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Posts Tagged ‘white rice’

Broiled Tofu with Daikon Kimchi and Ganmodoki Soup

Posted in Home Cooking, Meatless Monday, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I made some daikon kimchi and really wanted to build a Meatless Monday around it. I thought I was going to make a tofu bulgolgi to stick with the Korean theme, but the marinade turned out nothing like a bulgolgi. It was very asian though so I used some ganmodoki we had bought at Mitsuwa and made a clear broth Japanese-style soup to bring more vegetables into the meal.

The daikon kimchi takes 24 hours so I had to start the Sunday. The ingredient list includes a lot of kosher salt (sea salt can be used also), 1.5 tablespoons of toban djan (I didn’t have any Korean chili paste, toban djan is Sichuan, but it is similar enough to work), 1/4 onion small diced, 1 garlic clove minced, 1 lb daikon cut into 3/4 inch cubes, 1 teaspoon fish sauce, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 2 green onions thinly sliced.

I threw the daikon into a bowl and completely coated it with salt. I left it for 2 hours and then drained off all of the liquid that accumulated at the bottom of the bowl and then rinsed and drained very well.

Then I mixed together the rest of the ingredients, tossed the daikon to coat evenly, and put into an airtight jar. I left it out for 24 hours and then put it in the fridge to chill for a couple of hours. You absolutely have to let it sit to get the flavors to penetrate and pickle, so this does take more than 24 hours to prepare. I will say, the daikon turned out way too salty when we ate it. Not sure if I added too much during the pickling process or if I just didn’t rinse it well enough, but next time I make this I will make sure it’s completely rinsed of salt and I may just add 1/2 tablespoon instead during the pickling to make sure it doesn’t get too salty. To salvage the rest of the daikon I’ll boil it in some water to make broth for noodle soup later in the week or something.

For the tofu “bulgolgi” I used 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1/4 granny smith apple, 1/4 onion, 1 tablespoon sugar, juice from 1/2 lemon, 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds, 1/2 inch ginger, 2 garlic cloves, 2 green onions, and 1 packet of silken tofu.

I pressed the water out of the tofu for about an hour and then sliced it into 1/4 inch pieces. I put the rest of the ingredients into my little processor and made a marinade.

I took out my glass baking dish, poured a little marinade on the bottom, lined the tofu side-by-side on top, and then covered it with the rest of the marinade. I let it sit while I prepared the soup. When the soup was almost done I drizzled a little sesame oil on top of the tofu and threw it under the broiler for about 10 minutes.

For the soup I cut up 1/4 of a napa cabbage, used some bean sprouts, 1/4 cup of dashi seasoned soy sauce, 1 carrot cut into half moons, 1/2 package of enoki mushrooms, 5 ganmodoki, the rest of our green onions (about 3), and my last three shiitake sliced.

In my soup pan I poured in about 4 cups of water and added everything except for the cabbage, bean sprouts, and enoki. I brought it up to a boil and then covered it, lowered the heat to medium-low, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Then I added the rest of the ingredients and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. That’s all she wrote for the soup.

I served everything with white rice and leaves of butter lettuce. That way we could make lettuce wraps bulgolgi-style.

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Grilled Miso Chicken

Posted in Home Cooking, poultry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Friday night, to me, was the perfect night for grilling. Mid-60’s, clear skies, light breeze. Unlike summer, which I still grill quite a bit, it wasn’t too hot to stand over a hot grill. In light of that, I had to get something on the grill. With organic air-chilled split chicken breasts on sale my mind was made up for me.

I had two big breasts that I slashed the flesh 4 times in each. I did this for two reasons, to allow the marinade to penetrate more meat and to allow them to grill more evenly since they were pretty meaty in the middle. For the marinade, in my small processor I processed up 3 garlic cloves, 2 green onions, 1 inch of ginger, and 2 tablespoons each of soy sauce, mirin, sake, and shiro miso. I rubbed it all into the chicken, covered it, and let it sit in the fridge for an hour.

