Bento n°18: Polenta Crusted Chicken
Mar0
Oh, what a horrible picture… better ones to come soon - promise!
Contents:
- Japanese rice with chicken, carrots and aburaage
- Steamed brussel sprouts
- Finely shredded thin omelette
- Polenta crusted chicken
Today is a sinister day indeed as I decided to let go of the dear camera that has so far accompanied me on my culinary adventures. Unfortunately it’s been a while since I noticed that the camera was ailing. The pictures, as you probably have noticed, are completely blurred and I simply don’t manage to arrange enough lighting in the room for the camera to stop taking my movements into account. Even pictures that I take outside are not as sharp as I’d like them to be but I have to say that I’m not the least bit surprised. After all, I had bought the thing for 99 Euros at a department store and at the time I didn’t even think about using it for food photography. So yes, I decided that it was high time to stop disappointing myself and my readers with blurred pictures and as far as my investigations go, I found out that my dear husband is maybe going to offer me a new camera for my birthday on March 14 but pssst, it’s all top secret still!
The bento that you see above was assembled rather quickly as I’m still struggling to get enough time to even cook properly. What’s great about it is that you can prepare it with a minimum of dishes. I used the rice cooker to make the chicken/aburaage rice and I added the steaming container on top to cook the brussel sprouts at the same time. Apart from that I only used a frying pan for the polenta crusted chicken which I managed to coat and fry while the rice was cooking. You might wonder what aburaage is and sadly it’s one of those things you can only find in bigger Asian supermarkets. Basically it’s deep fried tofu slices which are often canned and preserved in a sweet-savory sauce (it’s those brown little bags that are used for Inari sushi). You can sometimes find them in shops that are specialized in Japanese ingredients but don’t be surprised if they ask 4-5 euros for a little can, but hey, once in a while…
I won’t add a recipe for the polenta crusted chicken because it’s really just chicken coated first in flour, then egg, then polenta (then fried). But when you choose the corn flour (or polenta) for this, be sure to choose the one with the smallest grains and be sure to cook it in enough oil, else the grains will be too crunchy.
Japanese Rice with Chicken, Carrot, Aburaage (Inspired by Bento Boxes, Japanese meals on the go)
- 2 cups uncooked Japanese rice, washed
- 1 small carrot, julienned
- 100g of aburaage, julienned
- 100g chicken, diced
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp mirin
- 1/2 Tbsp sake
Put the rice into your rice cooker and add the soy sauce, mirin and sake. Add enough water so it reaches the usual 2-cup mark. Place the other ingredients on top of the rice and turn on your rice cooker. Once the rice is cooked stir in the ingredients from the top and add seasoning to taste. Serves 4, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds for example.
Bento n°17: Gnocci & Tomato Relish
Feb0
Contents:
- Gnocchi
- Tomato relish
- Snow-pea stir-fry with soy sauce and chili flakes
- Mini sandwich with salad and lettuce
Ah yes, sweet student life, whenever you think you have a little time to yourself something comes up and you end up spending your holidays busy with random stuff. Like we have this fabulous internship coming up for April. Normally universities, especially here in France, try to incorporate as many internships as possible in the study program for both bachelor and master degrees. Personally I don’t question the necessity of internships and they are absolutely crucial after several semesters of acquiring theoretical knowledge, which, in all honesty, is mostly useless for your future professional career. Yes, the intentions of universities are indeed honorable, but when reality strikes in, you often find yourself stuck in a small company that tries to replace full-time workers by chain hiring interns. Some of my friends at university have to work under abominable conditions, yet they still can deem themselves lucky to have found some sort of working experience to validate their semester. As a student, especially here in France at a public university, it’s difficult sometimes not to lose your motivation when all the support you get is “make it work” from your professors. But hey, all of this is just to make us a stronger, right? Right!
