Poached Cod with Miso, Shiitakes, and Edamame

I've been enjoying cooking recently. I'm afraid I'll forget all the things I learned and experimented in my cooking so here comes my diary :) My cooking focuses on healthy food (including dessert!) in various types of cuisines. My first dish was adapted from a main fish dish in The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook. This dish has all the ingredients I really love namely Cod, Miso, Shiitakes and Edamame! It is also very easy to cook. The main idea of this dish is to partially simmer and steam the fish in Japanese-style soup base.

First was to sauté Shiitake mushrooms. I used organic Shiitake mushrooms from Uwajimaya.

Then the cod was gently cooked in covered skillet with a mix of mirin, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and edamame. I used the cod which was separately frozen in a package. So convenient. I (partially) thawed it in the refrigerator over night before cooking. To take the dish to the next level, I used Dashi as a poaching liquid instead of just water that original recipe calls for. Dashi is a Japanese stock made from dried kelp (kombu) and dried fish (bonito). This dish does not require a lot of dashi so I saved the rest to make miso soup (will make another post for it)

Finally, I stirred the mushrooms into the broth along with red miso paste and toasted sesame oil. Don't forget to sprinkle scallion on top. The toasted sesame oil really made this dish so divine!!

Note to myself:

• I just forgot that typically for Asian steamed fish, we pour the hot toasted sesame oil on top of the fish and thinly-sliced scallion. I should try that next time!
• It is kind of hard to know when the fish was cooked. Since my fish was partially thawed the cook time would be a bit longer than in the recipe. Next time I should use the instant thermometer.