Nigella’s Miso Salmon

Nigella Lawson has written 9 best-selling cookbooks, including “How to be a Domestic Goddess” which she definitely resembles. This is her take on the Miso Cod craze which Nobu made famous and now is on menus all over the country. Simple enough for a weeknight dinner for two, you can easily multiply the ingredients to feed your friends as well.

I am new to cooking with miso, and it may be my new favorite ingredient. Buy a small container, and it will live in your refrigerator for months as you experiment with it in all kinds of recipes. I’ve been working on finding the right miso chicken recipe, but as delicious as they all have been, I can’t get one that looks appealing in a photograph! The quest continues…

This salmon melts in your mouth, and the combination of miso with lime juice, soy sauce, fish sauce and garlic will make you raise your eyebrows with the first bite. Cod is hard to find in San Diego, so I’m happy this works so well with salmon.

1 tbs. sweet white miso

1 tbs. lime juice

1 tbs. soy sauce

1 tbs. fish sauce

1 clove garlic, peeled and finely grated or minced

2 salmon fillets or steaks (8 ounces total)

1 fresh red chile, seeded and thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place a resealable bag in a measuring cup, folding the edges over the top of the cup to make it easy to fill, then spoon in the white miso. Add the lime juice, soy sauce, fish sauce, and garlic to the bag, and then seal and massage the contents to create a smooth, paste-like marinade.

Open up the bag, slip in the salmon fillets, then seal it again and squidge it so that the fillets are covered with the marinade. Now lay the bag flat, leaving the salmon to steep at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Line a shallow baking pan with aluminum foil, then fish out your salmon from the bag, shaking off the marinade, and place, flattest side down, on the foil.

Place the pan in the oven and cook the salmon for 7-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fish. You want it cooked through, but still juicy and coral within. When they’re cooked, transfer the fillets to a couple of warmed plates, then scatter with the chile strips, dividing them between each fillet.
Serves 2

Note: Americans eat larger portions of protein than the Brits do, so these 4 ounce fillets don’t seem adequate. If yours are much larger just increase the marinade. If your salmon fillets have skin, they will easily separate from the fish when you lift it from the pan after cooking.