I am allowing myself to be receptive to any and all stimuli that will keep me on this path of blogging inertia, which sounds like I'm about to stop, but if you happened to pass Physics 8A on the third try like I did (!) you'd know that "inertia" is the tendency of an object to remain in whatever state it is in, motion or rest, unless acted upon by a force. In the case of this Delicious blogger, unless Peyton Manning shows up on my doorstep in nothing but an NFL grilling apron, I should keep blogging.
Now, since it’s Friday, fish seems appropriate, but that’s only because the Catholic brainwashing during my childhood was partially successful. However, I can’t just say “fish” and be done with it, so I am using one of my favorite websites, dictionary.com and its Word of the Day as the meat fork that’s poking into my medium rare roasted brain and letting the bloody, fatty creative juices flow out into a thick, gravy of a blog post.
Dictionary.com's Word of the Day is “gainsay,” which is just my f**king terrible luck because there are some words that you want to incorporate into your daily life because they make you sound smart, like “redolent” but how stupid does it sound for a food blogger to use the word "gainsay” in every day food conversation?
Very. Stupid.
Oh well.
For the purpose of blogging, sea bass, blogging sea bass, and the furtherment of SAT vocabularical flash cards, let me just state for the record that my sister Jenn's recipe for Shiro Miso Marinated Seabass is the very thing that will gainsay any and all future statements that I will ever hatefully make insinuating that there is only ever "ew" in Asian Fusion.
By the way, the sea bass is quite wonderfully redolent of miso.
Miso Marinated Sea Bass Recipe from my Sister Jenn
My sister says that she uses any type of "sea bass," and likes to find pieces that are about 1½” thick. When she cooked them for us last, the pieces were fairly large so if you get the same size 2 pieces, it'll feed 4 people (unless you only eat the fish, but who does that? Obviously you have to have wasabi mashed potatoes and yuzu dressed mizuna greens with this to complete the Fusion.)
Mix together 5 tbsp each of shiro miso (Japanese white miso) and sugar. Add 3-4 tbsp of cooking wine to make a paste with the consistency of cake batter. If the paste is too thick, add a few drops of water.
(I have never heard of anyone use "cake batter" as the metaphor for consistency, but my sister is sort of creative like that.)
Spread the miso paste mixture all over 1½” thick pieces of seabass, place in a plastic bag or covered container and let marinate in the refrigerator anywhere from overnight to 3 days. I had to ask my sister at least twice about that. Yes, 3 days.
When ready to cook, completely rinse the paste off, pat the fish dry, and bake in a 350F oven for about 30 minutes or until the fish "is done."
(I double checked with my sister on this too, because 30 minutes sounds like a long time for fish, but I would say, check it after 5 minutes.)
Other Recipes for Miso Marinated Seabass (or other similar fish)
- Aqua's Miso Marinated Sea Bass on Epicurious.com [Jan 2000]
- Pan Roasted Miso Marinated Sea Bass from Boston.com
- Chef Ming Tsai does a miso marinade on Alaskan butterfish
- Food & Wine shares Nobu's Cod with Miso
amy says
Recipe looks awesome...My mom has a salmon version....Either way sweet. You are an awesome read. : )
Sarah J. Gim says
I am betting that this miso marinade will pretty much do well on ANY fish. or chicken. Heck, throw it on a steak :)
oneshotbeyond says
Yum. those photos bring you right in for a bite! I am intrigued to the max over here!
Mélanie says
OMG. i'm salivating in front of a picture of... FISH! It looks so delicious, I might go to the japanese store in front of my office to have this for dinner!
Sarah J. Gim says
oneshotbeyond: glad you like :) yeah. my little point and shoot canon sd1000 doesn't do too badly, now does it?
melanie: you totally should have it for dinner! it's so super easy to make :D although make it tonight and let it marinate for a day!
sheri says
Hi great photos.Btw, Nobu restaurants does a similar Black Cod.Yours look just as good :)
Adelina says
LOVE LOVE LOVE your shots!!! I wish I could Eat it off from the screen!
Must say...that's a perfect looking/ tasting(!) piece of Sea Bass!
Thanks for sharing and for posting!
Haley Nguyen says
Hi - what kind cooking wine did you use?