ginger miso dressing

i love anything ginger and miso and this dressing is no exception. while it won't make your salad stunningly gorgeous to look at (or photograph) it will make it stunningly delicious to eat...and one of these things is more important than the other.

the recipe comes from the cafe flora cookbook, which came to my attention after my jill went to seattle and told me about all the fabulous things she ate at cafe flora. while i have yet to make a visit myself i did acquire the cookbook and this salad is the first thing i made.

the salad here is mixed greens, grapefruit, avocado, daikon and garlicky sweet shiitake mushrooms. it was fantastic. we had a lot of dressing leftover which we used to make anther gigantic dinner salad the next day and then used the remainder to toss into a quinoa bowl (so yes, you will have lots of dressing but you will have no shortage of uses for it. you might even want to drink it it's so yummy). oh and it's only got a handful of ingredients and is super simple to make.

ginger miso dressing
(from cafe flora cookbook)
ingredients:
2 tablespoons light miso
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 water

combine the miso, vinegar, ginger, and garlic in a blender. with blender running, drizzle in the vegetable oil. add 1/4 cup water to thin the mixture, and blend until smooth.

-d

turnips with miso

i'm always looking for new vegetable side dish ideas and i never ever think of turnips so this one was especially exciting. i loved the earthiness of the turnip paired with the smooth mellow miso butter and just a hint of bitterness from the greens. the original recipe calls for japanese turnips with the greens still attached. well i struck out twice on that one as i could not find japanese turnips or any turnips at all with greens attached. to make do i just picked out the smallest purple topped turnips i could find and bought a separate bunch of turnip greens. i also subbed margarine for butter. this is a delicious, quick and easy side dish that i will definitely make again!

turnips with miso
(gourmet, september 2009)
ingredients:
3 tablespoons white miso
3 tablespoons margarine, softened, divided
3 pounds small (1 1/2-to 2-inch) turnips with greens (or 1 bunch turnip greens)
1 1/3 cups water
2 tablespoons mirin

stir together miso and 2 tablespoon margarine.

coarsely chop turnip leaves. halve turnips (leave whole if tiny) and put in a heavy skillet along with water, mirin, remaining tablespoon margarine, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then boil, covered, 10 minutes.

add greens by handfuls, turning and stirring with tongs and adding more as volume in skillet reduces. cover and cook 1 minute. uncover and continue boiling, stirring occasionally, until turnips are tender and liquid is reduced to a glaze, about 5 minutes. stir in miso butter and cook 1 minute.

-d