For my side I made haricots vert in miso-sesame dressing. I cleaned up 6 ounces of haricots vert and set them aside. I took 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds and dumped them into a hot skillet and let them toast until they turned a nice golden color and started to release their aroma, about 1-2 minutes. Then I ground them with my pestle and mortar and added a big pinch of sugar, 1.5 tablespoons of seasoned soy sauce (contains mirin and dashi), and 1/2 tablespoon of shiro miso. I mixed that all together and set it aside. Later on, right after taking the chicken off the grill, I steamed the haricots vert for about 4 minutes and then tossed them with the dressing.

I also made some miso soup. I boiled about 2 cups of water and added two skinned and diced yukon gold potatoes, 2 green onions sliced, and three shiitake sliced. While they were boiling I took a bunch of salted wakame and soaked it in water while also cleaning 3 ounces of bean sprouts. I also set aside 1/4 cup of the seasoned soy sauce and a large spoonful of shiro miso.

While the potatoes were cooking in the miso soup I got the grill ready and grilled up the chicken. I got the skin nice and crisp while the meat stayed juicy.

Just before taking the chicken off I poured the seasoned soy into the miso soup and added the sprouts and wakame. Right after taking the chicken off I mixed the miso into the soup and then, like I said earlier, steamed the haricots vert. I took some shichimi togarashi and crushed black and white sesame seeds and sprinkled them all over the chicken. I served everything with white rice.

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Kefta Kabob

Posted in Home Cooking, lamb, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

So, my little brother took us out to eat at Essence Of India last night, so no Meatless Monday. We did get vegetarian samosas and a chickpea and spinach dish though, so we did partially do Meatless Monday (not inlcuding our lamb and chicken). Since I’ve already blogged about that joint a while back here’s what I made for dinner this past Friday, kefta kabobs.

I used a 1/4 onion, a piece of ginger, 1 garlic clove, 1 tablespoon of paprika, 1 teaspoon of cumin, 1 teaspoon of dried basil, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, and 3/4 pound of ground lamb.

In a glass bowl I plopped the lamb meat and grated the onion, ginger, and garlic on top. In a small sauce pan I heated up 2 tablespoons of olive oil and put all of the dried spices in. I let them cook in the oil for about 1 minute. Then I turned off the heat and let the spice mix cool for about 5 minutes. After that, I poured it on the meat and seasoned with salt and pepper. That all got mixed together in order to mix the flavors evenly throughout the meat. I formed 4 oblong “sausages” out of the meat and then put it in the fridge for about a half hour to let the meat firm up.

On the side I made some chickpeas with vegetables. I used 3 plum tomatoes chopped, 2 garlic cloves minced, the other 1/4 of onion diced, 1 red bell pepper diced, 1 14 ounce can of chickpeas, 1 large handful of baby spinach, and 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, cayenne, and turmeric.

In a heated pan I poured about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and then tossed in the onion, carrot, and bell pepper. I let them sweat for about 6 minutes and then added the garlic. About a minute later I added the tomatoes with all of their juices and let them break down for about 4 minutes. Then the chickpeas went it along with the spices with salt and pepper. Once the chickpeas were heated through, about 4-5 more minutes, I added the spinach. I turned off the heat and covered it. The residual heat wilted the spinach and keeping it covered gave me enough time to grill the kefta.

While the grill was heating up I took 4 bamboo skewers that were soaking in water for an hour and pushed them through the cold kefta. I oiled the grill and then cooked the kefta for about 4 minutes on all four sides.

Instead of regular white rice to go with everything I used basmati rice. I used chicken stock instead of water along with a pinch of turmeric for color. I would have used saffron, but I’m out. I chopped up some cilantro and garnished the plate.

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Halibut on Edamame Puree

Posted in Home Cooking, seafood, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The Top Chef finale was on the other night and I noticed something from watching it this season…every time someone made a pea puree they won the challenge. With that in mind I decided to make my own pea puree to eat while watching the finale. Instead of using green peas though I used edamame.

To make the puree I started with 1 cup of frozen shelled edamame, 1/2 onion diced, 1 lemon zested and juiced, 1 garlic clove minced, 1/3 cup soy milk, and a handful of cilantro.

In a heated pot I poured about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and tossed the onion in. I let the onion sweat over medium heat for about 5 minutes and then added the garlic. About 1 minute later I added the edamame (it was still frozen when I added it). It only took about 6-7 minutes for the edamame to heat through, at which point I turned off the heat and let it cool down for about 10 minutes.

