Eggs In A Basket

The dish called Eggs In A Basket, also known as Toad In The Hole (at least to some of us in the U.S.) is a piece of bread with a shape cut out of the center of the bread, and an egg fried inside of that hole. Toad In The Hole in the UK is sausage cooked in a Yorkshire pudding type batter. This bento features a mini version of Eggs In A Basket.

Also in this bento: fried shishito peppers (similar to padron peppers) and orange cherry tomatoes from Crescent Moon Farms, Toad In The Hole decorated with a few black sesame seeds, a sprig of purslane, radishes from Triple T Ranch, baby carrots, half of a Gravenstein Apple from Walker Apples, and two turkey patties (they are still frozen in this pic).

Beverage Pairing Suggestion: Since I usually call this dish Toad In The Hole, a glass of Toad Hollow Vineyard wine is a perfect match! Toad Hollow makes a stainless steel Chardonnay that is crisp and great with fried foods, like the fried peppers and Toad In The Hole. It will also work well with the turkey patties (after they thaw out!), and its crisp flavor and nice acidity should balance well with the fruits and veggies.

Froggy Bento

No frogs were harmed in the making of this bento. Aaaag! Isn't this the cutest thing evah!?! I picked up this bento box at Uwajimaya in Seattle. And of course, I had to fill it with frog onigiri. This idea came from a wonderful new book that I also picked up at Uwajimaya, called Yum-Yum Bento Box. If you are interested in learning how to do bento boxes, I really recommend this book. It has so many great ideas.

To make the frog onigiri, I tinted the rice with green food coloring, and used my teddybear onigiri mold to make the frog faces. Their eyes are provolone cheese and nori, nori smiles, and black sesame seed noses. There are also carrots, arugula, a radish and sugar snap peas from Crescent Moon Farms, and chicken nuggets.

The frog bento box has an upper compartment with a air tight lid, and I put in some overly ripe mango slices (they kind of turned to mush), and cherries from the farmers market, with a little slice of lime.

Wine Pairing Suggestion: This is a fairly light, and definitely fruity (and completely silly) bento lunch, so how about some bubbly? What could be better with a frog-themed bento box lunch, than a glass of Toad Hollow Vineyards Amplexus Crémant Brut Sparkling Wine? It's toadally delicious. And the folks at Toad Hollow have great senses of humor, which would pair so well with this lunch.