Miso Marinade Recipes

JAPANESE MISO SALMON SIDE (BBQ OR BAKE)

Steps:

• Mix together the marinade ingredients in a small bowl until smooth.
• Place the salmon skin side up on a work surface and slather with just under half the marinade.
• Turn the salmon so it is skin side down onto a large piece of cling wrap. Slather the remaining marinade on the flesh side.
• Wrap the salmon in cling wrap. Marinade for 24 to 48 hours.
• Scrape the marinade off (do not rinse with water) and leave the salmon to come to room temperature
• Preheat barbecue plate side on MEDIUM LOW. Leave it to heat up for a good 10 to 15 minutes - another tip for cooking salmon perfectly.
• Add oil just before cooking. Place the salmon on the BBQ skin side down. Cook for 3 minutes, then use two spatulas to turn it. Cook the flesh side for 2 - 3 minutes or until caramelised, then flip it again so the skin side is down then transfer to a tray.
• Cover loosely with foil to rest for 5 minutes before serving. It will continue cooking while resting.
• Garnish with sesame seeds and finely sliced shallots.

MISO-GINGER MARINATED GRILLED SALMON

Steps:

• Whisk together the miso, mirin, vinegar, soy sauce, green onions, ginger, and sesame oil in a small bowl. Place the salmon in a baking dish, pour the marinade over, and turn to coat. Cover and marinate for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
• Heat grill to high. Remove the fish from the marinade and season with salt and pepper. Grill the salmon, skin side down, with the cover closed, until golden brown and a crust has formed, about 3 to 4 minutes. Turn the salmon over and continue grilling for 3 to 4 minutes for medium doneness. Drizzle with a little yuzu juice, if desired, and serve.

MISO-MARINATED SALMON

Steps:

• First, make the tama-miso sauce. In a small cup, mix the sake with 2 tablespoons water. In a suribachi or other mortar, grind the miso, sugar, and egg yolk to a smooth paste. Add the rice wine and water mixture little by little, grinding all the time. Season to taste with shoyu. Have at hand a bowl half-filled with cold water and ice cubes. Transfer the sauce to the top of a double-boiler, and cook the sauce over simmering water, stirring constantly and thoroughly so you do not scramble the egg, until the sauce becomes thicker, about 6 to 8 minutes. Set the bowl of sauce in the bowl of cold water and ice cubes to cool. Tama-miso may be stored in the refrigerator, covered, for three days. Heat the sauce through before using it.
• Salt the fish on both sides, and rest it on a steel rack set over the pan, for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
• In a medium bowl, soften the miso by stirring in the sake and mirin. Spread one-third of the miso mixture in the bottom of a large pan in which the fish can fit without overlapping. Lay a tightly woven cotton cloth or two layers of cheesecloth over the miso in the pan. Wipe the salted salmon with a paper towel to remove the salt and the liquid exuded from the fish. Place all the salmon pieces on the cloth in the pan, and cover them with another tightly woven cotton cloth or two layers of cheese cloth. Spread the remaining miso mixture over the cloth, covering the surface completely. Wrap the entire pan with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for 5 hours.
• In a small saucepan, combine the dry white wine, komezu, and shallot. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to very low, and cook the mixture until it is reduced to 1 tablespoon syrup.
• In a large pot of boiling water, parboil the spinach, excluding the 4 leaves, 1 to 2 minutes. Cool the spinach in ice water, and drain the spinach well. In a food processor, purée the spinach. In a skillet, heat 1 inch oil over medium heat to 320°F. One at a time, add the 4 reserved spinach leaves to the oil, and cook them until they are bright green and translucent, 10 to 15 seconds. Transfer the spinach to paper towels to drain.
• Lift the top cloth (or cloths) from the salmon, and remove the salmon from the marinade. Discard the marinade, or reserve it to use as a fish marinade one more time within 2 weeks, after heating it through and adding more miso and sake, or for making miso soup. If there is any miso residue on the fish, gently wipe it away with a paper towel. At this point you can refrigerate the fish, in a well-sealed plastic bag, for up to 3 days, or freeze it for a longer period.
• Heat a broiler or grill, and the broiler pan or grill rack. With a pastry brush, lightly grease the pan or rack. Transfer the salmon to the pan or rack, and cook the salmon, turning once, until both sides are light golden. A 1-inch-thick salmon steak needs about 8 minutes' total cooking. Marinated fish burns easily, so you may need to cover the fish with aluminum foil as it cooks.
• In a small saucepan, combine 2 Tbsp tama-miso sauce with the reduced vinegar-wine syrup. Place the saucepan over low heat, and cook until the mixture is heated through. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl, and add the spinach purée. Little by little, whisk in the olive oil. Serve the salmon with the spinach sauce underneath and garnished with the fried spinach leaves.

MISO-MARINATED SALMON

Steps:

• Stir together the miso, mirin, sugar and sake, if using. Place the salmon fillets on a plate or in a medium food bag and cover with the miso marinade. Leave in the fridge for at least 30 mins or, better still, overnight.
• Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Lightly oil a baking tray. Use kitchen paper to wipe off the marinade (don't be tempted to wash it off as you will lose some of the flavour). Place the fillets on the baking tray, skin side down. Cook in the oven for 15 mins until the fish flakes easily and is cooked through.
• Meanwhile, make the cucumber salad. Using a vegetable peeler, shave the cucumber into long, thin ribbons. Whisk together the rice wine vinegar, oil and sugar. Toss the cucumber ribbons in the dressing, then curl them up on two plates. Serve with the salmon and some plain white rice sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.