Nobu style Miso-glazed Black Cod

My friend Vincent and I used to work together. Often when we were sitting in our cubicles looking at spreadsheets of numbers and graphs, we have another window open with pictures of beautiful food on them. We would trade recipes, tips on the newest and hottest restaurants, and our current cravings. Anyway, this year Vincent invited me to guest blog and I am going to start it with one of my favorite dishes.

In fact, if I had a last meal, it'll certainly include this as an entree: Miso-glazed black cod. Everytime I order this in a restaurant, I close my eyes and go "mmmmm" (at least in mind I do). The succulent buttery tender fish is indescribably good. Once you've had cod, all the other fishes taste like overcooked dry pieces of chicken.

Unfortunately, it took me a while to realize how easy it is to make it yourself! It's far cheaper, way easier, and no one will care if you want to lick the plate clean afterwards.

Here is the recipe I used from TheKitchn. All the Nobu inspired miso-glazed black cod recipes online are pretty much the same.

Ingredients for two:

1 black cod fillet (half a pound)

2 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons white miso paste
1.5 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

• Two to three days beforehand, make the Nobu-style Saikyo Miso marinade and marinate the fish.

• Bring the sake and the mirin to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Boil for 20 seconds to evaporate the alcohol. Turn the heat down to low and add the miso paste, mixing with a wooden spoon. When the miso has dissolved completely, turn the heat up to high again and add the sugar, stirring constantly with the wooden spoon to ensure that the bottom of the pan doesn’t burn. Remove from heat once the sugar is fully dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

• Pat the black cod fillets thoroughly dry with paper towels. Slather the fish with the miso marinade and place in a non-reactive dish or bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave to steep in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. If you don't have enough time, marinating it for 24 hours is okay too, but 3 days yields a much tastier result.

To cook the fish:

• Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C, gas 6). Preheat a grill or broiler. Use "high" for broiler. Lightly wipe off any excess miso clinging to the fillets but don't rinse it off.
• Place the fish on the grill, or in a broiler pan, and grill or broil until the surface of the fish turns brown and the marinate starts to bubble. Then bake for 10 minutes.

To serve with rice and bok choy:

• Serve with Japanese rice. For bok choy, you can put them in the oven along with the cod. Drizzle them with olive oil and a little salt. Roast for about 5-7 minutes.