When I think miso, I think of a thin broth – a perfunctory salty soup served pre-sushi with a few tofu cubes (little rafts) and a couple of button mushrooms (small people trying to get to the rafts). I never think of miso as a seasoning. Completely inspired by an apple cobbler in this month’s Bon Appetit that has a miso streusel topping, I decided to try out some unconventional uses of miso. In this post, I’ll tell you about a broccoli soup seasoned with miso (it’s soup with miso, but not miso soup). Then, in a future post, I’ll tell you about a miso ice cream. I’ll round out the series with ginger pear cupcakes with miso salted caramel.
Brocolli Miso Soup
The broccoli miso soup is well-salted (with no added salt) and creamy (with no milk or cream) – all from the miso. The miso also provides the soup with an unexpected depth of flavor. Brocolli, carrots, onions, and olive oil make a stir fry, but the same ingredients with some miso can make a hearty winter soup.
I found the recipe for brocolli miso soup on Well Fed. Here’s the recipe as I made it (I adjusted it just a bit from the original):
Ingredients
- 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, finely chopped
- a bunch of broccoli (about 8 oz), florets removed from the stems, the stems peeled with a vegetable peeler and diced (I used brocollette because I had it in the house. It's one of those crazy hybrid vegetables - a cross between broccoli and kale)
- 4 tbsp white miso dissolved in 1 cup of water (I used red miso)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Instructions
- Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat.
- Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom.
- When the oil is hot, add the onions and carrots and cook until the onions are translucent and the carrots are beginning to get soft, about 5 minutes.
- Add the diced broccoli stems and cook for about 5 more minutes, until the stems begin to soften.
- Add the broccoli florets, the dissolved miso paste, and the bay leaves.
- Add enough water to cover the florets.
- Bring the water to a boil.
- Lower heat and simmer for about 35 minutes or until the carrots, broccoli stems, and florets are very tender.
- Remove the bay leaves.
- Use an immersion blender to puree the contents of the pot. (You could dump the contents of the pot into a standard blender, but treat yourself to an immersion blender. It's a great item and not too expensive.)
- Add the nutmeg and any other seasonings that you like (I didn't see the need to add anything - not even salt or pepper).
- Eat!
This sounds yummy! I’m hoping our kids like it… what a great way to slip some veggies in
Sounds phenomenal!
I like the sound of a broccoli and miso soup!
Sounds good, but don’t boil the miso!
Going to make this tonight, sounds great, but I agree with Samson, don’t cook the miso! It destroys all of the great benefits of it
(add it in at the end, right before you enjoy it!)