Miso-Marinated Cod in Broth

Apologies for being MIA, my laptop was on the fritz just before Christmas, so it only got fixed recently. Luckily, the awesome guys at Laptop Expert managed to salvage my files.

I figured I’d start off the new year with a healthy recipe – something that’ll work with those resolutions (if they’re still on the go)! It’s still warm, filling, and tasty, so it’s not one of those recipes that’s like rabbit food. It’s actually a New York Times recipe with a couple adjustments, and made with the assistance of my boyfriend.

Ingredients:
4-6 cups vegetable broth
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp mirin
3 tsp white misopaste
tiny squeeze of sriracha (or more, to taste!)
1 to 1 1/2 lbs cod filets (or other firm, white fish filets, skin and bones removed)
2 green onions
2 cups (approx. 4 handfuls) baby spinach
1 tbsp olive oil (plus some more for oiling the sheet pan)
1 cup brown mushrooms, sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced

Method:
We started in and realized that we wanted to serve this in broth – but had no prepared vegetable broth in the house. So we threw some onion, carrot, celery, salt and pepper in a pot, covered with water and simmered it as we prepared the rest.

Next, we prepared the marinade which included a few Asian-inspired ingredients. Miso paste is now fairly easy to find in regular grocery stores. I got the light/white kind because I find it most versatile. The red/darker kinds tend to have a more intense flavour that (in my opinion) doesn’t pair as easily with other flavours. Don’t be phased by the large tubs – this stuff lasts forever and is handy to have around (especially in wintertime, since it’s really good to make miso soup when you have the sniffles). Mirin, on the other had, was a challenge to find. I think it’s really odd that I had such trouble because my regular grocery store in my small university town carried it, but I couldn’t find it in downtown Toronto! I eventually came across a bottle in a health food store, which is equally odd because it’s a sweet rice wine – I wouldn’t really equate that with health food!

To make the marinade, I used a microplane to grate 2 teaspoons of ginger.

I then mixed it with 2 tablespoons mirin, 3 teaspoons miso, and a tiny squeeze of sriracha.

My boyfriend picked up a skinless cod filet instead of the halibut, we cut it into four serving-sized pieces.

We coated each piece of fish with the marinade and set it aside for about half an hour. We then put it on an oiled sheet pan and placed it under the broiler. While the fish was in the oven, we prepared the vegetables. My boyfriend sliced green onions into thin threads, and we put these, along with a small handful of baby spinach in the bottom of our bowls.

My boyfriend sauteed some sliced mushrooms in olive oil with a minced clove of garlic, and layered these on top of the greens. The fish cooks quickly, and was ready in just under 10 minutes. We placed a portion of fish in each bowl on top of the veg. The last step was to ladle the broth over top.

The cod was awesome, but you could swap it out with any number of white fish, dependent on what’s available near you. This made for a healthy, light dinner on a cool weeknight – and it’s always good to remind yourself that healthy food can taste good!