Miso Salmon with Pak Choi and Sesame Noodles

Ingredients

• 4 salmon fillets, skin on (approx. 150g each)
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp white miso paste
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 300g dried soba noodles
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 4 pak choi, halved lengthways
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced on an angle, to serve
• 1 red chilli, thinly sliced, to serve
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted in a dry pan, to serve
• small bunch of fresh coriander, leaves picked, to serve
• 2 limes, cut into wedges, to serve
• quick pickled cucumber (cucumber sliced thin, tossed with rice wine vinegar, a pinch of sugar and salt), to serve
• edamame beans, podded and lightly salted, to serve
• light miso soup (made with 1 tsp white miso per 200ml hot water), to serve

Method

1. Whisk the miso paste, mirin, soy sauce and grated ginger together in a small bowl until you've got a glossy, mahogany glaze. Pat the salmon fillets thoroughly dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no caramelisation — then spoon the glaze generously over the flesh side of each fillet. Leave them to sit, glaze-side up, while you crack on with the noodles.
2. Bring a large pan of well-salted water to a rolling boil — it should taste like the sea — and cook the soba noodles for 5–6 minutes until just tender with a slight bite. Drain and rinse thoroughly under cold running water to stop the cooking and wash off the surface starch, otherwise they'll clag together in the bowl.
3. Tip the drained noodles into a bowl and toss with the sesame oil, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and grated garlic until every strand is glossy. The garlic stays raw here — finely grated, it disappears into the dressing without any harshness. Taste one strand and adjust for salt now; this is your only chance to season the noodles themselves.
4. Heat the neutral oil in a large stainless or cast-iron frying pan over a medium-high heat. Lay the salmon fillets in glaze-side down and cook for 3–4 minutes until the glaze is deeply caramelised, almost lacquered. Don't move them — the sugars in the miso and mirin need stillness to build that mahogany crust. The flesh should turn opaque halfway up the sides.
5. Carefully flip the salmon onto the skin and cook for a further 2 minutes until the skin is crisp and the fish flakes under gentle pressure at the thickest point. Lift the fillets onto a plate to rest.
6. Keep the pan on the heat and lay the pak choi cut-side down in a single layer — don't crowd them, work in two batches if your pan's not big enough, otherwise they steam instead of charring. Cook undisturbed for 2 minutes until properly blackened at the edges, then splash in the soy sauce and sesame oil. Toss for a final minute until the leaves wilt but the stems still snap. Taste a stem — season with a pinch of salt if it needs it, though the soy usually carries it.
7. Lift the pak choi out, then splash 2 tablespoons of water into the hot pan and swirl for 20 seconds, scraping up any sticky glaze and pak choi juices stuck to the base. That's your pan sauce — glossy, savoury, ready to spoon over the salmon so the glaze becomes a sauce rather than a paste on the fish.
8. Divide the sesame noodles between four bowls, arrange the pak choi alongside with the charred sides up, and sit a salmon fillet on top of each. Spoon the pan sauce over the salmon, scatter with the toasted sesame seeds, spring onions, red chilli and coriander leaves, and finish each bowl with a squeeze of lime. Serve the pickled cucumber, salted edamame and a small bowl of miso soup alongside.