Miso Udon with Striped Bass

Copyright 2007 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
3-4 oz. striped sea bass
2 T miso paste
1.5 cup water
1 t soy sauce or shoyu
1 T bonito flakes
3 Shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 packet udon noodles (about 7.25 oz.)

In a saucepan or pot, boil water and add miso paste, letting it dissolve. Then reduce to a simmer and add soy sauce and bonito flakes. Add your fish and cook until fish is done, about 10 to 15 minutes.

In a separate pot, boil water and add udon noodles. Cook per package instructions (usually 4 minutes if you got the udon from the refrigerated section). Place your noodles into a bowl. Then pour miso soup and fish into the bowl. Garnish with green onion strips and kim chi.

Makes 1 serving. Pair with a cup of genmaicha green tea.

TIP: Udon noodles can be found in the refrigerated Asian section at most California stores on in Asian grocery stores. I prefer the refrigerated packaged udon, which looks very similar to the udon I grew up with—white, thick and round. Sometimes you’ll see dried udon sold like dried pasta, but for some reason the shape isn’t as thick as tradition udon so I wouldn’t recommend them.

DRIED FISH: Bonito flakes are shavings from a dried, smoked fish in Japan and it’s one of the more common ingredients used to flavor broth. It’s also used to make dashi, which is a common broth added to miso soup. Bonito flakes are sold pre-shaved in flake form in air-tight packages at your local Japanese grocery store or Asian grocery store. If you can’t find any, you can use hondashi, which is a common brand of dried broth powder added to miso soup.