Plate up Tetsuya’s grilled Spanish mackerel with miso and soy
If you’re anything like us, you’ve spent many an evening watching SBS in awe as Maeve O’Meara traverses the globe on her spectacular culinary journeys. Through her show Food Safari she explores the cuisines of the world, and her latest book Food Safari Fire specifically looks at the creative ways that different cultures cook with fire using age-old techniques and food. The book features everything from Croatian baked octopus to traditional Argentinian asado, and tips from home cooks, pit masters and renowned chefs such as Guy Grossi and Frank Camorra. This summer, play with a little fire and try your hand at Tetsuya Wakuda’s grilled Spanish mackerel with miso and soy.
INGREDIENTS
Spanish mackerel fillets, skin scored
white sesame oil
sancho pepper (prickly ash pear)
yuzukosho paste to serve
Base
900 ml (30 ½ fl oz) mirin
300 ml (10 fl oz) cooking sake
300 ml (10 fl oz) soy sauce
200–250 ml (7–8 ½ fl oz) saikyo (sweet white) miso, depending on saltiness
Turnip and Pomelo Salad
2 Japanese baby turnips, per person
1 pomelo segments, cut in 3, per person
1 French radish, halved lengthways and painted with white sesame oil, per person
pickled ginger, finely julienned, to garnish
1 finger lime, halved lengthways per person
finely julienned orange zest, to garnish
Note: yuzukosho paste is made from green chilli, yuzu and salt. It can be purchased ready-made from Japanese grocery stores
TO MAKE
To make the base, bring the mirin and sake to the boil in a medium saucepan just to evaporate the alcohol. Cool.
Add the soy sauce.
(Note: This mixture can be used for yakiniku or as a base with ginger, garlic, spring onions, Korean chilli paste and sesame oil as a dressing. It will make more than you need but can be stored in the refrigerator.)
Add the miso to the base, and adjust for preference with more mirin or honey if you like it a little sweeter.
Over the radiant heat from a hot charcoal grill, grill the mackerel on skewers, flesh-side down to start, turn it over when it starts to look cooked on the flesh side. Towards the end of cooking, brush the top side with a little of the base. Continue to cook briefly before turning and painting the other side. Continue turning and painting until the fish is cooked and caramelised. You want the fish to be just cooked or slightly translucent in the centre.
Brush the fish with white sesame oil before removing from the grill. Sprinkle the skin with sancho pepper.
Assemble the salad on serving plates with the fish. Serve with yuzukosho paste.
This is an edited extract from Food Safari Fire by Maeve O’Mara published by Hardie Grant and available in bookstores nationally and on cooked.com.au.
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