Chicken Miso Stew (Nabe)

(serves 3 to 4)
Miso Stew or Miso Nabe is a winter dish that is popular in Hokkaido. The concentration of protein and carbohydrates in miso and soya milk creates a stew that is hearty and robust, giving it the power to keep the cold at bay. Every region has its own unique way of cooking their miso stew and there is no definitive cooking method or set of ingredients, though the meat is usually fish, pork or chicken. If you’ve never tired a Miso Stew don’t worry, my particular way of cooking Miso Stew is suitable to Western tastes.

Ingredients

1. Chicken Legs (2, with thigh)
2. Red Miso (4T)
3. Carrot (1)
4. Onion (1)
5. Mushroom (1.5 cups)
6. Yam (1)
7. Garlic (1T, minced)
8. Mirin
9. Sake
10. Soy Sauce
11. Soya Milk (unsweetened, 3/4 Cup)
12. Maple Syrup

Preparation (the day before)

1. Debone the chicken and cut the meat into bite sized chunks. Keep the bones in the freezer for use the next day.
2. Mix in a large bowl 2T Red Miso, 2T Sake, 1T Mirin and 1T Maple Syrup until you get a paste. Stir in 1T of minced garlic.
3. Place the chicken meat in the bowl and toss well until each piece is coated with the marinade. Cover the bowl with cling film and keep it in the fridge overnight.

Preparation

1. Peel a yam and cut it into bit sized chunks. Place the yam pieces on a sheet of aluminium foil and drizzle them with 2T oil and 2T mirin. Wrap the yam up in the foil and place in a toaster oven set at 180^oC (360^oF) for twenty five minutes.
2. Put 3T of oil in a large pan (or clay pot) and heat the pan until the oil is searing hot. Keeping the fire on high, pour in the chicken together with all the marinade. Stir fry.
3. When the chicken begins to shrink, add 3/4 cup of soy milk and 3/4 of water. After a quick stir, pick out the chicken pieces and set them aside on a plate.
4. When the contents of the pan come to a boil again, put the chicken bones in the pan, as well as 1T sugar, 1T Soy Sauce and 2T of Red Miso. Turn the fire down to bring the liquid in the pan to a low simmer.
5. Peel a carrot and slice it into 1/8 inch thick oval pieces. Put the carrot slices in the pan.
6. Peel an onion and cut it into 6 equal wedges. Place the onion in the pan. Cover the pan and simmer for about 15 minutes.
7. Cut your mushrooms into appropriate size if you have chosen to use a big variety. I used Shimeji in the picture above and used them whole.
8. When the carrot is no longer crunchy, add the mushrooms, chicken and yam to the pan. Cover and simmer for a further five minutes. Remove the chicken bones before serving.

Notes

• You’ll notice I specified Red Miso above. You can also use Hatcho Miso, but preferable not any of the white, yellow or golden varieties of Miso, for the unique flavour of miso dissipates into plain saltiness with cooking. For more information on Miso, you can refer to this post about Miso.
• Nabe (pronounced nar-bay) is not the Japanese word for stew. It refers to a shared hot pot, sort of like a fondue using soup.
• If don’t have any unsweetened soya milk, you can use plain milk instead. 
• The reason you put in the carrots before the onion is carrot takes longer to soften. Don’t reverse the order of steps 5 and 6.  
• One key element of this recipe is cooking the yam and chicken separately from the stew. Both chicken and yam taste better when cooked at high temperatures. You can of course choose to just boil everything in the stew, but the result will not be as good. 
• Miso stew is best eaten with steamed rice as a staple, although you can use another type of staple, like noodles or bread. This stew is not meant to be eaten on its own.
• Instead of putting the bones in the freezer, you could also keep them in the bowl with the marinated chicken if it is big enough. A third option would be to boil the bones to create 3/4 cup of stock which you then put in the fridge. 

 

Coleslaw

(serves 6)
Coleslaw is the perfect chilled and tangy salad to go with BBQ and deep fried dishes. It’s also visually appealing, with just the right proportion of green, white, red and purple. Coleslaw is an easy salad to make, but its also quite difficult to perfect. Follow this recipe, which contains all the traditional elements of a proper slaw, and you will get it right every time.

