I think the meal as a whole turned out to be visually appealing. Also it didn’t contain any heavy meat dishes (I’m not much of a meat fan). Preparation went smooth and it didn’t take much time once all the components were cooked/steamed (after washing the rice, I put it in the rice cooker and added all the vegetables for the burrito inside the steaming container of the rice cooker). Afterwards it was just pure assembly.
The only thing that didn’t go that well were the eggs. I left them in the water too long so they were a little overcooked :/

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Veggie burritos

Ingredients

• 200g canned red beans
• 70g corn, cooked
• 70g peas, cooked
• 70g carrot slices, cooked soft
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• salt, pepper
• chili powder (you can also add any Mexican spices you normally like)
• ketchup or salsa for serving
• 2 tortillas

Preparation

1. Put the beans in a medium sized bowl and crush them with a spoon/fork. Add the other vegetables and the shallot. Incorporate well until you get a firm mixture (the other vegetables will get crushed a little too, which is normal and intended), add the spices and the seasoning while you are mixing.
2. Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet. Once hot, turn the heat to medium and transfer the mixture into the pan. Let it cook now while stirring occasionally until golden brown.
3. Remove from heat. Fill the tortillas with the veggie mixture and add a little ketchup or salsa.

Serves 2, enjoy.

Bento n°10: Salmon Cakes & Simmered Sweet Potatoes

Contents

• Rice sprinkled with toasted black sesame seeds
• Salmon cakes
• Simmered Sweet Potatoes
• Green beans
• Quick carrot pickles

What I liked about this bento

The bento was put together rather quickly and pretty much everything is easy to make: While I put the rice to cook I used the steaming container that came with the rice cooker and steamed the green beans at the same time. Then I cut the carrots in julienne stripes with my kitchen mandolin, salted them and put them aside. After that I diced the sweet potatoes and put them in a little pan with water. While the potatoes were simmering I put together to batter for the salmon cakes and cooked them in a pan. Once that was done, everything else was pretty much done as well and I could fill my bento box.
I liked the taste of the salmon cakes and for myself I packed 2 salmon cakes cut in a half. The above pictured bento was for hubby. The vegetables gave the whole thing a nice balance and the meal didn’t feel too heavy.

What I didn’t like about this bento

Sweet potatoes were a little overcooked, going to cook them a less next time. The salmon cakes were somewhat too big for my taste and the pan that I used to make them in was simply not suited. It didn’t distribute the heat equally so the cakes were dark brown on one side and not brown at all on the other side. Lastly I hoped that the sweet potatoes would be yellow rather than orange but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. They pretty much look like carrots but oh well :p

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Recipes:

Quick carrot pickles

Ingredients

• 2 large carrots
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp soy sauce

Cut the carrots in julienne stripes, add the salt and mix well. Put the carrots aside for 30 mintues.
Drain the carrots from the salty liquid and rinse them.
In a small bowl combine vinegar, mirin and soy sauce. Add the marinade to the carrots and let infuse anywhere between 5 minutes and 3 hours (depending on how much time you have).
Serves 2.

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Salmon Cakes

• 60g smoked salmon
• 1 green onion
• 2 buns, bagels or large slices of bread (can be old)
• 1 tsp of Dijon mustard
• 3 eggs
• salt, pepper

If the bread isn’t dry yet: cut it in small dice and layer a baking tray with cookie sheet. Spread the bread crumbs on the sheet and put in the oven at approximately 150°C for 8-10 minutes.
In the meantime: chop the salmon finely and slice the green onion.
Remove the bread crumbs from the oven and crush them with a heavy bottle.
In a medium sized bowl combine the onion the salmon and the bread crumbs. Beat the eggs a little and add them. Also add the mustard and salt/pepper to taste. Mix everything well until you have a nice firm batter that can be shaped.
Should the batter be too liquid, gradually add flour to thicken the batter until it reaches the desired consistency.
In a large pan heat 3 Tbsp of olive oil. Meanwhile shape 5-6 round cakes from the batter and lay them on a cutting board.
Once the oil is hot turn the heat to medium low and cook the salmon cakes in the pan until they are golden brown on both sides.

Makes 5-6 cakes, enjoy!

