Growing up in the 80’s as a child in Australia, the food my mother made was not normal by Australian standards. I was that kid who was sent to school with sushi rolls and bento boxes, when all I wanted was Vegemite sandwiches (Australia’s answer to America’s PB&J). Little did I know – I was ahead of the pack. Dining every night on food that is now “all the rage”. Ramen, sushi, karaage (Japanese fried chicken), tonkatsu (Japanese pork schnitzels), to name a few of the better known meals. Our Christmas’ weren’t normal either. While most of my friends were enjoying traditional Christmas feasts of ham and turkey at home, we were dragged out for a beachside BBQ for something like this. THIS being a Japanese Seafood BBQ feast. Looks good, no? 😉 Japanese seafood beachside BBQ’s were something we used to do quite frequently. Most weekends, we would head out to a beach with our portable weber. Our most frequented spot was Balmoral beach which, back then, was relatively “undiscovered” but today it’s one of the most expensive places to live in Sydney. We’d scavenge for sticks for the BBQ while my parents went spear fishing. Seriously. Sydney-siders reading this won’t believe it, but we used to catch octopus, abalone and fish at Balmoral beach and eat it for lunch. You could NEVER do that now – besides being illegal, all the marine life is gone! (Not because we ate it all, because of environmental changes!). We fired up the BBQ and cooked freshly caught fish along with other marinated meats my mother brought. The smell was so enticing that, I kid you not, passer byes would stop and ask what on earth we were cooking. We’d give them a sample and (as a KID) I would think how weird it was that they would exclaim so enthusiastically about how AMAZING it was! That’s me on the right there. Helping out with the BBQ!
So this Miso Marinated Side of Salmon I’m sharing today is a very special family recipe. It reminds me of my Christmas’ growing up. Back then, I was envious of my friends sitting in a dining table with a ham centrepiece. But as an adult, while I LOVE ham and turkey, to me, a seafood spread like this is what I think of as a very special feast. The miso marinade for this salmon is my mum’s recipe – a very classic Japanese marinade. It’s only got FOUR ingredients in it – seriously!!! Miso, sugar, sake (Japanese rice wine) and mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine). Just mix it together, slather it on, marinade then barbecue OR bake the salmon. I know half the world is smack bang in the middle of winter, but for those of us in the southern hemisphere, we have summer Christmases! So rather than spending hours roasting a turkey, many Aussies will splurge on a seafood spread for Christmas Day. And this side of salmon is just about the easiest centrepiece that I can think of. A seafood feast just screams of summer, doesn’t it? Beach, sun, summer fun! 🙂
In case you are curious, here is a list of what you see in the seafood feast below, clockwise from the top left. 😉
Oysters with lemon wedges (PS You see how some of them are eaten? That’s because my MOTHER ate them before I finished shooting! BA HA HA!!!) Barbecued Onigiri (Japanese rice balls with soy sauce. LOVE the charcoal flavour! Recipe below) Asian Grilled Shrimp / Prawns Miso Marinated Side of Salmon (barbecue or bake it) Asian style coleslaw (I used my Asian Vermicelli Noodle Salad recipe but left out the noodles) Japanese pickled cucumbers (recipe below)
I mentioned above that I joke that Nobu stole my mother’s marinade recipe. Do you know the Nobu restaurants? Very expensive, very elite, and located in major cities around the world from New York to London, Dubai to Hong Kong, there is no doubt that Nobu is the most famous Japanese restaurant in the world. And one of the signature dishes is the Nobu Miso Marinated Black Cod. I swear. It’s my mother’s marinade recipe. 😉 – Nagi x
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Thank you to Woolworths
When Woolworths approached me, asking if I’d be interested in doing a Christmas recipe for them, I must admit I was not overly enthused about doing a ham or yet another turkey because I just shared one (this Genius Dry Brined Turkey) a couple of weeks ago for my American readers for Thanksgiving. But then Woolworths explained that they didn’t want “just another Christmas recipe”, they wanted something that reminded me of my Christmases growing up. Now THAT got me super excited!!! So thank you to Woolworths, for giving me this opportunity to share a family recipe. 🙂 You can find all the ingredients for this recipe at Woolworths, including the side of salmon! (I know, awesome, right?! No need to fight the insane crowds at the fish markets – YAY!!!) Woolworths are inviting families to share their favorite Christmas, food moments. The ones that ‘make it famous’ with friends and family. Share yours and tag it so I can see it! #MakeYourChristmasFamous #recipetineats
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