Lets go south of the border... No farther south.


Today we go into South America for our bento. This was a hurry up offense menu creation. I was away for a business trip and didn't have much time to plan or decide on what to make, let alone figuring out if I'd make it within budget (Still working on that for this week's bentos). Somewhere in the back of my head, I decided I wanted to grill something, it all moved forward from there.

A popular favorite when I grill at a party is the matambre. I believe literally translated from it's Argentinean origins means "hunger killer". It's basically a flank steak roulade with carrots, bell peppers, kielbasa, romano cheese, ham, and celery, rolled up and grilled for about 2 hours. Unfortunately the cut that i got didn't stand up to grilling that I usually do so the matambre was both smaller and ended up a little dryer than usual. The Chimmichurri sauce helped with that.

For the sides I put together a Peruvian chickpea stew and a spicy tomato rice. From the feedback of my wife, it seemed the stew was a pretty good hit. The complex flavors of spices made it a big winner amongst my diners.




The rice was also very flavorful but I think it missed a few points because a couple of the diners were not big on spicy foods.


Finally I have an Argentinean empanada, it's a flavorful mixture of beef, onions and raisins. Turns out this was the hit of the Bento box for this time around. Although, it was the most labor intensive of all of the items, I was able to make quite a few extra to sock away in the freezer for when I start recycling, or if the wife and I get hit with an attack of the munchies

Box contents:
  • Matambre with chimmichurri sauce
  • Argentinean Empanada
  • Spicy tomato rice
  • Peruvian chickpea

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