Bento n°9: Potato Pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer)

Contents

• Potato pancakes (see below for recipe)
• Radishes
• Ricotta (for the potato pancakes and the radishes)
• Red pepper/green bean stir fry with soy sauce
• Mini sandwich (using whole-wheat bread with poppy seeds) with comté (french cheese) and ham
• Chocolate cookie

What I liked about this bento

Visually thumbs up. Pretty happy about the balance of colors and the overall detail of this bento. The ricotta cheese went really well with the pancakes but you can also eat them with apple sauce if you have a suitable container to transport it. Oh, why the heck apple sauce you’re asking? Well in Germany potato pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer) are often served with apple sauce… and actually it goes really well! It’s like baked camembert with redcurrant jelly or goat cheese with honey. And yes I can assure you that my taste buds still function properly ^^
Vegetable stir fry had a really nice taste to it. My husband who only eats vegetables if they are drowned in potato purée actually liked them!

What I didn’t like about this bento

If you plan on packing potato pancakes in your bento you better make a bunch for dinner and use the leftovers in your bento the next morning because it takes quite long to make them. It took me about 20 minutes which I’d consider way too long in the morning.
The green beans were a little overcooked and the sandwich was simply too much (if you only have time to eat once). If you can have several breaks the sandwich is actually perfect for a little afternoon snack at about 3 or 4 pm.

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Potato Pancakes

Ingredients

• 500g waxy potatoes
• 1 egg
• 40g flour
• salt/pepper to taste, a little nutmeg if you like
• olive oil or butter, as you prefer

Preparation

1. Peel the potatoes, rinse the starch off a little and grate them. You can also cut them in julienne stripes if you have a suitable kitchen mandolin.
2. Add the egg, the flour and the spices. Mix well until you get a nicely smooth batter.
3. Heat the olive oil in a pan. Once it’s hot, drop generous spoons of the batter in the pan. Flatten the piles of batter with the spoon to a thickness of 1 cm approx. Cook over medium heat until golden brown from both sides.
4. Repeat until no batter is left. Makes about 7-8 pancakes.

Serves 4, enjoy. This goes really well with ricotta, cream cheese, crème fraîche or apple sauce.

Bento n°7: Parmesan Brussel Sprouts & Tuna Salad

Contents

• Tuna Salad (recipe below… and you’ll want that one!)
• Whole-wheat bread with nuts (for the salad)
• Brussel Sprouts with Parmesan
• Little Chocolate Cake

What I liked about this bento

This bento was quickly assembled. Quick steaming the brussel sprouts (in the microwave if you want) at the same time putting eggs to boil and cutting vegetables for the tuna salad. After grating the Parmesan and making the vinaigrette for the salad the sprouts were ready and I sprinkled them with Parmesan cheese and put them quickly in the oven for the cheese to melt. At the same time I finished the salad and put everything into the bento box. The whole bento was ready in about 15 minutes.
What I’m most happy about is this simple but delicious recipe for brussel sprouts. Parmesan fits very well with it and seems to enhance the flavour of the sprouts instead of covering it. I’m definitely planning to eat them more often now that I know how to cook them so they don’t taste bland.
Ah yes and the tuna salad… let’s just say it’s a recipe I discovered a few years ago and it is a big favourite of my family every since. I could eat that stuff right in the morning, continue the whole day, then take a 10 minute nap just to continue chomping it…

What I didn’t like about this bento

Visually I wasn’t too proud of this one. It looks interesting and different from what I usually do but still… colors weren’t as balanced as I would have liked (some yellow missing) and overall it doesn’t look very detailed.
Also I found that there were too many brussel sprouts… I should have probably used half and added some Tamagoyaki instead.

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The best Tuna salad in the history of Tuna salads

Ingredients

• 1/2 shallot, finely chopped
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1 hard-boiled egg, chopped
• 1 little can of tuna (not the one in oil)
• 2 Tbsp pickled cucumber, finely chopped
• 100g yogurt
• 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 tsp mustard
• 2 Tbsp pickled cucumber juice
• salt, pepper

Preparation

1. In a small bowl combine yogurt, mayonnaise, mustard, pickle juice and mix well. Season to taste.
2. Drain the tuna and flake it with a fork.
3. In a large bowl mix shallots, red pepper, egg, tuna and cucumber. Add the vinaigrette from step 1 and incorporate well. Adjust seasoning if needed.
4. Serves 2.

Enjoy!

