cole's first miso

I was reminded of how great miso is while dining out in Seattle last week. I decided that I needed to learn how to make it. In doing so, I learned that by a measure of tastiness to difficulty of preparation, miso scores very high. In other words, once you have the right ingredients on hand, it's super simple (and fast!) to make. Since most of the ingredients are dried, it's easy to keep everything you need to make it on hand.

My first miso was our main course a couple of nights ago for dinner. I made it for the second time for lunch today. Start to finish can literally be less than 10 minutes (including clean up!) depending on what you decide to include in your version. Here's what I did in mine:

Cole's First Miso

Serves 2

3 oz. soba noodles

1 tsp. dasha powder

3 Tbsp. miso paste (I used white miso)

3 oz. firm tofu, cut into small cubes

a handful of mushrooms, stems removed and sliced

2 Tbsp. dried wakame

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

Cook soba noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside. Saute mushrooms in olive oil and set aside.

Bring 4 cups of water to boil in a soup pot. Add dashi. Reduce heat to simmer. Ladle about a cup of the hot water out into a bowl. Whisk miso paste into water and return to pot. Taste broth and repeat with more miso if a stronger flavor is desired. Add wakame and mushrooms and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes, until wakame is fully reconstituted.

Divide the soba noodles and tofu into two large bowls. Ladle soup over noodles and tofu. Top with green onions and a drizzling of sesame oil. 

My lunchtime version today omitted the soba noodles and I added in a handful of spinach at the same time as the wakame. I think I could eat this every single day!