Thursday, May 20, 2010

Mamegoma & Butterfish Misoyaki Bento

Today's bento contains butterfish misoyaki, which granted is best enjoyed fresh, but I love this fish so much I would even eat it at room temp, with a musubi. Well, this bento is for my boy, so we'll just omit the musubi. Instead, he gets a piece of corn, steamed broccoli, carrots and two quail eggs with nori faces that I am calling Mamegoma. The white one is Shirogoma and the pink one is Sakuragoma. If you make them, perhaps you might want to add a tail and flippers, so you don't have to explain yourself. There's also a half apricot, kiwi flowers, and cherries in a cup.

I prepared the butterfish (black cod) fillet using a recipe from Roy's Restaurant, but slightly adapted. Make sure you get the butterfish also known as black cod or sablefish. There are apparently lots of different kinds of butterfish, as I found out. This fish has a velvety, delicate texture and a high oil content, which is what makes it taste well, like butter. Or, buttah.

Per half pound butterfish (black cod/sablefish) fillet:
1/3 cup sake
1/3 cup mirin
3T white miso
3T granulated sugar

Bring the sake and mirin to a boil in a small pot. Boil for 5 minutes, then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.
Whisk in the miso and sugar until well-incorporated.
Simmer on low heat. Do not boil miso. Recipe says for an hour, but I turned it off after a half hour and I think it came out fine.
Allow to cool, then marinate fillet in a ziploc bag for 24 hours. Make sure you coat the whole fish, and push out the air bubble.
Before cooking, wipe off excess marinade with your fingers. If you have too much miso it will burn.
Sear fish over medium heat in a fry pan, about 3 minutes per side.
Serve with hot fresh rice.
Soooooo good!

23 comments:

  1. Oh, I am such a big miso butterfish lover! I like it with a lot of rice, but my son is just like Mister Man. The only time he eats rice is when there is a lot of gravy or furikake all over it. Super cute bento as always! :)

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  2. omg the butterfish looks sooooooo good, are you joking me?! and the little seals are adorable, i knew what they were right away without flippers. love the cutie melon (?) with the leaf pick in the fruit cup, and the corn is a nice alternative to a musubi, starch-wise.

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  3. Susan, me too! The best fish in the world. The rest of the family likes it, but not like me. My hubs couldn't understand why I spent so much time searching for fresh butterfish. Same with my kids: furikake all over the rice. Thanks! :)

    Thanks megan! You don't even have to use any oil. So rich. That's an apricot, the most beautiful fruit of summer. And thanks for the mamegoma love, I know you are being kind to me but I love ya for it! :D

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  4. Mamegoma, so cute! And I will give everything for that delicious fish. Beautiful color and arrangement as always. Is this a new bento set? The blue color is so nice :)

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  5. Thanks Lia!
    I forgot to mention my new Pochacco box, you have a good eye! It's not really "new" but I haven't used it til now. Cute sandwich box with utensils in the lid :)

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  6. I love the color of the box too and those cherries look sooo good!

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  7. Thanks Fluteloop! Farmers market cherries :D

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  8. Oh! Summer fruits! I'd love to have them at my shop already (here we still have to eat cherries from a can)! Thanks for sharing your great recipes, this fish looks delicious.

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  9. oh that misoyaki sounds so good! I love things marinated with miso! <3 Thanks for the recipe! :D I love your bento too. It's so cute and refreshing! <3

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  10. Love all the strawberries in yr bentos and now cherries! They are huge!
    Hv a great weekend! Cheers/Karen =)

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  11. Looks and sounds delicious! I hadn't heard of this type of fish before. (But then, I'm in a landlocked state.) I can't wait for cherry season here!

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  12. Cherries are finally in season! Love them so much, and I love the color of this bento box. Thanks for the recipe for the fish. We just has some panko and pistachio crusted petrale that was amazing.

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  13. Thanks for another tempting fish recipe, sherimiya! A gorgeously fresh bento that I'm sure was delicious to the last colorful morsel!

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  14. Pipaw, I'm the same, SO happy when summer fruits are here! They really make the bento look good. Thanks a lot :)
    Token, I'm not a huge fan of miso, but with this fish it's unbelievable. Hope you can try it! Thanks a lot!
    Karen, yeah, I love the red fruits! These cherries were so cute; they looked like fat hearts. I had to get them :) Thanks!
    Thanks Amy! Hope you get your cherries soon!
    Sonoma Bento, Yes! I'm so happy too! That fish sounds great too. Thanks a lot!
    Thanks bentobird, so sweet! <3 <3

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  15. Thanks for the recipe sheri - I do something similar, but I don't think the flavour infuse quite as much - will try your marinade next time!

    And the seals are adorable :)

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  16. Totally agreed with Lia, I'll give anything for the yummy fish! Love the colours of the bento so much.

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  17. Hi mils! This one is based on a recipe from Roy's Restaurant. So good! Hope you can try it and agree :) Thank you!

    KidsDreamWork, thank you, so sweet!

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  18. I've never thought before that making Mamegoma could be as easy like these. Great idea Sheri :D

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  19. Haha, thanks tatabonita! I'm sure you could add something more and make it cuter! :P

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  20. I love misobutterfish! I grew up on the stuff and I'm so excited to try this recipe! Do you have any suggestions on the type of sake to use?

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  21. Me too laulaus! I don't know how the different sake stacks up for cooking, but I was told to buy the best you can afford and keep it in your pantry. You will use it a lot in your cooking. Enjoy the simple recipe; it comes out really ono!

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  22. That is good advice! Thank you! I just found your website and I LOVE it!

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  23. Thanks so much laulaus! I'm so happy you found me and I hope you get lots of ideas for your own bentomaking creations here :D

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