Mamegoma & Butterfish Misoyaki Bento

Mamegoma & Butterfish Misoyaki Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

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!