Ingredients

1. Cabbage (1 head)
2. Carrot (1 large)
3. Purple Onion (1/2)
4. Mayonnaise
5. Rice Vinegar
6. Mustard
7. Maple Syrup
8. Caraway Seeds
9. Raisins (40g)
10. Salt

Preparation  

1. Spoon 3 heaped T of mayonnaise and 1 heaped t of mustard into a small bowl ahead of time, so they can warm to room temperature.
2. Add 2T of rice vinegar to the mayonnaise and mix until there are no more lumps. Add 1T Maple syrup, 40g of raisins, 1 heaped t of caraway seeds and stir. Place the dressing in the fridge.
3. Cut the cabbage in quarters and divot out the stem. Cut the cabbage into 5mm slices and then manually break apart the slices into strips.
4. Make a brine using 4 cups of water with 2T of salt and 2t of sugar. Soak the cabbage in the brine solution for 25 minutes.
5. After rinsing, lay the cabbage on a tea towel. Roll the towel up and while holding both ends, shake to dry the cabbage. Open up the towel on the table.
6. Cut a purple onion in half from top to bottom. Peel off the dead layers and then slice half of the onion into 3mm slices. Manually break the onion slices into individual half rings.
7. Using a serrated peeler, peel away and discard the outer layer of a carrot. Continue to ‘peel’ the carrot until the entire carrot is gone. Cut the carrot strips in half.
8. Arrange the onion and carrot over the cabbage. Transfer the three veggies into a salad bowl by the fistful. This is a great way to create an evenly distributed slaw.
9. Spoon the dressing over the coleslaw and then toss.
10. Leave the coleslaw in the fridge for half an hour to mature, toss again before serving.

Notes

• Brining the cabbage removes the water that would otherwise leach out after a while and make your coleslaw a watery mess. Some recipes simply ask you to salt the cabbage directly, but I think brining applies the salt more evenly and lets you use the right amount of salt every time.     
• Making the dressing first gives time for the flavour of the caraway and raisins to infuse into the dressing. If you don’t allow the mayonnaise to warm up first, your dressing will be lumpy.
• While they have the same shape and size, fennel seeds (light brown) are not the same thing as caraway seeds (very dark brown). I would not consider fennel seeds an alternative; only use them in coleslaw as a last resort.

 

Roasted Spatchcock a.k.a. Butterflied Chicken

(serves 4, or more depending on size of bird)
Spatchcock is a fancy word for butterflying the whole chicken. It sounds hard, but its quite the opposite. There are many advantages to spatchcocking. First and foremost a flattened chicken roasts more evenly, resolving a major issue with roasting chickens for those without a rotisserie; the thighs take longer to cook than the breast, but ironically when you roast a whole bird it is the breast that is more exposed to heat. Spatchcocking exposes the legs more and brings the breast down, saving the day. In addition, a spatchcocked chicken cooks in half the time and is in a more convenient shape for fitting on a fridge shelf.      

Ingredients

1. Chicken, whole (1)
2. Onion (1)
3. Potatoes (2)
4. Yam (1)
5. Carrot (1)
6. Salt
7. Brown Sugar
8. Butter
9. Rosemary
10. Fennel Seeds

Preparation Part I

1. You have to begin preparation the night before.
2. Starting on either side of the bishop’s nose, cut towards the corresponding side of the chicken’s neck (as per the picture below). This is best accomplished using a pair of kitchen shears. You will need to cut through the ribs, but not to worry, these are pretty flimsy in a chicken.
3. From the inside of the chicken, snip an incision along the cartilage of the breast bone (it is white) top to bottom to weaken it. Be careful not to pierce the skin on the other side.
4. Flip the bird over and press down on the breast with both hands to flatten it. You should end up with the iconic cartoon heart shape chicken breast.
5. Prepare a brining solution using 1T salt, 1t brown sugar for every two cups of water. Make enough brine to ensure the entire chicken is submerged. Brine the chicken for 8 hours. If the weather is warm, either add a some ice every once in a while or leave the brining bird in the fridge.

Preparation Part II

1. When the brining is done (presumably the next day), place the bird on a wire tray to dry (as shown below). This will take several hours and again is best done in the fridge. Alternatively you can use a portable fan.
2. You must dry the bird properly for it is the key prerequisite to a properly roasted chicken. The chicken is considered sufficiently dry when you put a piece of kitchen towel on it and the paper remains dry but sticks to the skin like a second skin.
3. In a small pan, heat 1 heaped t of dried rosemary, 1 heaped t of fennel seeds in 4T of oil until you can smell a strong aroma. Turn off the heat before the herbs get burnt. Leave the pan on the stove while the chicken is drying; more herb flavour will be infused into the oil.

