Miso Blue-Eye Trevalla & Eggplant Bake with Cucumber Salad
Cook Time 40 minutes (+ 30 minutes marinating time)
Servings 4
Ingredients
1 large eggplant, peeled, cut into quarters lengthways
4 x 180 g blue-eye trevalla fillets, pin-boned
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsps sesame seeds
Cucumber Salad
½ tsp Szechuan peppercorns (or chilli flakes)
1 telegraph cucumber
1 tsp salt flakes
1 tbsp caster sugar
small handful of mint leaves
Miso Glaze
100g (about 3 tbsp) white miso paste
3 tbsp sake
3 tbsp mirin
1½ tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp caster sugar
2cm piece of ginger, finely grated
Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
For the miso glaze, combine the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium–high heat and bring to the boil, stirring. Continue to cook for 2–3 minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat.
Arrange the eggplant in a single layer on the prepared tray and, using a pastry brush, coat with half the miso glaze. Place the fish on a plate and brush with half the remaining miso glaze. Set aside to marinate for 20 minutes.
Bake the eggplant for 15 minutes to give it a head start (the fish does not take as long to cook). Remove from the oven. Brush the remaining miso glaze over the fish. Place the fish, skin-side down, on the tray with the eggplant. Drizzle the sesame oil over the fish and eggplant and sprinkle on the sesame seeds. Return the tray to the oven and bake for another 8–10 minutes until the eggplant is tender and caramelised and the fish is just cooked. Pierce the centre of a fish fillet with a skewer – if the skewer is warm to touch the fish is ready.
Meanwhile, for the cucumber salad, toast the Szechuan peppercorns in a frying pan over high heat for 2–3 minutes until fragrant. Tip into a mortar and lightly crush with the pestle. Split the cucumbers in half lengthways, remove and discard the seeds, then cut into slices on the diagonal. Season with salt, sugar and crushed Szechuan peppercorns and set aside to marinate for 10–12 minutes.
Add the mint to the cucumber salad and serve alongside the miso trevalla and eggplant.