New Ingredients: Miso, Kabocha, and Shitake

Making bento has really inspired me to try new foods, especially Japanese ones! While at the Korean market a few weeks ago, I picked up a big tub of white miso, a smallish kabocha squash, and a package of fresh shitake mushrooms. I had been reading about miso on Just Hungry and although I have had miso soup at Japanese restaurants, I have never tried cooking with it. For my first miso attempt, I modified this recipe and simmered some cubes of kabocha in a miso, ginger, garlic, soy, and brown sugar broth. After just 15 minutes, the squash was delightfully tender and almost creamy. The broth was addictive and I couldn't stop drinking it straight from the pot!

Next, I used the miso to flavor a stir-fry of pork and shitake mushrooms. While the miso by itself had an overwhelmingly salty flavor (and this is the mild kind!), the saltiness was toned down nicely when blended with the rest of the ingredients. I combined the miso pork stir-fry with the kabocha in a variety of ways:

kabocha, curry tuna onigiri, miso pork/shitake, grape tomatoes, seckel pear (so cute and tiny!)


miso pork/shitake, kabocha, furikake mixed onigiri on a bed of edamame


pork/shitake and kabocha with soba in miso broth

Finally, I made a dish to showcase the fresh shitakes - mushroom risotto with shitake, button mushrooms, lots of shallots, and fresh thyme. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough arborio rice so I added some short-grain Japanese rice and some of the kernels didn't seem to cook enough so some bits were extra chewy! Whoops...

Top: bratwurst, tomato/mozzarella skewers
Bottom: mushroom risotto
Side: raspberry cookies and freeze-dried mango

Food in Color

I couldn't resist sharing the bounty from my local farmer's market with its gorgeous palette. The colors make my usual meals seem gray and lifeless. Unfortunately, the potato lurking in the back was SUPPOSED to be a purple sweet potato (Okinawan) but turned out to be yellow. :( Still tasted great!

I also picked up fresh beans for the first time. These were labeled birds egg beans but, using my expert Googling skills, I discovered that they are more commonly known as borlotti or cranberry beans. They were delicious simmered till tender, then tossed with bacon, garlic, red pepper, and pasta.

The colors inspired me to include more color in my bentos. I am particularly proud of this one:

Top: Sauteed peppers, hash browns with carrot flower
Bottom: Edamame, carrot sticks, ham/cheese rollups, golden grape tomato, mayo/mustard mix in the container

Fish Burgers and Cakes

Maki over at Just Bento posted a tuna/tofu burger recipe back in April. I finally got around to trying it but with oyster sauce instead of miso. (I've been meaning to pick up miso at my local Asian grocery store but haven't had the time to venture farther than Harris Teeter!) They were still pretty good and especially cute in bear, heart, and star shapes! I ate a few right away and packed some more in a couple of bentos, including the one seen in this post, but I still have a few waiting in the freezer...

tuna/tofu burgers browning in the pan

Soon after this experiment, I had some frozen tilapia-esque fish (not sure of the name) begging to be used. I baked two almond-crusted fillets, ate one for dinner that night and planned to use the second fillet as-is in a bento. Unfortunately, the almond crust wasn't quite as tasty as I had envisioned and I found myself dreading more mediocre fish for lunch. The solution? Fish cakes!

I found some interesting looking recipes for Thai fish cakes with curry and fish sauce, so I improvised and made my own version with a beaten egg, panko breadcrumbs, fish sauce, curry powder, and green onion. I was really pleased with how they turned out and they were the perfect size for fitting into a bento!

curry fish cakes over fettucine alfredo with slivered almonds, roasted zucchini, cherry tomatoes

There are still a couple fish cakes leftover, keeping company with my tuna/tofu burgers, and I think maybe this week they will make another appearance! Mmm, I sense some tasty lunches on the horizon...

A Couple More Bentos

I have a post coming up about the tuna/tofu burgers from the previous post, but for now here is a picture of a couple recent bentos:

edamame, paprika chicken, mashed potatoes



top: cheez-its, 100-calorie pack carrot cakes (so cute but not that tasty), peachy gummy, Hershey's milk chocolate with almonds
bottom: beef and bean chili


a makeshift two-tier bento box with two small containers held together by an onigiri bento band

Trying New Things

I like to think I'm a pretty adventurous eater, but my forays into new and unique foods are typically contained to restaurant eating. I rarely buy new types of food when grocery shopping, preferring to stick to my staple vegetables, meats, pasta, etc. But once in a while, something will catch my eye and I'll be compelled to buy it even if I don't have any idea what to do with it!

This time, it was figs. I don't think I'd ever had a fresh fig before. In fact, the only form of a fig I'd ever had was probably in a Fig Newton. I had never even SEEN a fresh fig until Harris Teeter had them in stock last week, a pile of gorgeous black mission and brown turkey figs, three for 99 cents! I bought three of each type and stuck them in the fridge pending further research for good fig recipes. I soon realized the ideal way to eat them was as-is, without any embellishment.

brown turkey figs (black mission behind)

I tried a black mission fig first. Mine were perhaps a touch on the overripe side, but the sugary taste was undeniably satisfying. The brown turkey figs were a better texture but not as sweet. Having had a taste as-is, I decided to try them with cheese. I broiled a few with slices of parmesan cheese on top, then drizzled them with honey. The honey improved the taste of the brown turkey figs while the sharp flavor of the cheese paired nicely with the sweet black mission figs. But ultimately, I think I prefer them fresh.

I'm happy to say I've now had fresh figs and perhaps I'll had a couple more weeks to enjoy them before they quickly go out of season! I even managed to incorporate them into a bento:

top: raspberry cookies in the lid
middle: corn, tuna/tofu burgers, soy sauce
bottom: figs and edamame