Miso Soup - Miso Shiru

I've finally got most of my backlogged posts published. Which considering the last two months was no easy feat. I never mentioned it before, but I was out of the country during the last two weeks of January and traveled back home to Perth to be with my extended family during Chinese New Year. Then I ended up scheduled to work every weekend since I was back in Sydney until now. I actually got most of my posts finished up last weekend, when I was working onsite. I had to wait for the other teams to finish before I had to do my part. That wait took 5 hours. Most data centers are like a large and very noisy walk-in refrigerator. This one was one of those. All I could think of while waiting (and typing up my posts), was that I wish I had a nice hot bowl of miso soup with me.

In that environment, I don't think there could be anything that could be as soul satisfying than sitting there with my hands cupped around a hot bowl of miso soup, sipping away, savouring each mouthful.

And you guessed it, as soon as my part was done, I got home, boiled some water, added some dashi granules, miso paste and some other ingredients found in my pantry and fridge and 10 mins later... ta-daaa.. Miso Soup...!

Miso is a great base for a seafood based soup too. Whenever I do have enough seafood bits and pieces on hand (and the spare time), I make a Fisherman's Soup with the off cuts of seafood (eg. Fish head, Mussels, salmon, prawn) with miso. But this time, it was just a simple miso soup with some Enoki mushrooms thrown in... And boy did it hit the spot. :)

Miso Soup - Miso Shiru

normally serves 2, or 1 in this case (if you want seconds)

• 1 teaspoon Dashi granules
• 3 cups water
• 2 tablespoons White miso paste *
• 1/2 tablespoon Mirin
• 1 piece package Silken tofu (diced into cubes - 1 piece is about 75g)
• 1 tablespoon Wakame seaweed
• 70g Enoki Mushroom (washed, brown roots removed) - Optional

* you may need to adjust this depending on the type of miso used

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add in the dashi granules to the water and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium, pour in the mirin and whisk in the miso paste.
3. Add in the Enoki mushrooms and seaweed.
4. Stir in the tofu cubes.
5. Simmer gently for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.

Anchovy Dressing

I still had a lot of fancy lettuce leftover from making these burgers. The easiest way to use up a lot of lettuce leaves would be to use them up in a salad. I was thinking of a Caesar salad for lunch. That was until I realised the mayo in my fridge had expired about 8 month ago. Oppps... It still looked ok. But I didn't think I should risk it. So it went straight to the bin.

I didn't feel like walking to the shops, and making mayo from scratch seemed a little bit overboard for what was supposed to be a quick Caesar salad. So instead of making a creamy Caesar salad dressing, I ended up putting together this Anchovy dressing instead. I added in capers and balsamic vinegar for some extra tang. The goats cheese actually worked really well with the dressing.

Anchovy Dressing

• 1 Tablespoon Sage (coarsely chopped)
• 2 Teaspoons Caper (drained, rinsed)
• 4 Anchovy Fillets
• 2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• Couple grinds of freshly ground black pepper

For the Salad:

• Oak leaf Lettuce (can substitute with any other type of lettuce)
• Goats cheese
• Tomatoes
• Olives
• Poached Egg

Method:

1. In a food processor set to pulse and blend together the anchovy fillets, capers and sage.
2. Scoop out the contents into a bowl and add balsamic vinegar, olive oil and pepper to taste.
3. Mix to combine well. Set aside.
4. Prepare the ingredients for the salad. I used whatever was available in my fridge, so feel free to substitute with what you have.
5. Toss salad with the anchovy dressing. Serve with some extra goats cheese and top with a poached egg.

Pork Sausages Broiled with Japanese Mayo

One of the things I've picked up after coming back from Japan...

....and thats to put Japanese egg mayo on top of everything !!

These are sausages I've got from the butcher that I first cooked on my grilled pan. With the oven switched onto the grill setting, I generously squeezed japanese 'baby brand' mayo over the cooked sausages, then placed it under the grill for about 2 minutes. Until the mayo has melted.

As you can see from the picture, I topped up some of the other pork sausages I had with some fresh mayo - just to see what it would taste like. I would probably just leave it to the broiled mayo only next time.

And it was good. Tasted very much like the japanese fatty pork on skewers with mayo you can get from Izakaya places in japan.

Oysters Kilpatrick & Mornay

These are definitely one of my favorites to cook up when I have Oysters available, and have already gobbled down too many raw ones.

For Oysters Kilpatrick:

• 4 Pieces of Bacon (sliced and chopped up finely)
• 1 Tbl sp of Butter
• 6 Tbl sp of Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Tbl sp of HP Sauce
• 1 Tbl sp of Tabasco Sauce
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Melt butter in saucepan, add in Worcestershire, HP & Tabasco sauce. Once sauces are combined add salt & pepper to taste. Sprinkle bacon over oyster and spoon sauce over the bacon. Place under hot grill, and leave until bacon starts going crisp. Usually about 3-4 minutes.

For Oysters Mornay:

• 1 Cup of Milk
• 2 Tbl sp of Butter
• 2 Tbl sp of plain flour
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 tsp French Mustard
• 1/2 Cup of grated tasty cheese
• Cayenne Pepper

Make a roux by melting butter in a saucepan then slowly adding flour, then milk until a white sauce forms. Add mustard then cheese, salt & pepper to taste. Add cheese sauce to oysters, sprinkle with Cayenne pepper and extra cheese. Place under hot grill for about 3-4 min, until cheese topping starts to brown slighly.