Anyway, enough ranting, let’s get back to business. This bento was quickly made with left-over gnocchi and a tomato relish (the recipe is from one of Jamie Oliver’s cook books). The sandwich and the snow-pea stir-fry are really nothing special. I really liked the taste of the tomato relish with the gnocchi but one must be very careful with packing the relish. It tends to be rather liquid so a leak-proof container with a compartment that can separate gnocchi from relish is needed. Overall I’m not quite happy with the presentation and I’d really like to get back to making more elaborate bentos but for now I’ve got almost no spare time 
Recipe section
Tomato relish
Ingredients
- 100 ml vinegar (the lightest one you have)
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 shallot, sliced
- 400g cherry tomatoes, chopped
- salt, pepper
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
Preparation
In a small saucepan combine vinegar, sugar and the shallot. Bring to a boil and reduce to half at least. Then add the cherry tomatoes and let them get hot. Remove from heat immediately and season with salt, pepper and olive oil.
Serves 2-3. Can accompany various things like pasta or meat dishes.
Bento n°16: Miso Chicken Donburi
Feb0
Today I tried a recipe from Naomi Kijima’s bento cookbook “Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go
Still I don’t think that the book is useless at all. Actually you can use many recipes and simply make your own variations. For instance if I would substitute burdock root with celery (I’m sure celery doesn’t even come close to the taste but hey), my husband wouldn’t notice. And if he does reclaim burdock root he can try to search for it himself next time we go to our local Asian supermarket. (Good luck with that)
The book can be a great inspiration, especially if you’d like examples for bento that can be brought to a rather serious working environment. Miss Kitty boxes and pirate ship scenes with rice ball monsters and octopus wieners certainly have a kawaii effect, but if bento are really your every day meal at work you might have to resort to something more sober and the recipes in ‘Bento Boxes’ are a great example for that (minus burdock roots and the likes!).
Site moved!
Feb0
I finally managed to move the old site (http://petitebiscotte.blogspot.com) to this wordpress powered site. The basic transfer is done, now a lot of adjustments especially in terms of presentation and design have to be made. That means a lot of changes are incoming over the next week, so stay tuned!
A few interesting posts for bento fans
Feb0
During the last two weeks I didn’t get much time to post but I managed to keep reading my favorite blogs and some very interesting things have been posted:
Biggie over at Lunch in a Box updated her link section (click here) with a lot of new bento blogs/sites. Over the past year or two the trend seems to have spread and there are so many bento blogs now, it’s amazing!
For everyone that lives in Europe and especially in France it might be very difficult sometimes to come buy Japanese articles such as bento boxes or cooking utensils. Ichiban Kan is a Japanese discount dollar store that has several subsidiaries all over America. You can get all those great colorful articles from Japan there for very cheap. Unfortunately in Europe there is no such store yet. But luckily thanks to Biggie on Lunch in a Box, I found out that Ichiban Kan is opening an online store. Check out Ichiban Kan’s blog for more info. Bento Toys r Us, yay!
Did you ever hear of furikake? No? (And I’m sorry to disappoint but it’s nothing filthy I’m getting at) Furikake is a topping for rice that can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge. You can assemble bentos very quickly in the morning with it and most of the time it enhances the looks of the bento greatly. Maki at Just Bento made a few great posts about several furikake recipes. They are a great help, especially if you don’t have much time.
One last AWESOME thing I discovered for bento lovers is this flickr community, which is very active and frequently updated with bento pictures. There are so many that you couldn’t watch all of them in a whole day! Me likes.
That’s it so far, more to come soon!
Bento n°15: Red Bean Rice & Teriyaki Salmon
Feb0
Exams are finally over!!
