While in Canada for a family wedding this spring, one of our cousins gave me this cool cook and travel book, “Feast – Recipes & Stories from a Canadian Road Trip.”
It is a beautiful book, with recipes from one end of Canada to the other, and many of the spots in between. A couple of recipes called for Birch Syrup, and I, of course, was immediately intrigued and on the hunt. Even in Ontario, though, birch syrup was kinda hard to find, and, when I did, it was pricey – about $25 Cdn for a small jar.
Still and all, find it I did, and so I set about to make one of the recipes. Ermmm, with a few, minor tweaks.
The original recipe called for white miso paste, which I don’t happen to keep on hand. They did have it at my market, but at around $10 for a tub, I opted for an interwebs inspired substitute:
In place of 1/4 cup (four tablespoons) white miso paste, I used two tablespoons each lower sodium Tamari and ketchup. Worked a treat, I think.
INGREDIENTS
Miso Paste Substitute:
•2 tbsp lower sodium Tamari
•2 tbsp ketchup
Marinade:
•1/4 cup white miso paste
•3 tbsp birch syrup*
•2 tbsp rice vinegar
•1/2 tsp powdered ginger
Fish:
•Cod
*No birch syrup? No worries! Use two tablespoons of maple syrup instead.
Stir the marinade ingredients together until well blended, then pour over the fish in a bowl or gallon-sized zipper bag. Turn the fish to coat both sides, then stash in the fridge overnight, turning the fish when you think to.
Note: this was my other tweak. Totally due to my misreading the recipe, I did not have overnight to marinade my cod, so did two hours, flipping the cod after one hour. Still worked out well.
Position an oven rack in the middle, and preheat your broiler.
Remove the fish from the marinade, shaking off any excess, and arrange on a baking pan in a single layer.
Broil for two minutes, then rotate the pan and broil for another two minutes.
Flip the fish over, then return to the oven and broil for one minute. Rotate the pan and broil for another two minutes.
Serve.
We thoroughly enjoyed ours with a tossed salad and some leftover sweet potato cakes.
So, birch syrup? Well worth the hunt, and the price.
Thanks, Lois!