Grilled Baby Bok Choy with Miso butter

Last week we had friends fly in from Scottsdale to go with us to Lake Chelan. We had a great time touring wineries, hiking and eating. One night we ate in and watched the Seahawk football game. I made a marinated flank steak, fried rice, and gave Ruth some baby Bok Choy to grill. Oh boy was it good! We didn't have the Miso and improvised, however, I have given you the recipe with the Miso. I had brought some Schilling Monterey chicken seasoning, and we used that to make the butter for the Bok Choy, it was good, but, the Miso is much better. I recreated the dish again with the Miso a day ago. I bought "Brown rice Miso", you can use which ever suits you or you have in your refrigerator. I wrote about each of the Miso's below.



If you would like to follow me on Facebook, go to this link Sew whats cooking with Joan Facebook! Just click on the "Like" and you will receive each new post in your Facebook newsfeed!


Grilled Bok Choy with Miso Butter
adapted from Epicurious


1 1/2 lb. baby bok choy (about 6 heads) or Shanghai bok choy
3 T unsalted butter room temperature
3 t white, yellow or brown rice miso paste
2 T olive oil
1 T squeezed lemon juice
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

Cut leaves away from the bok choy stalks. Halve the stalks lengthwise, keeping them separated, rinse leaves and stalks well, then pat dry. In a small bowl, mix together butter and miso with fork until well combined. Set aside.

Prepare a medium hot grill in charcoal or gas. Put stalks in a large bowl. usig you hands or a fork coat stalks with miso butter. Arrange stalks, cut side down, on grill grate. Cover grill for about 5 minutes, until golden brown on underside. Turn using tongs, cover until golden or crisp tender.

While the white stalks are cooking, roll the leaves lengthwise and slice crosswise into thin shreds. Make a bed of the shredded leaves on a serving platter. Drizzle the leaves with olive oil and lemon juice. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to combine.

Place the grilled stalks on dressed salad; sprinkle with a little freshly ground pepper. Serve immediately.

*There are basic types of miso paste. White miso is mildest and sweetest, yellow is earthier and lightly salted, red is typically quite salty and strong flavored. This is the longest aged, darkest, strongest, and richest miso. The Miso Master brand is aged naturally without temperature control for a minimum of 2 full years in giant four-ton, hand-crafted Cypress, Redwood, or Fir barrels. It has a high soybean content in relation to the brown rice koji (grain innoculated with aspergillus spores). Because soybeans are difficult to ferment, with their high protein and fat content, this miso variety requires a prolonged aging period, giving the aspergillus spores and lactobacillus bacteria time to break down the complex protein and fat molecules into their more digestible constituents.

*Long-Term aged misos also have a higher salt content which retards the fermentation so that the process moves gradually. Miso Master Organic Brown Rice Miso has a complex flavor profile that is salty, savory, and mildly sweet. These long-term misos are the cask-aged Bordeaux Wines of miso. But the story does not end with just a rich taste, for these misos have their own special health benefits.


I am off to Pebble Beach to play in the Monterey Peninsula member/guest tournament with my friend Wendy tomorrow! Yippie! So, an early post, as I will be playing the first round on Wednesday.