Dressed Up Veggies
Blanched and sauteed vegetables tossed with melted butter.
Been there. Done that.
Wake things up by mixing an equal amount of blonde miso into the butter first.
Voila! What you get is a really velvety sauce that clings beautifully to the veggies. The flavor doesn’t scream miso soup. Rather it just lends a subtle umami or savoriness to it all.
The recipe for “Saute of Market Vegetables with Miso Butter” is a cinch to make. Even better, you can vary the vegetables you use, according to what’s in season.
The dish is from the new “The Paley’s Place Cookbook” (Ten Speed Press) by Vitaly Paley and Kimberly Paley, the husband-and-wife team behind one of Portland, Ore.’s most charming restaurants.
Find my review of the book, plus the recipe, at ProjectFoodie.com.
Food Gal's RSS feed.
Tuesday, 24. February 2009 7:19
Hi Carolyn!
Beautiful recipe and review. No doubt that this place left on you very nice memories
A delicious veggie dish…actually a flavorful and colorful one!
Cheers,
Gera
Tuesday, 24. February 2009 7:27
That’s a great idea! Try tahini sauce with lemon juice and garlic…
Cheers,
Rosa
Tuesday, 24. February 2009 7:51
Great idea, I love miso. Mark Bittman has a great recipe for green beans in a walnut miso sauce.
Tuesday, 24. February 2009 7:52
Wonderful idea! I will definitely give it a try.
Tuesday, 24. February 2009 8:02
What a great and simple idea. Sounds delicious!
Tuesday, 24. February 2009 11:10
Miso and butter, what a great combo!
Tuesday, 24. February 2009 12:13
Is “blond” miso newspeak for shiro (white) miso?
I find it curious that the book’s author makes the statement: “This dish is inspired by Japanese cooking, where miso seems to make food taste salty without any salt.” Salt is a major ingredient in the making of miso and figures prominently in the ingredient list. I just checked a few packages of different types of miso in my frig and they each had almost a gram of sodium per serving—about 1/2 teaspoon.
Furthermore, in my experience, vegetables blanched in sufficiently salty water—about 2 tablespoons per liter—do not require further salt.
In reality, all the Paley’s are doing is creating a compound butter, which traditionally has be may from many different ingredients, some of them quite strong in flavor. More info on compound butters can be found here: http://xrl.us/beheea
Tuesday, 24. February 2009 15:53
Very good idea. Just saw miso pop up in a chicken pot pie last week too. The sneaky miso is getting into everything.
Tuesday, 24. February 2009 17:29
Peter, you are correct. This is essentially a compound butter made with blond or white miso.
Sara, thanks for reminding me about the Mark Bittman recipe. I clipped it out long ago, but have yet to try making it. I’m glad you reccommend it, too.
And Rosa, that is a wondeful tip about using tahini, lemon juice and garlic on veggies. I bet that would make an awesome salad dressing, too.
Tuesday, 24. February 2009 20:36
For the sake of convenience (because it’s all I have right now) can I use red miso for the time being? These vegetables look colorful, vibrant and very happy to be so dressed!
Tuesday, 24. February 2009 21:27
Tangled Noodle: I would think red miso would be fine. It will probably impart more color, and a deeper miso flavor than the milder white variety. Maybe start with a slightly higher butter to miso ratio at the start, just to be sure the end result is not too salty or overpowering. You’ll have to let us all know how it turns out. ;
Tuesday, 24. February 2009 21:34
Dear Carolyn!
Greetings from Shizuoka, Japan!
Thank you so much for inviting me on Foodbuzz!
I see we are already shring a few friends!LOL
As a Frenchman living in Japan, I do eat a lot of blanched/boiled vegetables.
Try serving them with an aioli sauce next time!
Cheers,
Robert-Gilles
Wednesday, 25. February 2009 4:07
I know this is awesome, I also had an awesome experiene with pasta too! such an orgasm!
Wednesday, 25. February 2009 21:23
Ooh, neat idea! I think miso might be on a grocery list soon, I could use a new way to cook veggies (and some lighter soups, for that matter).
Saturday, 28. February 2009 17:55
Sounds great and the proportions (1 to 1) are so easy to remember.
Friday, 6. March 2009 23:26
Yummo! I’ve really never cooked with miso, but love miso soup. Sounds like an ingredient worth further exploration, and this will be a great way to start!