Miso Glazed Cod with Fiddlehead Ferns and Miso Sesame Soba

附中文食譜

Sometimes, all you want is a quick and easy dinner, using simple ingredients and steps and ending up with a healthy, complete meal that not only looks expensive but also tastes wonderful. This Japanese-inspired fish recipe fits the bill. With minimum advance preparation, you can practically have your meal ready in under twenty minutes of active cooking time. And half of those "active" twenty minutes is standing idly watching your fish cook inside the oven.

I was grocery shopping in Tokyo recently and picked up some fresh cod (ぎんだら, Gindara), a buttery white fish that is well-suited for this dish for its high fat content and melt-in-the-mouth silkiness. I then came along some precious fiddlehead ferns that seemingly just popped out of the Avatar film. Harvested early in the season, these crunchy, furly fronds are mild in flavor and take well to boiling, sautéing and a pinch of salt and pepper.

As for the miso, white (shiro) miso are most often used as it is milder with a hint of sweetness; however, I have tried red miso with similarly great results.

Any fatty fish works well for this dish. Try salmon or black cod!

Serve the dish alongside multigrain rice, or get impulsive and toss some buckwheat noodles in a creamy, savory dressing of miso and sesame oil to complement the fish.

I have been making this humble dish at home long before I heard about celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa, whose renowned signature creation at Nobu has been replicated far and wide. Here is my simplified version of the recipe. いただきます!

What you'll need...
2 cod fillets, about 1/2 lb or 200g each
100g soba noodles (per person)
Fiddlehead ferns (or other greens of choice)
Black and white sesame seeds, toasted, for garnish
Sliced scallions, for garnish (optional)

For the miso marinade:
1 heaping tablespoon miso paste
1 tablespoon sake
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon shoyu
1 teaspoon sugar

For the soba noodles miso sesame dressing:
1/2 tablespoon miso paste
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Some warm water to thin the mixture

Directions...

For the Miso Glazed Cod: 

1. Prepare the marinade: whisk miso paste, sake, mirin, soy sauce, and sugar together. Adjust proportions to taste.

2. Pat fish dry with paper towel. In a container, coat the fillets with marinade and keep refrigerated for one hour up to overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Place fish skin-side up on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, gently brush off excess marinade to prevent burning. Bake or broil for 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets. Garnish with toasted sesame and scallions.

For the Soba and the Miso Sesame Dressing: 

1. Bring a pot of water to boil, submerge the noodles and cook through, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix miso paste and sesame oil and dilute the mixture with some warm water. 

2. When soba is cooked, drain and toss in the dressing while still hot until the strands are well coated.

For the Fiddlehead Ferns:

If boiling: Bring a pot of salted water to boil, boil the greens until barely tender, about 6 minutes. 
Prepare a cold water bath. When the ferns are cooked, dunk the ferns in cold water to stop the cooking.

If sautéing: boil the ferns, drain, and sauté briefly with olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Enjoy this quick, easy, and tasty meal!

《味噌醬燒鱈魚柳》/《麻香味噌蕎麥麵》

鱈魚柳 2 件 （各約200克） 
蕎麥麵 100 克 （一人份量計）
蕨菜  （菜類可隨喜好）
黑白芝麻  少量
蔥花  少量

鱈魚醃料：
白味噌  1 大湯匙
清酒  1 湯匙
味醂  1 湯匙
日本豉油  1 茶匙
白糖  1 茶匙 

麻香味噌拌麵醬：
味噌  1/2 湯匙
麻油  1 茶匙
溫水 適量，稀釋用

《味噌醬燒鱈魚柳》
1. 先將醃料拌勻。鱈魚柳洗淨抹乾後加入醃料放在雪櫃醃一小時或以上。
2. 預熱焗爐至 200C / 400F。
3. 醃好的魚柳放在鋪了烘培紙的焗盤上。
4. 輕輕拭去多餘的醃料，然後放入已預熱焗爐中，視乎魚柳厚度焗約 8-12 分鐘。
5. 烤好了上碟再撒上芝麻及蔥花即成。

《麻香味噌蕎麥麵》
1. 味噌和麻油拌勻加入少量溫水稀釋。
2. 滾水煮蕎麥麵約 5 分鐘至軟硬適中，瀝水後同醬汁拌勻即成。

《清炒蕨菜》
1. 蕨菜可用加了鹽的沸水浸燙後過凉上碟，或瀝乾後再落油清炒。 

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Roasted White Asparagus with Yoghurt Parsley Dressing

Every spring, white asparagus makes a brief appearance on the market, so transient they come and go with the blink of an eye. Between April and June, the spargel - the "vegetable that never sees light" - comes in great quantities across northwestern continental Europe, prominently stealing the limelight at market shop fronts and inspiring seasonal menus that showcase this treasured spring produce.

Less is certainly more here

In the U.S. and elsewhere where availability is far more limited, fresh white asparagus naturally makes for a luxurious spring delicacy. Just this month I was lucky enough to be in Switzerland and had the chance to graze through the markets at the peak of the German spargel season. The asparagus were all cultivated and imported from southern Germany just across the border; I realize I was about as close to the source as one could get. Enamored with the purity and beauty of the fat bundles of white spears on display, I inched in to hand pick the fairest of them all, pausing for a moment in hesitation at the hefty price tag that comes with.

Soon enough, I reckon that life is too short to deprive myself of such simple indulgence. My best friend in its baddest sense Angela, a foodie and passionate cook herself, is visiting once I return to Hong Kong - who else is best to savor this seasonal delicacy with, especially when they are at their peak and appear only briefly once a year?

Roast, grill, or steam? Roasting is certainly our way to go; watch as the natural sugars in the white asparagus caramelize!

And so, the fat bundle of immaculate white asparagus made its journey to my kitchen and culminated as a collaborative project between Alvin's Penthouse Kitchen and Angela's Foodicles (it's like we were having a field day, really). Milder in flavor and more tender than its green counterpart, white asparagus is best kept to its purest form in order to highlight its delicate sweetness. Deviating from the classic pairing of heavy hollandaise and cured hams, we instead took advantage of my rooftop garden and created a guilt-free, oh-so-simple herbaceous dressing that not only added an uplifting oomph but also allowed the star of the dish to shine through. Less is more here, for sure.

To prepare...

Get the spears naked by peeling & trimming

A dozen spears white asparagus
Olive oil to coat

For the dressing*...
1/4 tablespoon plain yoghurt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 generous bunch fresh parsley

*Want to get even simpler? Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice and zest, some salt and pepper for the dressing!

1. Preheat oven to 220C/420F. Trim a half inch off the base of the stalk.  Gently holding each spear, peel the stalk using a vegetable peeler starting from just below the head to remove the fibrous and sometimes bitter peel.

2. On a baking sheet pan, coat asparagus with olive oil and season with fresh ground pepper and sea salt. Place in oven and roast for approximately 17-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the spears, turning once midway for even browning. Before time is up check that the spears are slightly translucent and adjust roasting time for desired softness.

Asparagus will brown and shrink a little after roasting

3. Meanwhile, prepare the yoghurt parsley dressing by blending the yoghurt, olive oil, lemon juice, and parsley in a blender. Season with salt.

4. Transfer asparagus carefully for plating, then drizzle the dressing across or serve on the side as a dip. Enjoy!

Alvin & Angela

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