Miso Mushroom Pasta

I was instantly obsessed with Jun and Tonic as soon as I saw this recipe on a Food52 youtube video - this recipe is straight up copied from 

https://junandtonic.com/blog/miso-mushroom-pasta 

Miso Mushroom Pasta

Serves 2

Ingredients

200g dried pasta (I recommend bucatini or rigatoni) (about 8oz)

120g mushrooms (I use an equal mix of shimeji, eryngii, and oyster mushrooms, but most other combinations are good too) (about 4oz)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon sherry vinegar, or balsamic/white wine vinegar

2 teaspoons red miso paste

3 tablespoons butter, softened

5 garlic cloves

120ml heavy cream (about 1/2 cup)

1 stalk of scallion, finely sliced

1 pinch salt

1 pinch black pepper

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Season generously with salt until it's nearly as salty as the sea, then add dried pasta. Cook the pasta until just under al dente (a minute less than on its package directions), then drain the pasta and set aside.

Chop or pull apart the mushrooms into large, bite-sized chunks. Then, heat a large skillet over high heat with a tablespoon of vegetable oil, and sauté the mushrooms for 3-5 minutes until nicely browned. When they are done, add a little sherry vinegar to the pan with the mushrooms, give them a little toss, and set aside. It’s best to cook the mushrooms in 2-3 batches and not overcrowd the pan to allow them to brown evenly.

To start on the sauce, whisk the red miso paste and butter together in a small bowl until it comes together to form a smooth, fluffy paste.

In a medium saucepan, add the minced garlic and a tablespoon of oil, and stir-fry over medium heat for 30 seconds to a minute until fragrant. Add in the sautéed mushrooms. Then, add in the miso-butter mixture and cream, and bring this sauce to a boil, stirring gently. Finally, add the cooked pasta into the sauce, and stir until the pasta is well coated. Salt it to taste, and cook for 1-2 minutes until the pasta is al dente, then remove from the heat.

Portion the pasta into two bowls, and top with sliced scallions and freshly cracked black pepper.

Miso Clam Soup

I read through a lot of different recipes and kept in mind the clam miso soup I had in Tokyo in coming up with my recipe.  I loved the result, but I already have ideas for improvement!

This is what I did last night:

Ingredients:

2 quarts dashi 

4 scallions - greens chopped, whites trimmed of roots

24 littleneck clams - de-gritted and de-salted

8 Tbsp of shiro (white) miso

Instructions:

Heat dashi to 100℉ - good time to chop the scallions and portion the miso into a bowl for mixing.  When the dashi reaches 100℉, ladle 1 cup of dashi into a bowl containing 8 Tbsp of shiro miso and stir/whisk until incorporated - set aside.  Add the white parts of the scallions to the dashi.  When dashi reaches a simmer, add the clams.  When the clams are open, add the miso (making sure the dashi NEVER boils after adding miso - it can get gritty and you will kill all the crazy health benefits of miso!) - after a minute or 2, toss in the chopped scallion greens, simmer for a minute or 2 and then kill the heat and serve!  

Now ... what would I do different?  Not much - mostly has to do with the clams! :)

Specifically? MORE!  I love clams - 24 didn't seem like enough!  But in my smaller pot, those 24 clams were a bit crowded - I would use a much bigger pot!  I would do everything the same until the clams opened - I would remove them from the pot when they are open, continue with the directions above without them, remove them all from their shells and then add the shucked clams back in at the very end, just to make sure they are heated through.  With these changes you will have more clams and less hassle dealing with shells.  Don't get me wrong, the shells look pretty in the soup and I might leave a few for presentation.  

The clam miso soup I had in Tokyo used really teeny tiny clams - not sure what they were, but if I come across teensy clams, I would absolutely try this recipe using those!

Quart sized mason jars are perfect for storing dashi and miso soup!