Miso Orange Glaze Cod with Shiitake Pea Brown Rice 5Aug09

I’ve been meaning to make a Japanese dish for a while. After my visit to Japan last year, I feel like I wouldn’t do the cuisine justice… food in Japan was simply amazing! How could I even try to imitate? I keep thinking, what would Blake like? Blake is a good friend of mine who lives in Japan… he has some of the best eateries at his doorstep so I have to make sure if I’m gonna do something Japanese, it better be good and he better like it!

I’m no sushi chef, so slicing raw fish a certain way with specific knives for different types of fish and cuts wasn’t exactly going to be my first attempt. I wanted to stay far away from ramen because if I’m going to do it right, I’d have to cook the pork broth for days. I don’t quite have the tools needed for takoyaki. I was starting to think it was a lost cause, but I’ve finally got a Japanese dish worthy of a post! Miso orange glaze cod with shiitake pea brown rice.

Ok so technically, it’s Japanese inspired. I’m a little iffy about the rice being anything Japanese but oh well! It looks pretty and taste great! The glaze itself is delicious with any protein that doesn’t require long cooking… fish is perfect, soy patties are great too. We had this served with some Japanese pickled vegetables and cucumber and of course miso soup. I mean, I tried to make it authentic! Hope you like it!

Ingredients:
4 pieces of cod fillets, skinned & bones taken out (or soy patties!)
1/4 cup of light miso paste
1/4 cup of Japanese rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup of light brown sugar
3 stripes of rind off 1 orange
juice of 1/2 an orange
1 tablespoon of fresh ground ginger
1 1/2 cups of brown rice
3 cups of vegetable broth
1/2 cup of fresh or frozen peas
2 shallots, finely diced
1/4 cup of finely chopped flat leaf parsley leaves
3 stalks of green onion, finely sliced
6 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed & sliced
fresh ground pepper
sea salt

Preheat oven to 480°F or 250°C.

Step 1: The glaze!
First we’ll make our glaze. In a small saucepan over medium low heat, combine the brown sugar, miso paste, vinegar, ground ginger, orange juice and orange rind. Stir often! Just melt down the brown sugar and keep stirring until you see it start to bubble. Remove from heat and let it cool completely.

Step 2: The rice!
Cook your brown rice according to the absorption method using vegetable stock as the liquid. I have a rice cooker so I literally dumped the rice and stock in, hit cook and forgot about it. If you’re cooking it on the stove, bring the stock and rice to a boil in a medium pot and lower it down to a simmer. Keep it covered and simmering for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and keep covered for another 10 minutes. Fluff with fork.

Now in a wok or pan, heat up a light drizzle of vegetable oil over medium heat. Once heated, toss in the finely chopped shallots and shiitake mushroom slices. Cook for about a minute and then add in your peas. If using fresh peas, add about 1 – 2 tablespoons of water and let that cook away. Cook peas until tender. Now dump in the rice, combine and turn off heat. Let the rice cool for about 5 minutes and then sprinkle the finely chopped parsley leaves and about 1/2 cup of green onion slices. Combine and cover until serving!

Step 3: The fish!
Wash your fillets and pat dry with a paper towel. Rub some coarse sea salt on both sides and place in a baking try lined with some parchment paper. Brush on the glaze on top of the fish and pop it in the top rack of the oven for about 6-8 minutes. The top of the fish should carelmalize with crisp brown bits… be careful not to burn it! Remove from the oven, top with a little bit more green onion slices and serve!

Well there you have it, my attempt at Japanese food with all the side fixings. I think I might have to try cooking Korean food… I’ll be very busy making all the little side dishes! Ooo maybe some bibimbap or some spicy tofu soup? In the meantime, enjoy the miso glaze fish!

Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes
Tags: asian, baking, cooking, food, Japanese, recipe, recipes, seafood, vegetables

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 6:15 pm and is filed under food, mmmm, recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.