Accompanied by brunoise Tokyo turnips, icicle radish, golden beets, and sliced rhubarb, topped with Aleppo pepper and garlic oil
My mum always says it’s a good day if your hands are dirty at the end of it. Similarly, food has always been viewed as medicine in my house and given the same respect a person may give to one working in health care. This most recent visit home had all days spent with soil up my arms and under my nails as we spent time in the greenhouse transplanting new vegetables and out in the yard getting the garden beds ready for their new spring occupants. So, with this in mind, before we replaced what was already growing in the beds we planned to harvest the tops of the winter greens that had gone to seed (rabe) with the plans of turning it into something both memorable and nutrient dense in the kitchen. Kale Rabe is beautifully buttery, mildly earthy, highly nutritious, a deep shade of eggplant, and set to be the star of our yet-to-be-thought-out dish.
My mum and I are similar in the way most meals are not planned but rather created through the inspiration found in produce sections, farmers' markets, and my mum's urban farm garden beds. With no recipe in mind, we planned for a 5:30 am wake-up and a drive out to Terra Flora Soilworks in Chilliwack to pick up some more living soil and gold mulching compost to top up our garden beds in preparation for all the spring vegetables going in.
While at the farm I had the privilege of being a fly on the wall listening to my mum and Andrew Couzens, Terra Flora owner, chat all things organic farming, compost, and permaculture. While a lot said was beyond my knowledge my ears perked up when he said we could harvest some root vegetables growing in his greenhouse. My mum then picked up the missing inspiration and ingredients for our meal, icicle radishes, and Tokyo turnips.
On our way home with a trunk full of soil and a bucket filled with fresh root veg the rest of the meal was quite easily thought up. A bed of rabe laid and sprinkled with brunoise (finely cubed) radish, turnips, golden beets, and thinly sliced rhubarb (both to be freshly harvested from my mum's garden), topped with a fresh piece of pink miso and yuzu marinated cod all surrounded by a lightly spiced awase dashi broth and finished with aleppo pepper and garlic oil.
When I say food is medicine it goes beyond the meats and produce used in a meal and expands into the preparation. A dish as simple as this is elevated by the way the produce is prepared, doing a brunoise on all the vegetables allows each bite to include all components while there is also a methodic peace found in precariously dicing your vegetables.
Pink Miso and Yuzu Cod in an Awase Dashi Broth
Ingredients
Pink Miso and Yuzu Cod:
2 3"x3" pieces of cod
1tbsp yuzu ponzu
1 tsp mirin
1 tsp pink miso
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp ginger
Avocado oil
Awase Dashi(ish) Broth:
2 cups water
2.5g bonito flakes
2-inch square piece kombu
1-inch knuckle of ginger
1 Thai chili
1/2 tsp lime juice
Aleppo pepper
Garlic oil
Vegetable Bed:
1 cup kale rabe florets (can substitute brocolinni florets)
1 Tokyo turnip (can substitute celeriac)
1 icicle radish (can substitute daikon)
1 golden beet
1/2 of a small, thin rhubarb stalk
Prep
Cod
Using a microplane grate ginger into a medium bowl and add the rest of your marinade ingredients and whisk to combine. Place in your cod, evenly coat with the marinade then cover and set aside. You can prep and marinade this overnight just make sure to bring the fish to room temperature before cooking
Awase Dashi Broth
Fill a small pot with two cups of cold water, add in kombu, bring to a boil then turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove your kombu, add-in your bonito flakes, chili, and ginger (both roughly chopped). Once again bring to a boil then turn down the heat and simmer for another 10 minutes then turn off and let sit.
Vegetable Bed
Wash and dry all your vegetables.
Cup the tops off your rabe (or broccolini substitute), brunoise your root vegetables, and thinly slice your rhubarb. Set each aside in separate containers.
Bring a small pot of water to a boil, lightly blanch the beets, drain and set aside.
Cook and Plate
Turn on your oven's broiler and place a thick stainless steel pan on a burner over high heat. To test that the pan is ready drop some water on the pan and if it dances around then quickly evaporates it is ready and will prevent your fish from sticking. Prepare a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
Add a tablespoon of avocado oil to your pan and swirl around to distribute. Once the oil has begun slightly smoking gently place one piece of cod on skin side down (if you prefer skinless as myself place down the side skin was once on). Turn the heat down to medium-high and let cook for roughly 5 minutes, untouched, or until the bottom is beginning to caramelize. The fish should easily remove from the bottom, if not give it a few more seconds, and place it onto your prepared sheet pan seared side down. Repeat with your second piece of cod.
Strain your dashi broth, return to your small pot, and bring it to a boil for the final time. Once at a boil remove from heat and add in your lime juice.
Place your sheet pan into the broiler and let cook a further 2-4 minutes depending on the preference of temperature.
In a large shallow bowl (any bowl will work but we eat with our eyes first so do with that as you will) lay down a bed of rabe, sprinkle your assorted root veg and rhubarb then slowly pour over your awase dashi broth to lightly cook the vegetables. Place your seared cod on top and garnish with the aleppo pepper and garlic oil to taste.
For more on the permaculture side of it all my mum, and sous chef, wrote an article for her weekly column, Garden to Table: Permaculture can teach us to follow nature's logic, in the North Shore News.
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