Sunday, March 11, 2012

Spaghetti with Miso Cream Sauce

Time for a post before finals begin...
About a week ago, I have been thinking about different ways to combine western and eastern cuisines together. I have always wondered how I can incorporate miso into Italian style cuisine. Heck, I'll make some Japanese-Italian pasta dish.

Spaghetti with Miso Cream Sauce (Chicken optional)

Ingredients
Spaghetti for two servings
1 Chicken breast
2 tbs Red miso
1 half inch slice Ginger
3 cloves Garlic
1/2 cup Sake
3/4 cup Heavy cream
1/2 cup Chicken stock (better if it is fresh and no salt)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup Basil
Salt and pepper

Prep
1. Boil water.
2. Mince ginger and garlic.
3. In a cup or bowl, mix cream, stock, and cheese.
4. Salt the cup (I give my Trader Joes salt mill 8-9 turns)
5. Slice basil into strips.
6. Slice chicken into stripes or bite size pieces.
7. Throw spaghetti in.

Time to COOK!
1. Heat up oil in a pan and saute the chicken until almost done.
2. Remove chicken and hold in a bowl.
3. Add ginger and garlic to the juices and oil.
4. Start browning those ingredients.
5. Add sake and cook off alcohol.
6. Add miso and cup mixture.
7. Stir fast so that the cheese gets incorporated instead of melting into a mess.
8. At this point your spaghetti should be almost at al-dente (test by eating a piece)
9. Transfer noodles and chicken into the frying pan.
10. Add basil and toss the spaghetti until each piece of spaghetti is evenly coated with sauce.
11. Transfer to a plate and enjoy
Note: You never ever dump sauce onto pasta and call that done. The noodles are supposed to absorb the sauce or else you'll just be eating a soupy mess. When you finish eating the noodles, there should be no sauce leftover.

Enjoy your meal! Now onto cramming for finals ><.