Preparation Part III

1. Cut the potatoes and the yam into chunks. Depending on the variety you may want to peel them first. The yams should be double the size of the potatoes as they cook faster.
2. Cut the carrot into discs and the onion into small wedges. Place all the vegetables on a baking tray.
3. Preheat the oven to 205^oC (400^oF).
4. Reheat the infused oil. When the oil becomes less viscous, strain the oil into a container. Add a large knob of butter to the oil. Next dissolve half a t of salt in the butter-oil mixture. Drizzle half of this mixture over the vegetables using a spoon.
5. Position the chicken over the vegetables on the tray. Make sure all the vegetables end up under the chicken as any piece left exposed will become burnt beyond recognition.
6. Paint the remainder of the oil-butter mixture on the chicken with a brush.
7. Place the chicken in the oven for 45 minutes, 50 minutes if it is a bigger bird.
8. When the chicken is golden brown, remove the pan from the oven without turning it off. Place the chicken on a large serving plate to rest after giving it a light dusting of pepper.
9. Roll the vegetables about in the tray to cover them with drippings, space them evenly and place the tray back in the oven for around 10 minutes. When the vegetables have caramelized sufficiently, arrange them around the chicken on the plate. Pour any remaining drippings over the chicken and serve.

Notes

• As you can see from the pictures, the legs were open at an angle while drying but became parallel to each other after cooking as the meat contracted. Purists will secure the chicken with 2 long metal skewers in an X pattern, from the left thigh through to the right breast and vice versa to keep the chicken completely flat. This also helps all the skin brown more evenly. I think its a bit of an overkill, but skewers are definitely a good idea when BBQing.
• My brining mixture is a relatively weak one as we are brining the whole chicken and not just the breast. If you like your roast chicken on the salty side, you can double the salt in the butter-oil mixture to a full teaspoon.  
• The back and spine that is cut out is good for boiling stock. If you don’t need it concurrently, you can wrap it in cling film and freeze if for later.

 

Smokey Russian Potato Salad

(serves 8-10)
The Russian Potato Salad (some people say Ukrainian) is the king is potato salads, so much so it is more of a cold appetizer than a side dish. It has great texture, being the perfect blend of starchy vegetables, crunchy vegetables and meat. It also looks great, its a kaleidoscope of colours bathed in a milky white dressing. Most importantly Russian Potato Salad tastes great. A perfect dish to make ahead of time so there is less time-pressure when you are cooking and serving your meal.    

Ingredients

1. Potatoes (6 = 3 cups)
2. Carrots (3 = 1.5 cups)
3. Frozen Peas (1.5 cups)
4. Red Onion (1/4)
5. Eggs (4)
6. Ham (200g)
7. Heinz Sandwich Spread (1/3 cup)
8. Sour Cream (1/3 cup)
9. Mayonnaise (1/3 cup)
10. Liquid Smoke
11. Dill Weed

Preparation 

1. Boil 4 eggs in a pot, starting with cold water. Simmer for 10 minutes once it is boiling and then place the eggs in cold water.
2. Peel the carrots and potatoes and cube them into 1cm blocks. Place the cubed potato and carrot in a large sauce pan and add boiling water from a kettle. Add just enough water to cover everything and bring to a boil.
3. Simmer for 8 minutes once it is boiling. Strain
   

   better to cube first, then boil

   through a colander and after a minute pour into a large salad bowl lined with some paper towels.

4. Rinse the peas in water to remove any ice and then place those into the same pan. Again add just enough water to cover everything and bring to a boil. Simmer for 3 minutes once it is boiling. As with before strain through a colander and then add to the salad bowl.
5. Julienne 1/4 of a red onion and cube 200g of ham.
6. Mix 1/3 cup Heinz Sandwich Spread, 1/3 cup sour cream, 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 1T of dill weed, 1T of liquid smoke in a bowl. Add also 0.5t each of sugar, pepper and salt.
7. Remove the paper towels from the vegetables.
8. Peel the eggs and put them through an egg slicer a few times. The whites should end up cubed while the yolk should fall apart. Add the egg bits to the bowl together with the chopped onion and ham. Mix everything up gently and then add the dressing and do a second mixing.
9. Refrigerate at least for a few hours before serving.

everything the same size

Notes

• Some people call this the Olivier Salad, after a Chef Olivier who served a similar style salad in the Moscow Hermitage Restaurant. That may well have been the original inspiration for this salad but its quite different, containing more exotic ingredients like grouse, crayfish and capers.
• One important feature of the Russian Potato Salad is all (except the onion) the pieces should be of the same size. Since you can’t change the size of the peas, that becomes your standard.
• Do not use canned peas, they are too soft and mushy and will get mashed.
• Heinz Sandwich Spread provides the taste of pickles and additional layers of flavour. It is the ‘secret ingredient’ of my recipe. If you can’t find some you can chop up some pickled gherkins with 1/3 cup of Crosse and Blackwell Salad Cream as an alternative, that’s how I used to do it. 
• Everybody has their own version so feel free to experiment. You can use roast chicken or bologna instead of ham, these are the common alternatives for meat. Swap in beetroot if raw onion is not to your liking. You can also choose to leave the egg yolk out.