#29 - Asparagus and enoki mushroom beef wraps

Asparagus and enoki mushroom beef wrap with watercress, coconut-seeped rice, sweet pickled cucumbers and fish cakes.

You can't really see the enoki all that well, and they really aren't bold enough to stand up very well in this dish. The pickled cucumbers I made with the following recipe:

http://nourishnetwork.com/2010/07/14/spicy-sweet-pickled-cucumbers/.

It was really easy and I like the results a lot.


The jar of pickled cucumbers I made

A Man's Bento #28

Stir-fry pork with green onions and mushrooms in a srirancha/teriyaki sauce, rice with furikake, bok choy, and carrots and gobo (burdick root) boiled in sake, mirin and soy sauce (which I hated and did not eat more than the first bite).

Braised Chicken Thighs

The braised chicken thigh I made for dinner the previous night. I braised the chicken getting some color on it, then added wine, srirancha, olive oil, garlic and onions.

I made a quick salad, added some chicken corn chowder, kumquats from my parents yard and mandarin oranges. A very enjoyable meal.

A Man's Bento #26

Teriyaki chicken with shitaki mushroom rice, stir-fry mixed vegetables and roma tomato salad.

The rice is first rinsed, then soaked with dry shitaki mushrooms. The soaking water is used to cook the rice (along with the mushrooms). I usually toss the mushrooms, as they are very chewy and not that flavorful, but the rice is now infused with the mushroom flavor, which is a bit bitter, the perfect foil for the sweet teriyaki chicken.

Pork stir-fry and Udon

Pork stir-fry (pork, carrots, mushrooms, onion with a ginger-soy-Sriracha sauce). Steamed broccoli, cold udon noodles with black sesame, celery and mandarin oranges.

Beef Bourguignon

Beef Bourguignon, with noodles, broccoli and carrots. This bento took just a few minutes to make as the Beef Bourguignon was from CostCo (and I really do not recommend it - flavor was okay, but it was kind of mushy). A filling, but not very exciting meal.

Breakfast Bento

Today I made my first breakfast bento. A cheese omelet with some sliced ham, grits, hash browns, broccoli and salsa. Not sure it really held up all that great, but it was okay.