Miso mackerel, sesame glazed squash and steamed pak choi

makerel-pakchoi-pumpkin

Man, am I in the mood for Japanese. After an artery-clogging, liver-straining, too-short trip to the seaside (no reception, no wifi, lots of bliss) my body needs a few days of no-fat, simple, cleansing and otherwise healthy but flavourful food. It needs this because, quite frankley, I ate an obscene amount of meat. Not quite up to the baccenalian levels of Blokes eat Beef, but still far too much, especially when you added in pints of Sharp’s seasonal Winter beer.

In a bid to salvage what I can from the satiated wreck of my body, I’ve decided to cast aside meat and booze for the next few days. And if there’s a cuisine more suited to detoxification than Japanese, I’ve yet to see it. Continue reading

Miso soaked salmon

Still going strong on Asian food, although last night’s dinner was something of a mish-mash of regional influences. It was ostensibly Japanese miso soaked salmon, but ended up with a fair bit of Chinese in there too. Not that that had any negative effect on the flavour. Quite the opposite in fact.

The influence and foundation of the dish is definitely Japanese with its balance of sweet, savoury and salty flavours. I wasn’t sure how it would all work out, but the first bite  was something of a revelation. The fattiness of the salmon was well balanced by the clean, salty-sweet sauce, and all the flavours were clear but still combined well. And because it was served with salad and tender-stem broccoli (apparently a choi-sum/broccoli hybrid), it was pretty damn healthy too. A perfect January antidote to December’s heavy eating. Of course, I spoiled the effect by indulging in baklava for dessert – all oily, syrupy, nutty finger-licking goodness. Continue reading