I put the edamame mixture in my blender and added the cilantro, soy milk, 1/4 of the lemon zest, and half of the lemon juice. While blending it I noticed that it needed a little more liquid to get a nice smooth puree. After tasting it, I decided to add about 1/4 cup of orange juice instead of more soy milk, it needed a little sweetness to it. Once I got the thick, smooth texture I wanted I seasoned it with salt and pepper and poured it back into the pot. I gently re-heated it when it came time to serve.

Before cooking the halibut I got some vegetables ready. I sliced one red bell pepper (decided to only use one of them, I’ll use the other one tonight) and the half of the onion from the puree. I also cleaned up some asparagus.

I simply laid the vegetables on a roasting tray, drizzled some olive oil on top, seasoned with salt and pepper, and then sprinkled about another quarter of the lemon zest on top. This all went into an 350 degree oven for about a half hour.

For the halibut I used three 4-5 ounce filets (I still had meatloaf leftovers for my lunch so I only needed lunch leftovers for Yuki) and seasoned them with salt, pepper, and the 3rd quarter of lemon zest.

In a large skillet over high heat I poured in about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and then dropped 1 tablespoon of butter in. I laid the filets in skin-side down and let them go for 5-6 minutes, until the skin was golden brown and crispy and released from the pan with ease. If the fish doesn’t release easily then it’s not ready. Once it was ready I flipped it over and let the other side go for about 5 minutes until it released easily.

To serve, I laid the halibut on top of some puree, laid the vegetables all around, and then sprinkled everything with the rest of the lemon zest and juice. White rice on the side.

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Panko Crusted Shiso Pesto Pork Tenderloin

Posted in Home Cooking, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 3, 2010| 1 Comment »

I still had some of the shiso pesto I made a few days ago in my fridge. I decided to use it as a marinade for a beautiful pork tenderloin, one of our favorite cuts of carcus.

In a non-reactive baking dish I marinated a 1.5 pound tenderloin in the shiso pesto. I really rubbed it in there. I covered it and let it sit in the fridge for about 3 hours. Every hour I took it out and turned it over to keep it nice and coated.

While the pork was marinating I made some asparagus soup. I took a bunch of asparagus and reserved ten of the tips. The rest I chopped up along with 3 cloves of garlic, 3 yukon gold potatoes, and half an onion.

In a heated pot I poured in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil and tossed all of the vegetables in. I kind of stir-fryed them for about 7 minutes and then poured in two cups of chicken stock. I seasoned with a little salt, let it come to a boil, then covered it up and turned the heat to medium so that it could simmer for about 10 minutes. I didn’t want to overcook the vegetables, I just wanted them softened so that I could puree them. After the 10 minutes were up I turned off the heat and let it cool down for about a half hour. Then, I poured it all into my blender and pureed it nice and smooth. I poured it back into the pot, seasoned with pepper, and set it aside until dinner, at which time all I had to do was re-heat it gently and garnish with the reserved asparagus tips.

Then, I took the last half of my daikon and two carrots and chopped them up. In a small baking pan I tossed them with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.

I poured some panko on a plate and then rolled the marinated pork loin all over it to crust the entire thing. I put a rack over some foil on a baking sheet and laid the crusted loin on top. I used a rack so that I’d get some convection in the oven, keeping all of the panko nice and crispy, even on the bottom.

I heated my oven to 375 degrees and put the loin and the daikon and carrots in. I let them all roast for about 55 minutes.

When I took everything out I let the pork rest for about 10 minutes before slicing to allow the juices to redistribute throughout the meat. In the meantime, I plated up the white rice and vegetables and heated the soup. After slicing and plating the pork I drizzled a little Bull-Dog sauce on top.

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Tofukatsu with Shiso Pesto

Posted in Home Cooking, Meatless Monday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 31, 2010| 2 Comments »

A couple of our friends are growing their own shiso. apparently their plant is going haywire and they have too much shiso for their own usage, so they gave us a bunch. I do mean a bunch! I only used half of it for the pesto. Does anyone want some? I have a feeling you’ll see at least one more shiso recipe on this blog sometime this week.

I made the pesto much like I would a regular pesto, but with a few changes. I used about 1/2 ounce of shiso leaves, one clove of garlic, 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon of parmesan cheese, and about 1/4 cup of olive oil. I put it all in my little food processor and whipped it all up.

