Miles Kirby shares his healthy recipe for roasted trout with sesame miso dressing, nori puree and yuzu pickled daikon
Serves 4
This is a great dish for entertaining friends. You can prepare everything in advance and just cook the trout ‘to order’. Pickles are naturally good for gut health as is miso paste, which has been fermented… plus it tastes delicious!
Ingredients
• 4 x 180g skin-on pieces of boneless sea trout
• 4 handfuls of pea shoots
For the yuzu pickled daikon:
• 160g daikon, peeled and thinly sliced
• 4 tbsp yuzu juice
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 1 red chilli, sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and sliced
• 50g caster sugar
• 2 tbsp fine sea salt
• ½ tsp black peppercorns
For the sesame-miso dressing:
• 2 tbsp shiro miso paste
• 2 tbsp atari goma (or tahini)
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 tsp pickled ginger puree
• 1 clove of garlic, finely grated
For the nori puree:
• 8 nori sheets
• 100ml each of mirin, sake and soy sauce
• 50ml balsamic vinegar
Method
For the yuzu pickled daikon:
1 To make the pickling liquid, place everything except the daikon into a heavy-bottomed pan with 150ml of water. Bring to the boil.
2 Place the sliced daikon into a bowl, pour the hot pickling liquid over the daikon then chill.
For the sesame-miso dressing
1 Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk well to combine. If you can’t find atari goma, a sesame paste from Japan which comes in a white or black sesame version, just use tahini, which you can find anywhere. The results are similar but you may have to thin out the dressing with a little more water.
For the nori puree:
1 Hold the nori sheets over the flame on your stove with a pair of tongs. Flip the nori over repeatedly until the sheet begins to dull in colour and crisp up. Be careful as it can burst into flames (but can be extinguished relatively easily when blown on).
2 Combine the mirin, sake, soy and balsamic in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Crumble in the toasted nori sheets and boil until most of the liquid has evaporated.
3 Blend to a paste with a stick blender.
For the fish:
1 When you are ready to cook the fish, heat a little oil in a non-stick pan until sizzling. Meanwhile, use a sharp knife to make three or four score marks through the skin of each piece of fish.
2 Season with salt and pepper then lay each fillet skin side down in the hot oil; it should sizzle immediately. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the skin is golden and crisp.
3 Remove the pan from the heat and flip the fish over to the other side. Leave it to sit off the heat in the warm pan for another 2 to 3 minutes.
To serve
1 Smear a good dollop of nori purée over four plates. Place a piece of cooked fish on top of the puree with some pickled daikon on the side (having drained off the liquid).
2 Drizzle over the sesame-miso dressing, then garnish with the handful of pea shoots, or another delicate green leaf, to finish.
Recipe and image courtesy of Miles Kirby, extracted from Beder’s Kitchen (Meze Publishing November 2020). A collection of recipes and reflections from foodies around the world, Beder’s Kitchen also acts as an initiative to raise awareness around mental health and suicide prevention, launched by the young charity, Beder.
RRP £22, available via Amazon, bookshops including Waterstones and online from www.beder.org.uk and www.mezepublishing.co.uk.
