Fall with Old Friends Bento

Yeah I know I'm really shoehorning in a theme this week. Another fall themed bento, this time I found a way to cook for my old audience. One of them lives very close by so I can drop my boxes off on the way to work. That's right folks, I'm officially up to 12 total eaters, my next few bentos will prove educational on scaling recipes. For today, I only needed to cook for three, my work just moved offices downtown so there was no way to know where or how I would be bringing food to the office, we'll see if I'm able to standup to the logistics of cooking for two destinations and 12 hungry eaters.

I decided on a set of fallish themed dishes. This time I had to clear out some things in the fridge and take the time to research what I was going to produce. So I had plenty of time to put together a plan and really think about cohesive themes. But the most important part was to use up some of the stuff I had stocked up. Which brings us to the main entree: Spiced Crab Cakes. I had some unopened tubs of crab from the ravioli's I did earlier and I am fairly amazed how long pasteurized cooked crab will hold in the fridge (months). Fairly simple deal on these amazing little treats, combined in some breadcrumbs and fresh basil from the garden spices and egg. I usually shape my crab cakes by hand, but saw a tip recently to use a simple measuring cup (1/3 cup to be precise) to help shape the perfect crabcake. A simple pan fry on the pan and we have our crab cakes. I was originally going to add a spicy aioli but upon tasting, there was enough going on that it really wasn't necessary and may have detracted from the flavors I built in the cakes.

Next, had to find a use for some of the frozen goat cheese in my freezer. I decide to put together a really simple mushroom bruschetta. The goat cheese could help form a barrier to keep the toasted bread from getting soggy and work double duty to help the mushrooms stick to the bread. The garlic and herbs in the goat cheese were the perfect perky taste to complement the earthy woodsy mushrooms.




Time to bring some green into the picture. There's been a nice broccoli slaw that I clipped into my notebook to keep in my "future bento" file, and I had just enough mayo and shallots lying around that this would probably do the trick. This inspiration came from one of my many blogs I watch, thank you Smitten Kitchen for the original inspiration. I'm not sure how this would play with my eaters. The slaw itself has a pretty strong raw broccoli taste and smell. I could probably have done with a little stronger vinegar component to punctuate the dressing.


I had two large cartons of chicken broth sitting around which screams soup, perfect timing since there has been a nice chill from a hazy stormy weekend. I whipped up a simple Potato Leek soup. The potato lent a creamy texture which negated any need for cream and I skimped on the butter to make this a pretty healthy dish. A quick hit on the immersion blender and I was good to go.


Finally, I decided to make some snickerdoodles. I was out of regular all purpose flour, so I kicked in the Gluten free AP mix I've been using. Surprisingly this made some pretty good cookies. I could tell it was gluten free flour, but it really just only changed the texture a bit and made it crunchier. I go both ways on cookies, crunchy or chewy depends on the mood. In this case it made for a perfect coffee dipping cookie that the folks here at work happily snapped up when I brought in the extras.


I'm very glad I've found a way to cook for my old audience. They seemed to really enjoy lunch, and of course I enjoy cooking for them. More blogging events coming soon, heavy posting week this week so stay tuned.

Box Contents

• Spicy Crab Cakes
• Mushroom and Goat Cheese Bruschetta
• Broccoli Slaw
• Potato Leek Soup
• Gluten Free Snickerdoodles