Salmon or trout coated with a gingery miso glaze and grilled or baked is one of my favourites, but I took this one step further by changing my glaze to be gochujang based.
Why gochujang?
When I bought a tub of gochujang a few years ago I thought it would sit in my fridge forever. Not so! It has been regularly replenished and it has become one of my favourite ‘flavour enhancers’.
Gochujang hails from Korea. It is a chilli-laced fermented glutinous rice and soybean paste. You’ll agree, the description sounds awful, but I assure you the complex flavours are delicious. It marries well with all meats, fish, poultry and vegetable dishes. The chilli varies depending on the brand, but it is usually well balanced with the umami background flavours of the paste.
I often use gochujang instead of miso paste, especially when I need a mild chilli kick.
Initially one had to travel to South East Asia to bring your stash of this delicious paste home, then the exclusive Asian food shops started stocking it, but luckily now many deli’s and some of our supermarkets have it.
This year I cooked a gammon in a gochujang based sauce. It was delicious. I regret not photographing it, but if you would like the recipe “click here”.
My favourite dish over the festive season was the trout glazed with gochujang.
Use it on individual portions or on a whole side if it’s for a party or family meal. I have used salmon in the past but supply problems over Christmas resulted in the price rocketing.
As with miso glaze I added grated ginger, toasted sesame oil, honey and a dash of mirin (rice wine vinegar) to balance the flavours. You can replace the honey with light brown sugar.
Serve it plain or finish it with finely sliced spring onion and red chilli or toasted sesame seeds.
I served it with my pickled cucumber and ginger (recipe here)
