Roasted Chicken and Broccoli Bento Box

Today’s featured bento box contains two roasted items, chicken and broccoli.  I’m going to write about the broccoli first ?because it’s the more exciting part of this bento?and save the boring chicken recipe for last.

The name of the recipe is “The Best Broccoli of Your Life”  presented by  “Amateur Gourmet” which I found while stumbling around…”StumbleUpon”!  I love this site and I must point out that it’s this site where I first discovered “Just Bento” .   Anyway, when I read the broccoli recipe I knew it was going to be a hit at our house because it’s from one of my favorite television chefs , “The Barefoot Contessa” !   In fact,  I think we ate this 3 or 4 days in a row!  

Here’s an excerpt of the recipe and article by Amateur Gourmet:

You preheat the oven to 425.

Take 4 to 5 pounds of broccoli (I just got two large bunches), cut into florets (but relatively big ones.) Here’s the key that she doesn’t mention in the recipe: dry them THOROUGHLY. That is, if you wash them. I saw an episode of Julia Child cooking with Jacques Pepin once when Pepin revealed he doesn’t wash a chicken before putting it in a hot oven: “The heat kills all the germs,” he said in his French accent. “If bacteria could survive that oven, it deserves to kill me.” By that logic, then, I didn’t wash my broccoli; I wanted it to get crispy and brown. If you’re nervous, though, just wash and dry it obsessively.

Now, it’s easy. Put the broccoli on a cookie sheet. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. (She says 5 Tbs olive oil, 1 1/2 tsps kosher salt, 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper, but I just eyeballed it.) Now add 4 garlic cloves that are peeled and sliced and toss them in too.

Roast in the oven 20 to 25 minutes, until “crisp-tender and the tips of some of the florets are browned.”

I shook the pan around a bit as it went, but not sure that’s necessary.

When it’s done, take it out of the oven–and here’s where it gets really good–zest a lemon over the broccoli, squeeze the lemon juice over the broccoli, add 1.5 Tbs more olive oil, 3 Tbs toasted pine nuts (I left those out), and 1/3 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. She also has you add 2 Tbs julienned fresh basil, but I left that out too.

hapa bento back in.

The broccoli in today’s bento box however is missing the cheese because I didn’t feel like schlepping through the rain and cold to get some.  When you cook and pack bento as late in the night as I do, there are many adjustments and this recipe does  hold it’s own without the parmesan.   But it’s WAY better with the cheese.   I want to also stress the importance of roasting the broccoli while it’s completely dry.  I mean really dry.  Otherwise it will not get crispy. Any moisture and the broccoli will instead steam.

Now on to the boring chicken.   I rubbed mashed garlic and finely chopped Italian herbs (parsley,sage, rosemary) all over the thighs then roasted (single layer)  in the toaster oven at 350 degrees  for 20 minutes.   See… not nearly as exciting as the broccoli.

There’s also a  few slices of red bell pepper (again roasted) tucked into  the box for it’s vibrant color and because the flavor compliments both the chicken and broccoli. 

My regret about this bento is the use of white rice.   I wish I would of taken the time to cook some potatoes  instead of quickly reheating from my frozen stash.   Even brown rice would of been a better choice.  

Hmmm… I guess this chicken isn’t the most boring after all .  It’s definitely the rice.