Preamble

Is the regularity of my posts about to increase? Am I finally going to be organised enough to plan ahead and write? Or will this all end when my exams are over, and I have nothing to procrastinate from anymore?

I’ve been looking for easy recipes in the Ramsay book to get back into the flow of things. Time constraints and money nothingness means I end up being quite limited. In comes miso. The Japanese wonder ingredient that has seemingly taken the internet and culinary world by storm.

Miso is in EVERYTHING these days. Butter, soups, roast chickens, veg – if you can think of it, someone has already put miso on it. I used to dislike miso – it was slightly too fishy and too salty for me. Nevertheless, I made this soup. And I made it again and again and again. And now I like it. I like the taste, the fermented funk it adds to things, the body it gives a dish. Now I know why miso is everywhere.

Prep and cooking

When I said I was looking for easy recipes, I didn’t anticipate any being this easy. In the time it took my kettle to boil, I had grated my ginger, measured my miso, chopped my portobello and shiitake mushrooms and got my pan ready. The next step – throw everything into a pan, boil away for a bit, then poach and egg in it. Pour the whole lot into a bowl with some sliced portobello, baby spinach and udon noodles, and ascend to heaven.

Start to finish time is 10 minutes tops. Flavour to effort ratio is off the charts. I had this soup, or just the base of it every day for nearly two weeks – so so so good.

Another thing to note – this was the dish that finally taught me to poach an egg to perfection. Oh boy, the poached eggs were beautiful. Every so slightly set-on-the-outside yolks that were still lusciously creamy on the inside, and the whites holding their own in the broth. I’ve done it since, and it really is true, practice makes perfect.

Taste

Like I said, I used to dislike miso. I’d just tolerate it. Now, I like it. The soup is ever so slightly funky and fishy – not like bad fish-fishy, but like seaweed fishy. The ginger balances the funk slightly, whilst the shiitakes boost the umami.

I generally enjoyed this dish more as a soup than as a noodle dish. With noodles I’ve come to expect a thick, flavourful broth that holds it’s own, and this broth isn’t that. This broth is delicate and light and deserves to be savoured on it’s own. The poached egg, once broken into, does add some of that rich creaminess to it, but not enough to offset the noodles.

Verdict

This is the part where I normally say whether I’d make a dish again or not. But I already have, plenty of times. This dish has found its way into my regular rotation rapidly. It’s quick, light, refreshing and cheap. It can be customised any number of ways, and still remain a miso soup at heart.

Honestly, this dish is a straight up winner.

Recipe

Here’s a video of the man himself showing you how it’s done!