Bento n°6: Taboulé & Beetroot Salad

Contents

• taboulé (recipe below)
• 1 hard-boiled egg, halved
• beetroot salad (steamed beetroot diced and seasoned with vinaigrette)
• 2 red bean burgers with ketchup
• 2 cheese cubes
• 1/4 apple, sliced

What I liked about this bento

This was incredibly easy to prepare because of the simple ingredients: instant couscous, canned carrots, chickpeas, red beans, tuna, 2 eggs (one sliced and one in the taboulé), steamed beetroot and an apple. Nothing of this has to be fresh (can use canned or frozen vegetables) but all of it can be fresh if you have the ingredients at home and if you have a little more time.
Taboulé for me is a perfect thing to eat at lunch. It’s like a salad in which you can put whatever you enjoy and whatever is currently in season, with the sole difference that taboulé is a lot more filling than a salad due to the couscous. This is by no way an authentic taboulé, which is originally a Lebanese/Arabic dish that became a firm part of the French cuisine. It is normally made with shallots/onions, tomatoes, mint and lemon juice. My taboulé is a simple variation of this dish that is quickly made and tastes fantastic.

What I didn’t like about this bento

There was a little too much food. As I said, the taboulé in itself is quite filling so after eating it I had a really hard time finishing my first bean burger. I didn’t eat the second one.
Also I made the mistake to chop the mixture for the bean burgers in the food processor which made it way too soft. Normally the chunks of beans help keeping the burgers firm, so next time I’m going back to the crush with a fork method.

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Taboulé

Ingredients

• 100g uncooked instant couscous, medium sized
• 1/2 shallot
• 2 Tbsp of chopped and steamed carrots (can use canned carrots)
• other vegetables you like, for example peas
• 1 small can of tuna (not the one conserved in oil)
• 1 hard-boiled egg, chopped
• 3-4 Tbsp of this vinaigrette, preferably the mustard variation

Preparation

1. Put the couscous in a middle sized bowl and fill the bowl with cold water to the same height as the couscous. Add a little salt and oil and stir well with a fork. Let the couscous absorb the water, which should take about 1 minute.
2. Cover the couscous with a microwave proof plate or lid and put it in the microwave. Cook the couscous for 1 minute at max power, let rest inside the microwave for two minutes.
3. Remove the couscous from the microwave and with a fork stir it well by being careful to seperate the grains. Couscous should not stick and have lumps, the grains should be loose. Try a little and see if the grains are cooked. If they aren’t fully cooked, repeat the micro-wave procedure once.
4. Add the vegetables, the tuna and the egg. Also add the vinaigrette and incorporate well. Refrigerate until use.

Serves 2, enjoy.

Bento n°5: Fried Rice & Mini Corn Cakes

Contents

• Fried rice (scroll down for recipe)
• Corn cakes (scroll down for recipe)
• Baby spinach salad with ricotta
• California roll
• Cherry tomatoes
• Little bottle of vinaigrette for the salad

What I liked about this bento

This bento allowed me to use up an incredible amount of leftovers. Over the past days I had gathered up leftovers of: ham, steamed carrots, cooked corn, rice and ricotta. It was really fun to turn those leftovers into a yummy meal. I particularly liked the fried rice, which is an awesome dish: Takes about 10 minutes to throw together, can use up almost any leftover vegetables and can be made with any sort of rice or any sort of canned/frozen vegetables.
I also liked the balance between vegetables and the rest in this bento.

What I didn’t like about this bento

The corn cakes: Were adapted from a recipe of Tim Mälzer. I liked the taste but the original recipe suggested way too much garlic for my taste. I’m going to reduce the amount considerably next time and I’m going to drop a little spoon of ricotta in the middle to soften the flavour a little, which brings us to the next point.
The ricotta on the baby spinach: Didn’t like. I ended up putting the ricotta on the corn cakes instead. The spinach leaves tasted great with the vinaigrette alone and really didn’t need the additional cheese.
Also this bento is not really made to be kept a long time before eating. We ate it about half an hour after preparation and I wouldn’t suggest eating it much later than that without fridge because the ricotta doesn’t really preserve well at room temperature. Also it’s nice if the fried rice can be heated up in the micro wave before eating as it’s best eaten hot.

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Fried Rice

Ingredients

• 1 cup of cooked rice (leftover rice works really well, I used Japonica rice)
• 1 egg
• 90g of finely diced ham or diced cooked chicken
• 100g of frozen or canned peas
• 1 carrot, cut in small pieces
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp chicken stock powder
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• vegetable oil

Preparation

1. Put the egg in a little bowl and stirr it a little with a fork to break the egg yolks and to mix them with the egg whites.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or a large pan.
3. Turn the heat to medium-low and add the eggs. Scramble it just like you would for scrambled eggs. When they are cooked (be careful not to burn them), remove them on a plate and add a little more vegetable oil to the wok.
4. Turn the heat to medium and add the onions. Cook them a little until transparent and add the carrots. Cook them for 3-4 minutes while stirring occasionally. Add the peas and continue cooking everything for 4 more minutes. Once the peas and carrots are almost soft, add the diced ham. Cook while stirring frequently for about 2 minutes (or until the peas and carrots are soft).
5. Sprinkle the stock powder over the vegetables/ham, turn the heat up to medium-high and add the rice. Incorporate the vegetables well with the rice and stir continuously while you fry the rice 2-3 minutes.
6. Add the soy sauce and the egg, mix well and remove from heat.
7. Serves 2 bento portions, enjoy.

