It would be rude of me not to warn you that even though this recipe is super simple (it literally takes 15mins to cook) you do have to marinate the salmon overnight to get the best flavour. But I promise, it’s totally worth it.
I came across this recipe in my all time favourite food magazine, Cook’s Illustrated. The first time I tried it out on my little boys I didn’t have any sake so I substituted with brandy (which is always in my cupboard) – it was very good, but a little bit too sweet for my liking. When I did the recipe again last night I adjusted the amount of sugar and white miso paste. I also made sure that I used sake this time and the flavour took off!
I’m going to have to come up with a few more recipes with sake to use up the rest of the bottle.
I know you're thinking 'so what does it actually taste like before I go through the effort of making this’? White miso has a seriously delicious savoury flavour that works brilliantly with the richness of salmon, the sugar chars black and caramelises under the grill (so good) and the sake cuts through this oily fish’s fattiness.
Best of all, this is full on brain food for your little ones (and you).
Miraculous ingredients: Salmon fillets, Clearspring white miso paste
Miso blackened, caramelised salmon
INGREDIENTS
6 salmon fillets (I prefer skinless)
1/3 cup white miso paste (Clearspring white miso is excellent)
2 tablespoons golden caster sugar
3 tablespoons sake
3 tablespoons mirin
Lemon to serve
METHOD
Start with the marinade: mix the white miso, sugar, sake and mirin in a bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Add the salmon fillets and completely cover with the marinade. Cling film the bowl and refrigerate overnight.
Cover a grill pan with aluminium foil. Remove as much of the marinade from the salmon as possible and lay them onto the foil. Place the grill pan approximately 14cmn under the grill and set to the highest heat.
Grill for 4 minutes. Turn the fillets over and grill for another 8 minutes or until the salmon is slightly charred. You might have to turn the grill pan half way though cooking so the ‘thin’ ends of the salmon don’t burn.
Serve with piles of stir fried thinly sliced green vegetables that have been lightly dressed with soy sauce and sesame oil and some steamed rice.
Preparation time 5 minutes, marinating 12hrs (overnight), grilling 15 minutes, 2 adult portions, 2 child portions.