Secret Ingredient* Pasta Salad

Secret Ingredient* Pasta Salad

1 cup cooked pasta cooled
1 Tablespoon minced white onion
1 Tablespoon capers
1 1/2 Tablespoons chopped roasted red bell peppers
12 black olives quartered

Gently toss all ingredients together.

In a separate bowl (I use a small Mason jar.) mixed together

1 Tablespoon mayo
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 splash white wine vinegar
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
ground pepper to taste
*plus 1 1/2 teaspoons V8

Shake like crazy and pour on pasta. Cool and serve.

Sakana on Foothill Blvd

The best Japanese restaurant in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mtns. Well, I have not tried them all, but I loved this place. The staff was super nice. The lunches were served two-tiered. Don't forget to look at the lower plate (waitstaff says to bento person Ha Ha!) 

Look at the lovely yumminess! 

Pastys

Gotta love a meat pie. Especially after a hike up a mountain.

Years ago I used to live in Santa Cruz, and there was this fabulous little eatery on River Road called the  River Inn. The River Inn specialized in meat pastys. (Not to be be confused with pasties.)

They are made with simply lovely concoctions of minced meat wrapped in pastry. We would get a few and travelled up Highway 9 to do a bit of hiking in the redwoods.

I've always like to try to recreate most meals I've enjoyed, and meat pies have been on the list since the River Inn. They are easy and a crowd pleaser. Quite successful to miniaturized too. So perfect for bento!

Recipe alert!

Miniature Chicken Pastys

one shallot, minced
three garlic cloves, minced
two medium-sized little Bella mushrooms, minced
a knob of butter

Saute the above ingredients and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Add one half of cup of minced cooked chicken breast and a couple of spoonfuls of pre-made gravy to the mixture. Stir well and place in glass bowl. Cover and put in freezer.

(When working with pastry, everything must be cold.)

Next I used pre-made pastry. I know a lot of this recipe is looking like processed food, and you can certainly make fresh pastry and gravy, but it was getting late so I cheated. And really these were meant to be fun little treats not a gourmet meal for the Queen.

Unrolled pastry and using a small round biscuit cutter (1 1/2 to 2 inch diameter) make as many discs as you can. Ball up dough, roll out, and repeat. Save a few discs at the end of process for decoration.

Lay these pastry discs on parchment on cookie sheet and retrieve meat mixture from freezer and put a small spoonful in the center of each disc.

I thank the fungi gods I got over my fungus aversion. Mushrooms cooked in butter with shallots and garlic are heavenly!

Pinching them up is a study in meditation. At first I did the classic side fold, then some that look like pot stickers, then open ones like canapes. A few were topped with pine nuts, and some got little cut out stars and flowers.

Cooked at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. I have a cool oven. Let them get a touch golden but not brown. We want a crunchy bite not a bullet.

Sorry no "after photos." You will have to view my bentos this week to see them.

These are delicious cold by the way. Pastys as summer food. Outrageous!

Rawh! Bento Box Love.

I'm thinking I might have to change the name of this blog. Or maybe start another new one all about bentos. I've been bit by the bento box love.

Normally I don't eat breakfast. If I'm home, I will start to snack around 11am. However if I'm at work, I generally bring a lunch. [The restaurant food in the town where I work is not the greatest. (No place-naming please.) Yes I like the pizza place, but I am a nibbler. A bite every hour or so, and pizza gets kind of gross if it sits around for 4 hours without a fridge (even with a fridge).] So I usually bring my lunch.

The photo above. Clockwise top left: Roasted panko chicken drumettes and pickled beets, vegetable nommies with hB egg and apricots, fruit, and peanut butter and butter STAR sammich.

Here we have "I'm Late" lunch on Wednesday. This was fun because I tried so hard to be organized. Wok the pork, zuch, and red bell pepper, fresh streamed rice with gomasio, soy egg. and other stuff, but most importantly oranges and chocolate. Guess what I ate first?

Here's my darling - but of course. Bunny bread cut outs with butter and peanut butter and chocolate ears. I ate the ears and put together the bunnies for a sandwich. Dates, apricots, pickles, red bell peppers, and hB egg. Hello Kitty!

Beginnings Of Bento Box Lunches

I don't know why but I can eat tons more carrots if they are shaped like flowers. Here is Day One of Bento Box. I am using a Mr. Bento. 1. Oatmeal 2. Steamed rice with cooked pork (cut from baby back ribs) and carrots, lightly steamed 3. Cut nectarines, dried apricots, fresh blueberries 4. A soy hard boiled egg, one Bubbies pickle, two cherry tomatoes, and a teeny container of soy sauce (has the red top and it's in the shape of a fish).

Note that Mr. Bento is four containers that stand vertically inside a Thermos type container. Either it's a hot meal or a cold meal. I put hot water in the oatmeal right before I left for work. The residual heat kept the rice dish warm.
They call it Mr. Bento for a reason, I told The Mister. He opened his wide mouth like the wide mouth type Thermos that holds four separate containers. I told him - That's a lot of food. He made groper-type mouth movements. What a brat! Day two of Mr. Bento lunch: shown here only two dishes. 1. Teriyaki chicken with Shitake mushrooms and broc 2. (not shown) steamed rice 3. (not shown) plum slices, blueberries, dried apricots 4. hard boiled egg with salt and three cherry tomatoes.
Day three of first week of Bento Box Badness ( and my last day of work for the week ) I used my Hello Kitty Bento Box. Very very cute! Two layers tall with dividers (must not let food touch) and comes with chopsticks too. Bottom level: string cheese, croutons, blueberries, dried apricots. Upper level: cut off the bone teriyaki chicken (Yum!), two cherry tomatoes, and one hard boiled egg (I forgot the salt. boohoo). All served cold.

Lessons learn.

1. Do not mix brassicas with anything in a container. Must be separate because they emit a gas that is not good for appetite.

2. Oatmeal doesn't really work.

3. Slice the pickle.

4. Cold blueberries will make crisp croutons soggy.

5. Don't forget salt or utensils, silly.

6. Bento boxing is fun!