Miso-Marinated Chilean Sea Bass with Sauteed Asian Greens

So there are a billion different recipes for miso-marinated or miso-glazed sea bass out there.  This was our version.  I picked up some pre-portioned sea bass fillets from Whole Foods and wanted to do something easy and vaguely Asian with them.  I tend to like Chilean sea bass when prepared with Asian ingredients (a combination of ginger, soy, lime and cilantro being my typical marinade/sauce) and flavors, so I decided to stick with similar Asian flavors, but try a different recipe.  So we went with miso, mirin and sake.  And then we served the fish with some Ginger-Cilantro Rice (which I will post about later) and some Asian greens (hon tsai tai - a mild Asian mustard green) sauteed simply with garlic and soy sauce.

I thought the fish was crazy delicious - one of my favorite things we have cooked recently.  It was sweet, but not cloyingly so.  Then there was the miso that shone through the sweetness without overpowering the other flavors.  Most importantly, the fish was very moist and tender - perfectly cooked.  Beyond being tasty, the fish is super easy to make and requires very few ingredients.  Marinating the fish takes a few hours, but the dish is just so easy and the marinade imparts so much flavor that I can't hold the marinating period against it.  I would gladly marinate everything that went through our kitchen if the end result was this good.  As for the sauteed greens, I love Asian greens simply stir-fried with garlic.  This is one of the basic recipes for stir-fried greens that I use and vary depending on my mood and what we have in the fridge.  I wanted it to be super simple to go with the sea bass so all I threw in was garlic, soy and sesame oil.  Sometimes I mix things up with ginger or hoisin or cornstarch to thicken the sauce up.  But not this time.  This time I wanted it to be as basic as could be so I could both taste the hon tsai tai (which I have never tried before and thoroughly enjoyed) and so the flavors didn't compete with the fish or the rice.  The greens weren't as delicious as the sea bass, but I thought they were the perfect simple side for the meal.

Recipes after the jump!

Miso-Marinated Chilean Sea Bass

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp white miso

2 tbsp sake

2 tbsp mirin

2 tsp sugar

2 6-8 oz Chilean sea bass fillets

Pam (or other nonstick baking spray)

Combine miso, sake, mirin and sugar in a small glass baking dish.  Add sea bass.  Turn to coat and if your fillets have skin, leave them in the marinade skin-side up.  Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Cover a rimmed baking sheet with tin foil.  Lightly coat foil with nonstick cooking spray.  Remove sea bass from marinade and place on prepared baking sheet, skin-side down.  Roast sea bass until opaque and cooked through, about 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes.  Carefully remove fish from baking sheet using a spatula and transfer to individual plates.

Serve.

Sauteed Asian Greens With Garlic

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch hon tsai tai (you can substitute yu choy or baby bok choy, but you might have to blanch those veggies in boiling salted water for about 30 seconds prior to stir-frying), ends trimmed

1 tbsp vegetable oil

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp water

1 tsp sesame oil

Heat skillet or wok over medium-high heat and add oil. Add garlic and cook until fragrant and lightly browned, 1-2 minutes. Add greens. Stir-fry briefly to coat greens in garlic oil. Add soy sauce and water and stir-fry for 1 additional minute to wilt the greens.  Remove from heat and drizzle with sesame oil.

Serve.