Cookery

Another delicious recipe from Denise Phillips

For more recipes and inspiration visit my website: www.jewishcookery.com

This is popular Japanese fish dish that never fails to please. Miso is a rich salty flavouring, typical of Japanese cuisine. There are many variations of miso but all are made from either rice, barley or soya beans. The ingredients are fermented and aged in wooden kegs, the darker miso may be aged up to 2 years. Now readily available at the kosher supermarkets, it is certainly worth putting on the shopping list for a new recipe with cod.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes plus marinating Cooking Time: 11 minutes Serves: 4

Ingredients 4 cod fillets , approx. 150g each - skin on, pin boned ~ For the Marinade 2 tablespoons mirin 3 tablespoons sake 3 tablespoons miso paste 1 tablespoon caster sugar 1 clove garlic – peeled and finely chopped ~ 150g tenderstem broccoli ~ 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds Garnish: 1 lime cut into segments

Method 1) Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl. 2) Add the fish, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight. 3) Preheat the grill to its highest setting. 4) Grill the fish for 8 minutes. 5) Either steam or boil the tenderstem broccoli so that it is al dente. This will take about 2 minutes. To serve the stylish way: Dust the plate with a dusting of Szechuan pepper/ regular black pepper. Place the broccoli in the centre of the plate, top with toasted sesame seeds and the cooked cod. Spoon over some miso juices. Garnish with segments of lime.

The taste of 2022

BY DENISE PHILLIPS

One of the new trendy flavours of 2022 is Miso. Miso is a fermented paste that is made by injecting a mixture of soybeans with a mould called koji that’s been cultivated from rice, barley, or soybeans. The resulting thick paste is deeply savoury, with toasty, salty-sweet richness and it forms the base of a lot of everyday Japanese cooking and now many new western style recipes too. In my view it is a delicious fusion of East meets West!

Miso is low in fat (around 4g per 100g) but it is high in salt (5g per 100g) and sugar (22g per 100g, around the same as ketchup). Miso usually comes in a thick paste, sometimes uneven in texture, and can be thinned out with water, broth, oil or other ingredients to make dressings, glazes or sauces.

There are different types of miso, the kosher varieties include miso barley, miso brown rice, miso white and miso Shiro. Miso barley is a dark miso made of soy and barley malt. It has a longer fermentation process than most white miso and has a strong barley aroma but is still mild and slightly sweet in flavour.

White miso (Shiro Miso) is fermented for a shorter time and tends to be lower in salt than darker varieties.

You can keep miso in an airtight container in the refrigerator indefinitely, though it may get darker or denser over time. It can also be stored in the freezer without affecting its texture or flavour.

Use your miso in soups, broths, dressings and stews as well as marinate meat, poultry and other umami rich flavours such as mushrooms, spicy ingredients such as chillies. Add it to a salad dressing, mayonnaise, mash into potatoes and as a glaze on fish like salmon and cod and vegetables especially aubergine and roasted vegetables.

You can even add to desserts, and it works well with chocolate and caramel flavours with pies, mousses, ice cream and brownies.