Week Two of the Weekly Bento Challenge is New Recipe!

I wasn’t sure what to make, but then my wife found me this recipe for Mushroom Marsala Pasta Bake on the reliably fantastic Smitten Kitchen (see also: ginger-carrot dressing, crispy sweet potatoes with shallots, apple pie, and green bean fennel salad). I made it tonight, and it’s just unbelievably delicious. Instead of chicken broth, I used Essence of Champingnon Gold mushroom reduction, and the Opici Marsala the wine guy recommended turned out to be absolutely perfect. Not sure how I’m gonna use up the rest of the bottle, but I’ll figure something out. Anyway, it’s amazing. Savory, rich without being heavy, full of that ineffable onion-and-mushroom magic. Definitely going into regular rotation.

That Annie’s buttermilk dressing I posted last week was curdled or something (boo), so I threw out the bottle and got some roasted tomato balsamic vinaigrette. I felt bad about wasting it and thought about going back to our regular homemade balsamic vinaigrette, but with as many salads as I put in my bento (this week is a mache blend), I gotta find some way to keep ‘em interesting, and dressings are my main option for variety. Though we did get a container of spicy pickled carrots from our farm share this week, which was pretty exciting!