One of the best ways to keep your bento-making efficient is to start thinking about it the night before, when cooking dinner. You can often begin setting aside ingredients to use the following day if you plan ahead and cook a bit extra. In today's bento I have used leftover roasted asparagus from the previous night's dinner. Chilling overnight seems to bring out an incredible sweetness in the spears, which were simply caramelized in the oven after tossing with a bit of olive oil and sea salt.
From top, clockwise: pomegranate quarter. Bottom: container of Sesame Season-All, quartered kiwi, cherry tomatoes, chunks of surimi simply sprinkled with lemon juice, and roasted asparagus spears.
Sesame Season-All
We use this seasoning on everything. It's packed with rich, roasted sesame flavor and B vitamins from the cheesy nutritional yeast. Try it on popcorn! Incredible.
1/4 cup roasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 Tablespoon each: garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, powdered parsley
1 teaspoon each: powdered marjoram, rosemary, sage, sea salt
Combine in herb grinder, minus one Tablespoon sesame seeds set aside. Grind to a consistent powder. Add reserved sesame seeds and mix. Put in a shaker container with holes large enough for the sesame seeds to pass through.
