Miso Steak with Teriyaki Noodles

A Japanese inspired dish, the rich savoury flavour of miso compliments the sirloin steak so well. Served with a vegetable mixed noodle dish tossed in sweet and salty teriyaki sauce; an accompaniment that would be a great vegetarian meal all on it’s own. Miso paste adds the so-called fifth flavour dimension: umami.  The Japanese developed this concept and umami literally translates to ‘pleasant savoury taste’. If you haven’t tried miso, I recommend giving it a go as it adds such good flavour to meals. To compare, the umami taste is similar to grating parmesan on your pasta or spreading marmite on your toast. Teriyaki sauce can easily be bought in bottles but it is easy enough and cheaper to make yourself- this way you know exactly what is in it and you can adjust it according to your own tastes. This is not a spicy dish, but can easily be adapted to be spicier. 

I am really happy to now be sourcing my meat from an Aberdeenshire local butcher, Bannerman Butcher. I have grew disconcerted about buying my meat from supermarkets, with little known information of the meat’s history. Since sourcing all my fish from Peterhead Fish Company, it felt wrong to not be sourcing my meat from a local supplier; given that the quality of fish was above and beyond what I had ever bought from a supermarket. I asked for recommendations on Instagram and was put in touch with Bannerman Butcher. I learnt that they were a long standing family business, which I loved. I have also been told they are one of few Aberdonian butchers to source all their meat from Scotland, including chicken which is too often out sourced from overseas. In fact, the farm they use for some of their meat is less than 10 miles down the road! I felt immediately drawn to their values and history and I have to say, the steak was extremely good quality. Even better, they deliver all over Aberdeen. Highly encourage you to use your local supplier- it could cost a little more sometimes, but is worth it for both your conscious and for the quality of the produce. 

RECIPE

SERVES 2

Difficulty Level: Home Cook

Ingredients:

For the Miso Steak :

• 2 Sirloin Steaks
• About 2 tablespoons miso paste
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

For the Vegetable Teriyaki Noodles :

• 2 nests of noodles of your choice (I used wholewheat noodles. Soba noodles or egg noodles would work well)
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• Thumb size piece of ginger, finely sliced
• Tablespoon dried chilli flakes or 1 chilli, finely sliced
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1 pepper, finely sliced
• Handful of small broccoli florets, or 4 Tenderstem broccoli florets

For the Teriyaki Sauce:

• 6 tablespoons mirin
• 6 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar (or brown sugar)
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar (or cider vinegar)
• Small thumb size piece of ginger, grated
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

To serve:

• Black and white sesame seeds
• Chilli oil or sesame oil
• Crispy shallots (Simply slice into rings, heat 1 inch of sunflower oil in a frying pan until 180C – heat for around 3 minutes on a high heat- then fry the rings for 1 minute until golden. Drain on kitchen paper. Can be done in advance)
• 3 sliced spring onions
• Shichimi powder

Method:

1. First, be sure to prep all your ingredients for the vegetable noodles. A stir fry dish should always be prepared beforehand so that you can chuck in all the ingredients at the same time and they cook evenly. Chop the vegetables and pre cook the noodles according to the packet instructions.
2. Next, make the sauce. Add all the ingredients – except the sesame oil –  for the sauce to a small pan. Bring to the boil and reduce the heat, simmering for a couple of minutes until thickened and saucy. Stir in the sesame oil. Taste to see if it is too your liking. Add soy sauce for more saltiness and depth; add vinegar for sharpness and add sugar for sweetness. Leave to the side. 
3. Heat a large frying pan or griddle on a high heat. Drizzle the steaks with oil. Only add the steaks to the pan when it is really, really hot. Allow the pan to heat up for a couple of minutes before adding the steaks. Add the steaks carefully to the pan and cook to your liking. Steak sizes vary so much that it is impossible to give timings. The more steaks you cook, the better you’ll get at timing it right. The easiest advice is this: for a medium-rare steak, it should feel like the bit of your palm below your thumb. For a medium steak, the bottom left of your palm. For well done, it would be the top of your wrist. I personally like my steak medium rare.

4. When your steak is just about to your liking, spread miso paste all over it. Sear for the last remaining time until the miso has caramelised on the steak. Remove the steak from the pan, Season lightly with salt (the miso is salty) and a little black pepper. Leave to rest for around 5 minutes. 

5. Use the pan that you cooked steaks in for your vegetable stir fry. Add a drizzle of oil and all the vegetables and fry, stirring until the vegetables have softened. Add the cooked, drained noodles and the sauce and stir to combine and heat through. 

6. Slice the steak into thin strips and serve on top of the vegetable noodles. Top with crispy shallots (recipe above), sprinkle with black and white sesame seeds, drizzle over chilli or sesame oil and surround the steak with chopped spring onions. Sprinkle over a pinch of shichimi powder. Enjoy!

TIPS

• Add more vegetables to the noodles (I would’ve if I’d had more in the fridge) Mushrooms, carrots kale or spring greens would work well- or use a pre-packaged stir fry mix for ease.
• Omit the dried chilli flakes and chilli oil if you like no heat at all (this is not a very hot dish though) Add more and top with fresh chilli if you like the heat
• Serve with a soft boiled egg for something extra
• Try and use the authentic ingredients for the sauce- if you don’t it will still be delicious, but using proper Japanese ingredients makes such a difference. It will only cost you the once, and then it’s great to have the ingredients to had in your cupboard.