I can’t believe that I’m still alive :p I have shadows under the eyes the size of apples, my stove hasn’t been used in two weeks and my cat is deliberately ignoring me because he didn’t get any attention for some time now… But the first thing I did when everything was over was shopping fresh ingredients and making a nice bento which I had for lunch. What a treat after a fortnight of processed foods and salad
Contents of this bento:
- Red bean rice with sesame seeds
- Tamagoyaki
- Snowpeas
- Teriyaki fried Salmon
Verdict:
The bento was quite nice, I enjoyed the red bean rice the most, however next time I’ll have to be more careful with the amount of liquid I put into the rice cooker. With the cooking liquid from the red beans and the soy sauce there was slightly too much, so the rice was a tad on the mushy side (which I hate but my husband likes so that was ok).
Nothing special about the salmon beside that I didn’t like the taste of the Teriyaki sauce. Last time I went to the Japanese shop around here I bought one from Kikkoman, which I had great expectations for which unfortunately were not met. I think I’m going back to making it on my own next time.
Snow-peas were a little bland (think I’m going to add some chili flakes or soy sauce next time). The tamagoyaki on the other hand turned out really well. I’m happy about that one because I managed to make it in a round pan. So far I’ve bought three rectangular frying pans. Yes, three (unfortunately from the same brand because of a lack of choice), and after the first use the non-stick coating of the pans always stopped working (and I didn’t use anything but a plastic spatula inside it). During the second use the egg started to stick so badly that I couldn’t even have gotten it off with a shovel. That means back to good old round pan and it worked!
————–
Red Bean Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups of uncooked Japanese rice
- 1/2 - 1 cup of cooked red beans with two Tbsp of the red water they cooked in (you can use canned beans as well or you can precook the beans on the weekend and just use them for this recipe during the week)
- 2 Tbsp of soy sauce
__________
- Wash the rice according to these instructions and put it in your rice cooker. Add the red bean water to it and the soy sauce. Now fill the pot with water until you reach the usual liquid mark for 2 cups.
- Turn the rice cooker on and proceed as usual.
- When done, serve with toasted sesame seeds for example. Serves 2.
Bento n°14: Fried Rice / Riz frit
Jan0
Another speed post (I’m sorry), exams aren’t over yet:
Contents:
- Fried Rice
- Baked Broccoli with Gruyère
- Cherry Tomatoes
- 2 Red Bean Burgers
——–
Et oui, encore un article abrégé, les examens ne sont pas encore terminés:
Contenu
- Riz frit
- Brocoli gratiné au gruyère
- Tomates cerise
- 2 Steaks de haricots rouges
5 Speed Tips for Bentos
Jan0
Exams take their toll on students, not only mentally but actually physically as well. Personally, I have to ressort to take-out / fast food / sandwiches just to be able to eat anything (we really have that little time). I really loath this and I feel unhealthy during this period: I’m tired, don’t have much energy and am simply unsatisfied after every meal.
I’m still trying to squeeze in a bento every now and then and I wouldn’t be able to do so without my speed tips:
1. Plan your bento on the way home from work.
When you take the bus or the car to drive back home you probably have a minute or two to yourself. Use that time to plan your bento! Think about what you have in the fridge, what needs to be used, what you FEEL like eating and compose your imaginary bento. If necessary you can even stop by the supermarket and fetch a few ingredients on the way.
2. Cook more or cook in advance.
Once you come home you’ll have to eat anyway, so why not make more of what you eat tonight so you can put some in your bento for tomorrow (given the fact that you make something preservable)? That’s catching two birds with one stone. If you have the main dish already ready for your bento, the other components come together really quickly. There are also great dishes that can be cooked in advance and that preserve really well for up to a week in the fridge. More recipes for such dishes coming soon.
3. The principle of 3.
My bentos mostly have 3 components: Main dish, side dish, additions (decoration/dessert/condiments). If you think like that you are limited in the number of dishes you have to put together, which will prevent you from drifting away too much and cooking up too many things. Try to keep it simple and don’t stuff your bento with too many things, you can always get fancier when you have time.
