miso salmon

I have always loved food but I haven't always appreciated it. I do now! So I'm going to share one of my favourite recipes with you - miso salmon.

Firstly, in case you don't know, miso is a Japanese paste made from soybeans. You can find varieties of it in Asian supermarkets, but even your local Coles/Woolworths will have miso sachets (for miso soup).

Secondly, I'm not sure of the exact origin of this recipe. I'm pretty sure my mum took it from a cookbook, but I'm not sure which one. (FYI my mum is an amazing cook.)

And finally, my friends who do not like fish, or dislike salmon in particular, love this dish. Even kids eat it - it helps if you mix the salmon with small bowl of rice. So hopefully you'll like it too!

Though this recipe is very quick to make, you do need to prepare and marinate the fish at least 2 hours before you want to eat. I find it easiest to make the marinade the night before and marinate the fish for 24 hours.

Marinade ingredients

Marinade whisked and cooling

Salmon bathing in miso marinade

Salmon (after marinating for 24 hours) on a wire rack lined with foil

The end product - delicious!

Miso salmon and Asian greens

Serves 10 (approx 285 calories per serve)

Ingredients

1kg salmon fillet(s)

1/3 cup mirin

1 tbs reduced salt soy sauce

2 tsp caster sugar

1/3 cup miso paste/instant miso soup

3-4 bunches of your favourite Asian greens (or any greens really)

Optional calorie boost - brown rice or udon noodles

Method
1. Place soy, mirin and sugar in a small pan and bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Add miso and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat, transfer to a shallow bowl to cool completely.
2. When cool, add fish and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the fridge for at 2 hours (or overnight).
3. Heat a grill to high and line a wire rack with foil. Place fish on the rack discarding the marinade and grill for 5 minutes or until golden and caramelised. Cooking fish like this on the rack brings it closer to the grill and allow heat to circulate.
Note - If you like your salmon cooked well throughout (which most non-fish eaters seem to prefer), you might need to leave it in for an additional minute or two depending on your grill.
4. Steam your greens while the fish is in the grill. (I happened to have an abundance of asparagus in the house but I would normally serve up gai lan and/or broccolini.) Plate up and serve!

This serves a lot of people (10!) and so is great for entertaining or large families, but if you are solo (or duo) you might want to reduce quantities. In my photos I had 200g salmon fillet (for two people) but I didn't reduce the marinade quantities (as I find it harder to get the right consistency - maybe I just need a smaller pan). Since the excess marinade is discarded, this shouldn't have much impact on the calorie count.

- Dani