Seared Scallops with Miso-Sake Sauce, Corn Cakes and Roasted Maitake Mushroom

Getting all this in a format suitable for plating was tough. In fact, I'm not convinced this was the best presentation. Actually, I know it's not. It's sloppy and looks too heavy. But oh well! Cooking is sloppy, isn't it? I mean, what's the point of cooking, of learning, of growing as a cook if you can't mess things up...make it look like crap once in a while. Not that it's your goal, but if it happens to occur, live with it!

So I knew I wanted seared scallops and I knew I wanted corn, but building a dish around those two items is easy and tough. Easy in that you can do so many things with scallops or corn. Hard in that you can do so many things with scallops or corn ;).

I originally wanted to do something of a stack with the corn, but I imagined a drier approach with a chopped corn, not whole kernels. I couldn't come up with something for that, so I chose the next best thing - corn cakes.

I'm also really into mushrooms at the moment. Every time I walk into a grocery store these days, I'm checking what they have in stock. On this day, I came across this beautiful little floret of a Maitake mushroom, and instantly knew I had to cook it with olive oil, salt and pepper. In retrospect, I probably should have done some sort of chopped approach to the mushrooms, because that's what really threw this plate off. You have a nice corn cake, you have four seared scallops, you have a nice sauce...then you have this big chunk of a mushroom hanging out on the plate with nowhere to hide. If you try this dish, maybe do everything I did, but then take the mushroom and chop it, and set it on top of the corn cake?

You already know how to do seared scallops, so let's get to the miso-sake sauce and corn cakes.

Miso-Sake Sauce:

1 Cup sake

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 Tbs ponzu sauce

1 tsp miso paste

Boil the sake until reduced by half. Add broth and boil for a minute, add ponzu and miso, stirring well. Reduce heat to low and reduce about 10 minutes. Off heat and add 1 Tbs butter, mixing before you use.

Corn Cakes:

1 Cup corn (if you use frozen corn, make sure it's completely defrosted and drained)

1 piece of wheat bread

1 egg white

1/4 shredded parmesan cheese

3 cloves garlic, through a press

In a processor, turn the bread into fine crumbs. Add corn and process until chunk, but not a paste. Scoop out into bowl and add egg white and cheese. Add a bit of salt, pepper, and garlic.

Form into cakes, and pan fry for a couple minutes per side.

Enjoy!

~ Brock

Broiled Miso Salmon

This is one of the easiest dishes to make, and it has so much flavor. Literally two ingredients - miso paste and salmon. I think it works best with a salmon steak, although you could do it with a fillet. Ultimately, the steak is superior and broils nicely.

Broiled Miso Salmon:

Take a salmon steak about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick. Slather it in miso paste, put it in a zip lock bag, and put it in the fridge for at least 4 hours. You can even put it in the miso overnight.

When you're ready, let the salmon rest on the counter at least 15 minutes before you cook it. Heat your broiler. If you've had the miso in the bag longer than a couple of hours, you'll want to rinse it off before you cook it. Otherwise, just wipe off the excess miso.

Broil this for about 7 minutes on the first side, then flip and broil for another 7-10 minutes until it's cooked through and nicely charred.

Enjoy this with a pan fried vegetable (like spinach & garlic or something like that) and some rice.

~ Brock

Chilean Sea Bass baked in Miso Sauce with Japanese-Style Sweet Potato-Crab Salad

It was a picture in a newspaper clipping on the wall in a Japanese restaurant. I was sold.

It's been a while since I've had Chilean Seabass...probably because it's not sustainable, is often caught illegally, and has high Mercury levels. But, it's good. What can I say - you have only so long on this planet.

Anyway, I went to Wholesome Choice (which could explain why they carry the fish and places like Stater Bros and Ralph's don't), looking for a buttery white fish and there it was. At $18.99 a pound, I expected it should be good.

Miso Sauce:

1/2 cup Miso paste
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 sake
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp rice wine
1 tsp dark soy sauce

Mix the sauce well, and marinate the fish in it for at least 1 hour. You can actually do this marinade all day and it will be even better, but do what you can with the time you have.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Pour your marinade into a small, low-lipped baking dish (I used a glass pie dish), and add your fish. Depending on the thickness, you'll cook it anywhere from 10 - 20 minutes. It looks nice with a little touch of browning, so if you get it close to done, you can fire up the broiler and get a singe on it for about 30 seconds. You probably want to flip the fish midway through cooking it, but it's not essential.

Remove to a plate and pour some of the sauce (not the burned part) over the top of your fish. I served this with Japanese-style sweet potato-crab salad.

Japanese-Style Sweet Potato-Crab Salad:

2-4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 russet potato, peeled and cubed
2 Tbsp Miracle Whip
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp Sriracha
1 cup real or imitation crab, chopped into chunks

Steam sweet potatoes and potato for about 15 minutes. Remove and drain, place in a large bowl. Lightly mash, leaving chunks. Add honey, Miracle Whip, and Sriracha, and mix well. Place in refrigerator to cool and blend flavors. When it's cool, add the crab and mix.

Why use Miracle Whip instead of regular mayo? It's your call - I'm sure either would work.

Enjoy!

~Brock