4. Think about your bentos while shopping.
You can buy great things that are available in every supermarket to stuff your bentos quickly. A few examples: cherry tomatoes, little cheeses, canned foods (say what you want, I don’t find it a shame to use a canned foods once in a while), pickles, frozen vegetables (can be steamed quickly in the microwave), nuts, sweets or crackers in satchets, grapes etc. The trick is, you must stimply think about picking those things up while you shop.
5. Freeze in portions.
When you have rice left over (while it’s still hot) or any other type of food that freezes well, don’t just stuff everything in one bag. Measure 1-cup portions and freeze them individually. This will speed things up greatly because there is nothing more time consuming than trying to chop off one portion from a frozen chunk.
Bento n°13: Pan-fried Tortellini with Pepper Relish / Des tortellinis poêlées avec un mélange de poivrons
Jan0
Soon I’m going to be done with exams, then I’ll get to post much more. I really want to include a few recipes for things I posted during this busy period and I’d also like to make more general posts about quick filler dishes for bento that you can store in the fridge and use when needed. For now only the list of contents (recipes coming soon):
- Tortellini with tricolor pepper relish
- Colorful salad (lettuce, red beans, cherry tomatoes)
- 1 mini-doughnut (filled with apple sauce)
- Miss-Kitty container with vinaigrette
This pepper relish is actually something that normally doesn’t go with pasta… it’s a great stand-alone dish that you can prepare ahead of time and use up over the week. Today I tried to mix it with pasta - surprisingly the taste was quite good! I think it mixes really well with rice too. The relish is made by cutting up 1 pepper of each color (green, red, yellow) and simmering them in a sugar/vinegar reduction with onions or shallots. More detailed recipe soon, if I’m still alive after the exams :p
—————–
En français:
La fin des examens approche et bientôt j’aurai plus de temps pour écrire sur mon petit blog! J’aimerais vraiment publier les recettes pour certains des plats que j’ai montrés ici pendant cette période stressante. De plus j’aimerais écrire des articles plus généraux sur des petits plats que vous pouvez cuisiner en avance pour les utiliser tout au long de la semaine dans des bentos. Voici donc la liste du contenu de cette bento (les recettes à suivre très bientôt!):
- Tortellinis avec un mélange de poivrons à trois couleurs
- Salade colorée (feuilles de laitue, haricots rouges, tomates cerise)
- 1 mini beignet (parfum: pomme)
- Mini pot “Miss Kitty”, rempli de vinaigrette
Normalement le mélange de poivrons ne se mange pas avec des pâtes… c’est un magnifique petit plat appart que l’on peut cuisiner en avance pour ensuite l’utiliser tout au long de la semaine dans des bentos. Aujourd’hui j’ai tenté de combiner ces poivrons avec des tortellinis et en fait c’était plutôt bon! Je pense que les poivrons vont également très bien avec du riz. Pour le mélange il vous faut un poivron de chaque couleur (vert, rouge, jaune) que vous coupez en tranches et puis vous les faites revenir dans une réduction de sucre et de vinaigre avec des oignons ou des échalotes. Je posterai une recette plus détaillée bientôt, si je sors vivante des examens
Bento no°12: Tempura Fried Vegetables / Tempura de légumes
Jan1
I’m sorry for the lack of posts lately, I’m still very busy with exams. I did manage to make this bento today though, so I’m posting it quickly, without the usual wall of text! But fear not, I’m eager to start babbling again as soon as I get a bit more time Oh and I decided to add a french section to my posts as I seem to get a lot of visitors from France lately.
Contents
Japanese rice with salt and toasted sesame seeds
Tamagoyaki
Miss Kitty container with vinaigrette
Cherry tomatoes & mozzarella salad
Tempura fried vegetables
————-
En français:
Contenu
Riz japonais avec du sel et des graines de sésame grillées
Tamagoyaki (Omelette japonaise roulée)
Mini-pot “Miss Kitty” rempli de vinaigrette
Tomates cerises et mozzarella en salade
Tempura de légumes
