Cuisine – Miso roasted salmon and soba noodle salad

The international ingredients section of the supermarket seems to grow and grow in response to our increasing quest for interesting ways to cook and add to the old staple recipes we were raised on. Whether it’s Thai, Chinese, Indian, South African or Japanese, there’s an array of products that can entice any curious cook to experiment with in the kitchen.

I love the way that food ideas can expand our world. As kids we thought Chinese takeaways were the best (a fresh vegetable chop suey is still my favourite) but now every small town in the country seems to also boast a shop or two of Thai and Indian takeouts, and even motorway stops have the ubiquitous sushi shop. The array of Japanese products is a very interesting one, as that cuisine does not have myriad spices as its anchor like other Asian food cultures.

Often readers are put off trying a recipe because they don’t have some of the staple ingredients on their shelves. To think that when I started out cooking, soy sauce was a rarity in the pantry, but there’s probably not a refrigerator anywhere that doesn’t harbour a bottle of that inky sauce. In my own fridge you will find several sorts of soy sauce: dark, light, Chinese soy, and the lovely fruity Ponzu sauce, which is like a very light citrusy soy. I also have a jar of miso paste (which seems to keep forever,) rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and a really interesting alternative to hot pepper flakes – shichimi togarashi, which I add a dash of in many dishes I cook just to add a little bitey spice.

Miso is very Japanese. It will add a boost of what the Japanese call umami, that deeply savoury note in soups, fish, meat and vegetables. It can be whisked into sauces, dressings, glazes and marinades, and will dissolve in a hot liquid like a broth at the end of the cooking process. Don’t add it at the start of a soup or casserole, as it will lose flavour if it is boiled for any longer than a minute or two.

We are all very familiar with Italian pasta noodles and there are myriad shapes available now. My grandkids’ favourites are the huge pasta shapes that need cooking for more than 20 minutes and every time I serve up those chunky noodles with lots of butter and grated cheese there’s always a fight over the last few morsels. But the kids also love any sort of other noodle. In the Japanese ingredient section, you will find a selection of these, including ramen, udon, somen, rice and the lovely buckwheat soba noodles I have used in this week’s recipe.

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Miso roasted salmon on soba noodle salad

Serves two for a complete meal

For the salmon
1 large piece (300g approx) fresh salmon
2 tbsp miso paste
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp Japanese sweet rice wine (or sugar)
2 tbsp light vegetable oil

For the soba noodle salad
90g of soba noodles
10 spears fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 4cm pieces
1 avocado, sliced thinly
1 large radish, sliced very thinly
Sprouts, sesame seeds and lemon for garnish

Dressing
2 tsp sesame oil
4 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
2 tbsp ponzu (or soy sauce)
Zest of 1 lemon
½ tsp shichimi togarashi red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Place the salmon in a small roasting pan. Mix the miso, soy, sweet rice wine and vegetable oil together and marinate the salmon for 30 minutes (or overnight, refrigerated),

Bake in a hot oven for no more than 10 minutes and allow to cool.

Place a large pan of salted water over the heat and bring to a boil. Plunge the noodles and cook for 5 minutes. Trim the asparagus and add them to a steamer to cook simultaneously over the noodles or simmer the spears in boiling salted water separately until slightly softened but not mushy.

Meanwhile mix the dressing ingredients together in a small jar.

Drain the noodles, place in a serving bowl while still hot and coat with half the dressing so they don’t stick together. Add the drained asparagus and radish and toss well.

Add the avocado to the salad. Flake the salmon and add on top of everything with a scattering of sesame seeds, the garnish of sprouts and a slice of lemon. Drizzle the remaining dressing over.