Eat Light, Eat Well

Happy 2012 everyone (Yes, I know I’m a few weeks late)! I don’t usually set any new year resolution, but this year, I plan to put more focus to being happy! And cooking makes me happy, so hopefully I will get to do more of that and post more new recipes. January is always the time where everyone wants to eat healthier and lighter, especially after all the heavy holiday meals, so today I would like to share a recipe which is both quick and light. The star ingredient in this dish is the fish, fish is a great alternative to meat, and fish like black cod and Chilean seabass can be just as hearty as red meat. For this recipe, I used cod which is lighter and overly fishy tasting.

This recipe is actually inspired by one of the past Top Chef winner recipe (Michael Voltaggio's Miso cured cod in dashi), the cod sits on a bed of veggie and a deep flavoured miso broth. This is the perfect meal on a cold winter day, it really sooth the soul! And I bet, besides the fish, you already have all the ingredients stashed in your fridge or pantry, and if you don’t, you can easily substitute any of the ingredients with ones you already have.

Baked cod in miso broth
Serves 3

3 pieces of Cod (I used fresh ones, but you can also substitue with frozen)
1 Medium Sized Carrot (Cut into long sticks)
1/2 cup of frozen, shelled, edamame
5 - 6 pieces of shitake mushrooms (or any other type of mushrooms)
1 bunch of green onion (chopped)

Marinate for Cod

1/4 cup of soy sauce
1 tbsp of mirin

Miso Broth
4 cups of water
1 sheet of kombu
1 cup of bonito flakes
1/4 cup of miso

1) Soak the shitake mushroom in hot water overnight, drain and slice very thin. If you don't have shitake, use enoki or even white button mushrooms, they are much easier to find and you can skip the soaking step.
2) Place cod in marinade for 30 min or so, a little more or less won't hurt
3) Bake the fish fillet in oven (375F) for 15 min, the fish is done when it is opaque and flaky
4) While the fish is baking, cook the carrot and edamame in boiling water (If using other type of mushrooms, pan fry the slice mushrooms in bit of oil). Set aside
5) For the broth, boil water and put in the piece of kombu and simmer for 10 minutes.
6) Remove from heat, and put in the bonito flakes, let steep for 10 minutes.
7) Strain the broth to remove the kombu and bonito flakes, return the clear broth back to the heat and whisk in the miso.
8) To assemble - lay the carrots, edamame, mushrooms and green onions on the bottom of the bowl. Place a slice of cod on top, and pour broth to finish. Serve with a bowl of rice (and seaweed if you are into that like us!!)

I know what you are thinking, holy, there are so many weird ingredients! I'm going through a Japanese phase, and totally been stocking up with all kind of japanese ingredients. But like I mentioned above, you can substitute anything in this recipe, use bok choy if you don't have edamame or even peas. There is no need to use the kombu and bonito flakes for the broth if you want to keep it simple, you can just whisk miso into water for the broth, or even use instant miso soup. The whole idea of the recipe is combining veggies and fish with some sort of broth. You can invent your own recipe, maybe using salmon and chicken broth? Experiment!! That's part of the fun!