Name: Miso Dashi Soup with Halibut
Total time: PLACEHOLDER
Ingredients: 6 cups water; ½ ounce kombu; 1½ cups dried bonito flakes; 1 tablespoon vegetable oil; 3 scallions , white and green parts separated and sliced thin; 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger; 3 garlic cloves , minced; 2 carrots , peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced thin on bias; 4 (6- to 8-ounce) skinless halibut fillets , 1 inch thick; ⅓ cup white miso; 3 ounces (3 cups) baby spinach; 1 tablespoon sesame seeds , toasted

Why This Recipe Works

Unlike many other stocks that require long simmering, this stock comes together in a matter of minutes and creates an umami-rich backbone for the sweet and savory miso. Miso soup can have a variety of additions, most traditionally tofu and wakame (a type of seaweed) but also seafood and vegetables, like our version with tender, delicately flavored halibut, crisp-tender carrots, and barely wilted spinach. Incorporating the carrots into the broth with the halibut allowed them to both cook through sufficiently, while adding the miso and spinach just before serving preserved the miso's unique sweet-salty flavor and the spinach's freshness. Ladling the finished broth over portions of halibut wasn't just practical—it was an impressive presentation.

Before You Begin

Drizzle individual servings with sesame oil or chili oil, or sprinkle with crumbled nori or furikake for additional texture and flavor, if desired. Mahi mahi, red snapper, striped bass, or swordfish may be substituted for the halibut in this recipe.

Instructions

for the dashi

Bring water and kombu to rapid simmer in large saucepan over medium heat. Turn off heat and discard kombu, then stir in bonito flakes and let sit to infuse flavor, about 5 minutes. Strain dashi through fine-mesh strainer, pressing on solids to extract liquid, then return dashi to saucepan. (You should have about 5½ cups dashi. Cooled dashi can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.)

for the soup

Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering, then add scallion whites, ginger, and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add carrots and dashi to pot and bring to simmer.

Submerge halibut in dashi and return to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and gently simmer until fish flakes apart when gently prodded with paring knife and registers 130 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer halibut to individual serving bowls.

Whisk miso into dashi in pot and bring to simmer. Add spinach and cook until wilted, 15 to 30 seconds. Remove from heat, then ladle soup over halibut in bowls. Sprinkle with scallion greens and sesame seeds and serve.