Jeff and I just had a delicious mixed lunch of various yummy things.

Our favorite Pacific brand creamy tomato soup. We go through a carton of this stuff every week!

Some quinoa with chickpeas that I made in the rice cooker. Making it with vegetable broth rather than water makes it so much tastier.

Smashed avocado on toast with seaweed flake. We don’t use iodized salt in our house so I try to sneak seaweed in wherever I can to get in our proper iodine fix.

And some leftovers from last night: honey mustard salmon and sauteed veggies. I sliced up some red bell pepper, shiitakes, carrot, and gai lon broccoli (found this at the market and had to try it, it has a broccoli-like stalk but with leaves rather than florets.) I threw in some leftover brown rice, just a touch of soy sauce, and toasted sesame seeds to finish it off. So fresh!

Jeff made us our third round of tea for today to have with lunch. He likes to use the black tetsubin I got him for Christmas when he needs to make a lot of tea.

Awesome lunch of many of my favorite flavors!

Trying to decide what to do with the rest of our day. The sun is finally shining after nearly a week of rain and/or gloom.

What are your weekend plans?

February 5, 2011 Alayna Discussion 10 comments

You have got to know by now just how much I love miso, right?

This recipe is my absolute favorite way to enjoy miso, and one that I make about twice a month as it is so quick to put together and so richly delicious.

I start with a fillet of salmon placed on a baking sheet that has been lined with aluminum foil.

Next, I make the glaze. All you need are these two, miso and mirin…

Any miso is fine, I realize you may only be able to get your hands on shiro miso (aka: white or mellow miso.) I use this “red” variety because I’ve tried making the recipe with both and found this one to be less salty. As for mirin, if you can’t find it you can use either maple syrup or honey and a few drops of water to thin it out. I’ve tried it using both of those ingredients and it was still awesome.

So, put a dollop of miso in a bowl and add about a tablespoon or so of mirin.

I then microwave this for ten seconds, stir, then another 10 seconds and stir again. It’ll look about like this, don’t worry if yours is thicker or thinner than mine. It’ll be great, I promise.

Just pour it over the salmon and spread evenly over the surface and down the sides.

This gets baked at 400 degrees for exactly 20 minutes.

While that was baking, I got the rest of the meal ready. I had some sushi rice going in the rice cooker already so I just had to make something to go with it. I decided to smash up an avocado with seaweed flake, salt and toasted sesame.

And I even had time to have a little fun with my ring molds that I haven’t touched in forever. I used them to mold the rice into pretty little discs.

Out came the salmon. Don’t worry about the burned edges, it’s just because there is sugar in the mirin, the fish itself is fine. This is why you needed the foil.

And here it is, alongside the rice topped with mashed avocado and sliced scallions.

Seriously, one of my very favorite dinners.

And no, you don’t need to mold the rice into pretty shapes. I would have just plopped it on the plate too if I wasn’t planning on photographing it!

Miso-glazed salmon

Perfectly baked salmon topped with a glaze of salty miso and sweet mirin.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1 skin-on salmon fillet
• approx. 2 tbsp. red miso paste
• approx. 2 tbsp. mirin

Cooking Directions

1. Lay salmon fillet on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, remove any pin bones.
2. In a small bowl, combine miso and mirin.
3. Microwave miso and mirin for 20 seconds then stir to combine.
4. Pour mixture over salmon and spread evenly with a butter knife.
5. Bake salmon at 400 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until done.
6. Serve with rice, smashed avocado, and scallions if desired.

Hope you try it, I’m really proud of this one!

January 17, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 5 comments