Happy Bento Friday!

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Today’s bento is a smoked bratwurst bento. A sampling of four different brats smoked with cherry and apple woods. Clockwise from the top: green onion, cheddar, philly cheesesteak, and blueberry. They’re on a bed of jasmine rice cooked in a beef and veggie stock. Comes with sides of hash browns, honey mustard broccoli, and raspberries and blueberries. いただきます。

Smoked Brats

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For this bento, I picked out four different kinds of brats from my local meat market/butcher’s shop at Fareway. Blueberry, green onion, philly cheesesteak, and cheddar brats. I lightly rubbed each brat with EV olive oil and smoked them for 52 minutes at 275F. Makes for a lovely textured casing and a well cooked and slightly smokey flavour. You will need a smoker or to otherwise be able to smoke to make these. Grilling them or cooking them in a pan are alternatives.

Honey Mustard Broccoli

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This is a pretty simple steaming and then cooking of broccoli in a honey mustard glaze. The recipe can be found here.

Hashbrowns

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To make good hashbrowns, run potatoes through your favourite shredder. Then soak the shredded potato in water until the excess starch is out of it. (Or use pre-shredded potatoes from the supermarket) Then cook in a pan or on a flattop. The key to making good hashbrowns is to be patient and let them sit to get some good colour.

Stock Flavoured Rice

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Steam your rice like normal, but cook it in a stock or broth instead. Can use a homemade broth, or like I did here, make one with better than bouillon.