Mentsuyu sauce for soba or tempura

Multipurpose sauce (for noodles and tempura)

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 1 cup

Ingredients

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup Mirin
1/4 cup sakehandful of Dried Bonito Flakes

Instructions

Put all the ingredients in a pot.
Let it boil and remove from heat.
Cool completely in the pot.
Strain bonito flakes.

Add water to taste.

Nobu's Miso-Marinated Black Cod Recipe

Adapted from Nobu: The Cookbook, Serves 4

1/4 cup sake 
1/4 cup mirin 
4 tablespoons white miso paste 
3 tablespoons sugar 
4 black cod fillets, about 1/2 pound each

Two to three days beforehand, make the miso marinade and marinate the fish. Bring the sake and mirin to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Boil for 20 seconds to evaporate the alcohol. Turn the heat down to low, add the miso paste and whisk. When the miso has dissolved completely, turn the heat up to high again and add the sugar, whisking constantly to ensure that the sugar doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat once the sugar is fully dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

Pat the black cod fillets thoroughly dry with paper towels. Slather the fish with the miso marinade and place in a non-reactive dish or bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave to marinate in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. 

To cook the fish: Preheat oven to 400°F. Preheat a grill or broiler. Lightly wipe off any excess miso clinging to the fillets but don't rinse it off. Place the fish skin-side-up on the grill, or in a broiler pan, and grill or broil until the surface of the fish browns and blackens in spots, about 3 minutes. Flip and grill or broil until the other side is browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to the oven and bake for 5 to 10 minutes, until fish is opaque and flakes easily.

Roy's Misoyaki Butterfish Recipe

Found this great recipe over on the Home and Family section of the Hallmarkchannel.com website. Haven't tried it yet, but it looks about as authentic as it could be. Enjoy!

Tips:
Buy the freshest fish.
Fresh fish is vibrant in color.
Don't overcook! Cook on medium temperature.
Cook each side evenly.

Misoyaki Butterfish
Four 3-7 oz. boneless Black cod fillets or other oily fish.

For Marinade:
1 cup mirin
1 cup sake
1¼ lb shiro miso paste
1½ lb sugar


Method:
Bring all ingredients to a simmer and let cook until a medium caramel color is achieved. This will take 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cool.

Once cool, place fish in marinade and leave for 1-3 days.

When ready, sear fish on med-low heat on each side until nicely browned and cooked through in the middle. Finish under broiler.

For Sauce:
12 oz Red Bell pepper (finely minced)
12 oz Yellow Bell pepper (finely minced)
24 oz Onion (pulverized)
24 oz Daikon (pulverized)
9 cloves Garlic (fine minced)
3 oz Ginger (fine minced)
¼ bunch Cilantro (fine minced)
1 oz Scallion (fine minced)
4 oz Rice wine vinegar
8 oz WHEAT FREE Soy- Kikkoman
8 oz Vegetable stock
30 oz soy bean oil

Baby Bok Choy
½ lb Bok Choy
1 Tbsp Garlic (chopped)
1 Tbsp Ginger (chopped)
To taste Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Butter

Method:
Blanch in lightly salted water for thirty seconds, then sauté bok choy in a pan with garlic, ginger, butter, kosher salt, and pepper.

Serve Butterfish with rice and sautéed baby bok choy.

Japanese Sweet Potato Casserole

We had to do some improvising this Thanksgiving.  My kids went on a field trip to pick Japanese sweet potatoes from a local farm...so I tried this recipe to replace Kurt's beloved marshmallow yams.  They were a hit. 

Ingredients

• 2 very large Japanese sweet potatoes
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 egg yolks
• sesame seeds for garnish

Cooking Directions

1. Peel potatoes and chop into small pieces of roughly the same size.
2. Boil potatoes until tender (approximately 15 to 20 minutes.) Drain and pour into a large mixing bowl.
3. Mash with butter, sugar, cinnamon, and milk while still warm. Allow to cool, then mix in one of the egg yolks.
4. Pour into a 9 inch round or square baking dish and use the back of a spoon to make a design of your choosing on the surface.
5. Break apart the remaining egg yolk with a fork and brush the entire yolk over the surface of the casserole being careful not to flatten the design. Sprinkle on sesame seeds if desired.
6. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees to heat it through then put under the broiler for up to 10 minutes to brown the top.

Gyudon

I took this from an About.com recipe and changed it a little to taste.
Simmered beef is served on top of steamed rice. It's one of the most popular rice bowl dishes (donburi) in Japan.
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
4 cups steamed Japanese rice
1 lb thinly sliced beef loin, cut into 2 inch lengths
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 1/3 cup dashi soup
1 cup water
4 Tbsp soy sauce
1Tbsp fresh ginger juice (grate and filter by wringing the mush through a paper towel)
1 crushed garlic clove
3 Tbsp mirin
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp sake (optional)
benishoga (pickled red ginger) for topping *optional
Preparation:
Put dashi, soy sauce, sugar, mirin, and sake in a large pan and bring to a boil on medium heat. Add onion slices and simmer for a few minutes or until softened. Add beef in the pan and simmer for a few minutes. Serve hot steamed rice into individual deep rice bowls. Put simmered beef on top of the rice. Top with some benishoga if you would like.