For the tofukatsu I used mustard, 1 block of silken tofu, and some panko. I pressed the water out of the tofu in the fridge for about an hour. Then, I cut it in half. I sliced the halves into 4 equal pieces to look like cutlets.

I poured some panko on a plate and then spread a thin layer of mustard on top of each tofu cutlet. I pressed the tofu, mustard side down, on the panko and spread another thin layer of mustard on the other side then flipped and pressed again. I wanted both sides of the tofu crusted in panko. In a large skilled heated to high I poured in a few tablespoons of peanut oil. I like to shallow fry in peanut oil because it has a high smoking point and doesn’t really have that strong of a flavor. I fried the tofu in two batches so as to not overcrowd the skillet. After both sides were nice and golden I laid them on a wire rack to let any excess oil drip off.

I made a couple of sides to go with the tofukatsu. One was a simple steamed head of broccoli. I cut the broccoli down into bite-sized pieces, florets and stem and them steamed it for about 4 minutes. I had a packet of mixed sesame seeds with dried carrot so I decided to sprinkle that on instead of salt and pepper.

I had about 1/2 pound of oyster mushrooms in my fridge, so I decided to saute them with 1 teaspoon of sherry, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of flour, 1/2 tablespoon of butter, and I was going to use 1/2 onion.

For whatever reason I wasn’t feeling the onion. No rhyme or reason, I just decided not to use the onion and instead use the enoki mushrooms that were in my fridge. I also grated a clove of garlic at the last minute too.

In a hot pan I poured in about 2 tablespoons of sesame oil and put the grated garlic in for about 30 seconds. Then, I threw in all of the mushrooms, both oyster and enoki. I let them saute for about 4 minutes and then poured in the sherry and soy sauce. Once the liquid was almost completely boiled off, about 2 minutes, I poured in the flour and butter and stirred that all in. The flour thickened up the last bit of liquid while the butter made it all silky and smooth, as butter always does.

Finally, I took a daikon radish and skinned about half of it. I grated the part that I skinned and served it just as it is.

To serve everything, I had some white rice and then put some broccoli next to it and then two pieces of tofukatsu next to that. I poured a little of the pesto on top of the tofukatsu. The grated daikon went on the plate as well. It was a little sharp, so we poured a few drops of soy sauce on it. In a separate plate I laid some mushrooms down. Next to them I put some kimchi cucumbers that we picked up at the Assi Plaza. I’m not a big fan of cucumbers, but these kimchi ones are so damn good they just might make me a believer. Bon apetit!

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Rosemary-Cedar Salmon

Posted in Home Cooking, seafood, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I made this delicious salmon on the grill with some cedar planks. To go with it I made a miso soup and a cherry tomato caprese. This menu was kind of all over the map, but it worked out.

I first made the caprese. I simply quartered the cherry tomatoes and cut some mozzarella di bufalo and then tossed them with a drizzle of olive oil, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, and some sliced up basil from my back porch. A little salt and pepper to bring out the flavors and that was ready.

Then I got the soup rollin’. I chopped up 4 green onions, half a package of shiitake sliced, 7 fingerling potatoes cut into bite sized pieces, and a carrot cut into half-moons.

I dumped them all into about 6 cups of water and brought it all up to a boil. Once boiling I turned the heat down to medium and let it all simmer for about 10 minutes, just until the veggies were softened and tender. Then I added about a teaspoon of dashi-no-moto and turned the heat down to medium-low. I covered it and kept it warm while I grilled the salmon.

I had a beautiful piece of salmon that weighed in at 20 ounces. Perfect for 4 portions at 5 ounces each. I simply seasoned it with salt and pepper and then laid some sprigs of rosemary on top that I cut from my plant out back.

I had a couple of small cedar planks that I soaked in water for about 2 hours. You can see from the picture that they were pretty cheap as I’ve never had cedar burn up quite as quickly as these did. It did no harm to the fish though as it stayed nice and moist and absorbed some great smokey cedar flavor. I also had a couple of bok choy that I halved and grilled. I was careful to keep the green leaves away from any direct heat to keep them from burning. They still charred a little around the edges, but that just added some flavor.