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Corn Cakes (adapted from Essen & Trinken für jeden Tag, issue 10)

Ingredients

• 1/2 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 eggs
• 70 ml milk
• 50g flour
• salt
• chilli powder
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 70g canned corn, drained
• 2 Tbsp of olive oil

Preparation

• In a medium bowl, mix the garlic, the eggs and the milk. Add the flour slowly and incorporate well. Mix in the salt, the chilli powder and the thyme. Now fold in the corn.
• Heat up the vegetable oil in a medium sized pan. When it’s hot, turn the heat to medium and drop spoonfuls of the corn batter into the pan. Cook until golden brown from both sides and remove on a plate layered with paper towel. Continue until you use up all the batter. Sprinkle with chopped chives. Makes about 12 little cakes.
• Tip: If your cakes turn out to be shaped weirdly when you cook them in the pan, simply drop half of the mixture in the pan at once (just like a pancake) and cook it until golden brown. Once done, take a little glass and cut out little circles.

Bento n°4: Red Bean Burgers + Mac & Cheese

Contents

• Quick Mac’n Cheese (scroll down for recipe)
• Japanese Rice
• Red Bean Burgers (scroll down for recipe)
• Chicken sausages in octopus form (didn’t work very well, more about that later though)
• Tamagoyaki

When we decided to prepare a bento this morning we wanted to use up a few things that gathered up in the fridge: rice, pasta, sausages and some grated cheese. Grated cheese and pasta made me think of a quick mac’n cheese immediately. I decided to add a Tamagoyaki (rolled Japanese omelette) and octopus shaped chicken sausages. Unfortunately when I decided to use the octopus cutter I once ordered from ebay, I should have probably guessed that the cutting is supposed to be done before the cooking/frying of the sausages, so the shape can expand over heat :p Well well, the sausages do look extraordinarily amateurish but they still tasted good!

After finishing the above described components I thought that something was still missing. And I remembered a recipe I had seen on Maki’s blog (Just Bento) recently: black bean vegan burgers. I loved the idea immediately because I’m not really that much of a meat eater (especially minced meat). Unfortunately I didn’t have time to look up her recipe again, so I tossed something together myself and I’m quite happy with the result. The only thing I’d change in retrospect: buy a bottle of ketchup before making the burgers :p

Another thing that bothered me is that I didn’t get to pack more vegetables. I wanted to use up most of the left overs from the fridge so I didn’t really have a great choice, but next time I’m definately packing more green stuff!

Quick Mac’n Cheese

Ingredients

• 2 cups of cooked pasta (can be left overs, heat them up quickly in the microwave in that case)
• 1/2 Tbsp butter
• 1 generous Tbsp low-fat crème fraîche
• 2-3 Tbsp grated cheese (I used gruyère)
• salt, pepper
• 5 cherry tomatoes, cut in a half

Preparation

1. Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat
2. Add the pasta and toss a little to cover with the butter
3. Add the crème fraîche and stirr well
4. Sprinkle with the grated cheese and sirr the pasta. Keep heating the pasta until the cheese is melted.
5. Season to taste.
6. Add the cherry tomatoes towards the end and remove the pasta from the heat.
7. Serves 2.

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Red Bean Burgers (adapted from Just Hungry)

Ingredients

• 400g canned red beans
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 tsp curry powder
• salt and pepper
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp miso-paste
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• ketchup or tomato sauce to garnish

Preparation

1. In a food processor combine canned beans, shallot, curry powder, flour and miso paste. Blend until you have a rough paste (don’t blend too much). If you don’t have a food processor you can crush the beans with a masher or a spoon as well, it’s what I did.
2. Taste the paste a little and add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Cut off a piece of clingfilm and cover your hand with it. Spoon approx. 1/5 or 1/4 (depending of how big you want the burgers) of the bean paste on the clingfilm. Close the clingfilm and form a burger with your hands. Repeat until you’ve used up all the paste.
4. Heat up the olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Put the burgers in the pan and fry until golden brown.
5. Garnish with a little ketchup or tomato sauce to go with the burgers.

Makes 4-5 burgers.