This dish is a celebration. Invite people you love.
Saikyo Yaki trout rice with grated egg and trout roe
INGREDIENTS
Serves 6 as an appetizer
Trout
- 3 centre-cut top-quality trout fillets, about 300 g (10 oz)
- coarse sea salt
- 40 g (3 tbsp) sake
- 10 g (2 tsp) mirin
- 200 g (7 oz) saikyo or shiro miso
Rice
- 500 g (1 lb) koshihikari (or other high-quality short-grain) rice, washed
- 90 ml (⅓ cup) sliced mizuna stems
- 50 ml (¼ cup) sliced green onions (or chives)
- 50 ml (¼ cup) grated salted
- egg yolk*
- 150 g (5 oz) trout roe (preferably sake-marinated)
- sea salt
METHOD
Salt the trout generously on the flesh side and set aside for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine sake and mirin in a saucepan, bring to a boil on high, light it and set aside. Once the alcohol has burned off and the liquid has cooled, combine it with miso in a bowl and whisk together. Use paper towels to pat moisture from the trout fillets, and then arrange skin-side down on a tray. Spread miso mixture evenly over the flesh but not the skin. Transfer to the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
For the rice:
In a bowl, combine rice and cold water to cover and let soak for 10 minutes. Drain rice in a sieve and set aside for another 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a non-stick skillet (or shichirin grill) on medium-high. Scrape miso marinade from trout and sear fillets skin-side down until bronzed, then set aside. Combine rice and 500 ml (2 cups) filtered water in a donabe or similar clay pot. Cover and bring to a boil on high for 2 minutes. Lift lid, add trout, then put back lid and weight it down. Set heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. Set aside for 10 minutes.
To finish:
Lift lid and remove trout. Sprinkle mizuna, onion and half the egg over the hot rice. Distribute fish on top and mound roe between the fillets. Top with the remaining egg and season with sea salt. Replace lid to present dish, then uncover. Use a rice paddle to break up fish and fold it and other toppings into the rice. Divide among warm bowls and top with pickled mustard greens.
*Place egg yolks on a bed of fine salt, cover with more salt and cure in refrigerator for 8 hours. Rinse, pat dry and bake on a rack on oven’s lowest setting for 3 hours.
FOR ME, LUXURY IS HAVING THE TIME TO APPRECIATE INGREDIENTS and the energy to prepare them the way they deserve to be prepared. When you factor in the time the fish takes to cure in the fridge, this dish takes up to five days to prepare. That’s a lot of time spent thinking about one dish for one meal. And it will be gone in less than an hour. So, it’s best to make this as a celebration, to feel and show gratitude. Take the time to source good rice and fish. Buy a nice bottle of sake — like hakurakusei or gangi hitotsubi junmai ginjo — and invite people you love. –H.J.
Photos: Kate Ince