When all was ready I cut the salmon up and served it on top of the bok choy. I had some white rice as well. For the soup, I found some bean sprouts in my bottom drawer so I threw them in at the last minute as they don’t need much cooking at all. Then I mixed in 2 heaping tablespoons of shiro miso and served it up.

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Sriracha-Coconut Chicken

Posted in Home Cooking, poultry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I needed to use up the rest of the coconut milk I had from the other night so I decided to use it as a marinade for some chicken. I really wanted to grill the chicken, but the wind kept putting out my burner, one of the downfalls of a gas grill. If I ever have a metal balcony instead of a wood one I’m getting me one of those big green egg grills! No worries though, I just threw the chicken in the oven as that sure beats raw poultry.

For the marinade I had about 1/2 cup left of the coconut milk. I poured it into my blender and added two chopped up lemongrass stalks (just the non-fibrous center), 2 tablespoons of sriracha, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, 1 garlic clove, and 1 tablespoon of ginger. I blended it all up and poured it over 2 pounds of skin-on bone-in chicken thighs. Prior to pouring the marinade over I did score the skin with three slashes so that the marinade would penetrate the skin nicely. I covered it and let it sit in the fridge for about 4 hours. I took it out about 45 minutes prior to cooking and cracked a little black pepper on top just before going under the heat.

 

Since the wind didn’t cooperate with me last night I heated my oven to 425 degrees and cooked the chicken on the upper 3rd for about 15 minutes. Then, I turned the oven to the broiler setting and let the skin get nice and crisp for about 5 more minutes.

For my side I made some Thai flavored asparagus. For the flavoring I used 1 teaspoon of cane sugar, 1 inch of ginger cut into slivers, 1/3 red bell pepper small diced, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 3 cloves of garlic minced (didn’t make it into the pic) and 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds. First, I mixed together the sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce and 3 tablespoons of water. I set that aside.

In a skillet large enough to handle the asparagus in one layer I heated up 2 tablespoons of sesame oil and added the garlic, ginger, and sesame seeds. I let them sizzle for about a minute or two and then added the asparagus and red pepper. I rolled it around to make sure the asparagus was completely coated with all of the flavors. After 4 or 5 minutes I poured in the liquid and let that boil off for about 3 minutes. That’s all I did for this side.

I also made some miso soup. In a pot I poured in about 4-5 cups of water and brought it to a boil with 1/2 an onion sliced, the rest of my shiitake sliced, and a few pinches of dashi-no-moto. I let it boil for about 15 minutes until the onion was softened. Then I threw in a large handful of baby spinach and let that boil for another few minutes. Finally, I took two large tablespoons of shiro miso and mixed that in.

Besides the asparagus and miso soup I served some Thai Red Rice instead of regular white rice.

While this was one of the tastiest marinades I’ve whipped up in a while I did forget two things. I wanted to squeeze some lemon juice on the chicken as soon as I took it out of the oven and I wanted to garnish with some cilantro. I guess I’ll use that lemon and cilantro some other time.

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Fried Tofu Thai Curry with Thai “Samosas”

Posted in Home Cooking, Meatless Monday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

When I went up to Sun Wah B.B.Q. for dinner the other night I took advantage of it being close to the Golden Pacific Market. I love that place, but hardly ever get up there since it’s so far away. I brought my cooler with me and loaded up on some goodies. A good portion of those goodies ended up in my Meatless Monday last night. In fact, I got the fried tofu specifically for it. I luz me sum fried tofu!

Before making the Thai Curry I put together some Thai flavored samosas. I had two red creamer potatoes and got a yukon gold (out of red creamers) that I skinned and diced, a lime that I zested and juiced half of, some egg roll wrappers (you can find samosa wrappers at some grocers or cut down some phylo, but I wanted smaller samosas so I cut some egg roll wrappers in half), 5 tablespoons of coconut milk (first thing I did was scoop the cream that settles on the top off and reserve that for the curry), 1 tablespoon of minced ginger, and one small shallot diced. What I forgot to get in the photo was about 1/4 cup of frozen peas that I thawed.

The first thing I did was boil the diced potatoes for about 15 minutes. Then I drained them while I heated up my pan and poured about 2 tablespoons of peanut oil in. I cooked the ginger and shallot over medium heat for about 4 minutes, just until they softened. Then I dropped the potatoes in along with the peas and coconut milk. I lightly mashed that all together with the back of a wooden spoon. I seasoned with salt and pepper and dumped in the lime zest and juice. I stirred that all together and let it cool, covered, for about 10 minutes.

