Miso glazed Pink Ling

I've been on a fish streak lately. I've been trying to stick with lean protein and simple sides that can be quickly prepared after work.

They didn't have any cod at the grocery store so the closest thing I could find was "Pink Ling" sold in fillets. It's a bottom dwelling "eel like" fish. Apparently related to the "Assfish" (sorry I couldn't resist when I found that I had to work it in somehow), the fillet was pretty thin and the resulting dish was large flakey meat. The meat has a little more elasticity similar to eel  than say a cod that usually easily flakes apart.

3 tbsp brown sugar, 3 tbsp miso, and 2 tbsp mirin. When you mix it you want a "watery paste", you want it a little runny, too solid and you get too much salt concentration, too watery and it won't stick to the fish. There are quite a few variations of the same theme that I've used in the past. I've used honey instead of the brown sugar, and added some soy for a bit more color. You can use Sake, Michiu and I've even seem some people use rice wine vinegar for liquid components. The recipe I provided below is my general "go to" version.

Marinated for up to three hours. I was fine with 30 mins, I like the salty/sweet glaze at the top but too much can be over powering.

I broiled it for 3-5 mins and then finished at 350F for 10 mins. Depending on the type of fish you use you'll want to adjust the temperature. The broiling part is to get some caramelization on of the brown sugar, you'll want to fiddle with the baking at the finish depending on the thickness of your fish.

Nothing special on the sides, I just did a quick saute of a some bok choy (they call it pak choy here) and zucchini that I had on hand and made some more of the mushroom rice that I posted a couple of posts back.

I've used the miso glaze on mostly white fish and Salmon, I'd stick to flakey type fish but I suppose you could use it on any type of fish especially if served with rice and vegetable sides. The miso glaze tends to be very powerful so you'll want to stick with more bland side dishes.

Miso Glazed "Pink Ling"
1 lb Pink Ling
3 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp Shiro Miso
2 tbsp Mirin

Mix the sugar, miso and mirin until you have a thin paste.

Place fish in a shallow pan or sandwich bag and pour mixture over fish, make sure to coat all sides. Marinade up to three hours.

Set oven to broil. Place fish on baking sheet and broil for 3-5 mins until the glaze starts to caramelize. Turn heat down to 350F and finish baking for 10 mins.