Yakizakana Teishoku

Ingredients

• 2 salmon fillets, about 120g each, skin on
• 1.5 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tbsp sake
• 300g short-grain rice
• 360ml water, for the rice
• 600ml dashi
• 2 tbsp awase miso
• 1/2 block soft tofu (about 150g), diced
• 1 tbsp dried wakame
• 1 spring onion
• 100g daikon
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp tsukemono, such as takuan or cucumber pickle
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Before you cook

• Pat the salmon dry, rub the sake over both sides, then sprinkle the salt evenly across the flesh and skin.
• Lay the salted salmon uncovered on a rack in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, or overnight if you can, so the surface dries and firms up.
• Rinse the rice in several changes of cold water until the water runs almost clear, then drain it for 15 minutes.
• Soak the wakame in cold water for 5 minutes until it swells, then drain it.
• Grate the daikon finely and let it drain in a sieve.
• Slice the spring onion thinly.

Steps

1. Put the drained rice and its water in a heavy lidded pan and bring it to a boil over high heat.
2. Turn the heat to its lowest setting, cover, and cook for 12 minutes without lifting the lid.
3. Take the rice off the heat and let it steam, still covered, for 10 minutes.
4. Heat your grill to high while the rice rests, and set the shelf about 10cm from the element.
5. Wipe the salt crust and any beads of moisture off the salmon with kitchen paper.
6. Lay the salmon skin side up on a foil-lined tray and grill it for 5 minutes, until the skin blisters and browns.
7. Turn the fillets over and grill the flesh side for 4 minutes, until the surface is just opaque and beginning to bead with white protein.
8. Warm the dashi in a saucepan while the fish finishes, and add the diced tofu and drained wakame.
9. Heat the soup until it is steaming but not boiling, then take it off the heat.
10. Ladle a little of the hot dashi into a small bowl with the miso and stir it smooth before returning it to the pan.
11. Stir the soup once and never let it boil after the miso has gone in.
12. Fluff the rice with a wet paddle, cutting through it rather than stirring, and fill two rice bowls.
13. Set out each place with rice on the left, miso soup on the right and the salmon on a plate behind.
14. Add a small mound of grated daikon next to the fish with a few drops of soy sauce over it, put the pickles in a little dish, and scatter the sesame and spring onion over the soup.