Once the potato mixture was cool enough to handle I wrapped them up. I placed a spoonful at one end and proceeded to fold it up like a flag, leaving a little flap at the end.

I brushed the little flap with some peanut oil so it would seal together.

I lightly oiled a baking sheet with peanut oil and brushed the samosas all over with more peanut oil. They went into a 425 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes, just until they became a nice golden brown color.

While the samosas were baking I put together the curry. In the red bowl is the coconut cream from the can of coconut milk (this not only is used for flavor, but I used it as my oil so there was no need for additional oil), 8 green onions chopped, 1 chinese eggplant chopped, 1 red bell pepper chopped, 1 large shallot minced, 2 tablespoons of ginger minced, the other half of my lime juiced, 3/4 cup of vegetable broth, 4 oz shiitake quartered, 1 package of fried tofu diced, 1 tablespoon of Thai Red Curry Paste, 5 baby bok choy, and two stalks of lemongrass finely chopped.

In my hot pan I added the coconut cream. About a minute later, once it started to lightly bubble, I added the curry paste (along with 1 tablespoon of fish sauce that didn’t make it into the photo) and mixed it all together to make a smooth cream. I added the shallot, lemongrass, and ginger to that and let them cook for about 2 minutes before adding the pepper, eggplant, shiitake, and green onions. Once all of the vegetables were coated with the thick sauce I let it all cook for about 6 minutes. Then I poured in the vegetable broth. When the broth started to boil I added the tofu and let that heat through for about 3 minutes. After that I threw in the baby bok choy. I covered the pan and let everything cook for about 4-5 minutes. When it was all heated through and the baby bok choy slightly wilted I turned off the heat and stirred in the lime juice.

I served the curry next to some white rice and garnished it with some cilantro.

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Miso Cod on a Stick

Posted in Home Cooking, seafood, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I love grilling dead animals on a stick. It’s my most sadistic past time, but I love it so. The other night I picked up a 3/4 pound cod filet and did just that.

I mixed together 2 tablespoons of shiro miso, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of pure cane sugar, and both the zest and juice of 1 lime. While mixing that together into a smooth paste I decided to pour in about 1-2 tablespoons of sesame oil to add a bit of nuttiness. I cut up the cod into bite-sized morsels and tossed them in the marinade.

While the cod was taking a miso bath I made a tomato and bread soup. I used the leftover roasted cherry tomatoes with their juice from the night before, the crusty bread left from the night before, a 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, a handful of basil from my back porch, and 3 garlic cloves diced.

In a hot pan I poured in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil and then added the garlic and the stems from the basil. Once that garlic started to color a bit, about 1 minute or so, I poured in the can of tomatoes. You need to be careful with that because the tomato juice will splatter. Then I filled the empty can with water and poured that in. I let it come to a boil and then simmer down for about 15 minutes. At that point it’s pretty easy to break down the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon. After the tomatoes were completely broken down I poured in the roasted cherry tomatoes, bread, and basil and then seasoned with salt and pepper. I let that simmer together for about 10 minutes or so. Before serving I mixed in another little glug of olive oil.

To skewer with the cod I chopped up a red bell pepper, half an onion, and the last handful of brussel sprouts from my fridge (I’ve never skewered brussel sprouts before, they’re quite nice as long as they’re cooked enough). I also picked up 5 little red creamer potatoes to grill alongside.

I skewered it all up and threw it all on the grill. I let the skewers go for about 4-5 minutes on each side. The potatoes needed about 7 or 8 minutes on each side as my grill was about medium-high.

After I rinsed the rice and put it in the rice cooker I decided to throw a tablespoon of dried hijiki seaweed in with it. I just dropped it in and let it sit in the water with the rice for about a half hour before turning on the rice cooker. It’s hard to describe the flavor of hijiki on its own. It’s kind of earthy and mushroomy which is weird because I struggle to call anything from the sea “earthy”. It’s really just umami. Damn delicious!

My only mistake was not reserving some of the marinade. The potatoes weren’t as sweet as I had hoped and I would have been much better off smashing them after grilling and topping with some of the miso. Other than that I did well.

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