Japanese-style mushroom and leek broth with poached fish

Delicate and well-balanced, this dish relies on a few quality ingredients to produce a delicious broth. Buy the best quality fish stock to get the most out of this recipe or even add dashi to the fish stock for an added flavour boost. Gemfish is a slightly oily fish with a flavour that doesn’t get lost in the broth. Substitute your preferred white fleshed fish if you like, and serve with rice or noodles for a more substantial meal.

Credit: Benito Martin

• serves

  2

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  25 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 fillets, 180 g each, white fish fillets such as gemfish or mirror (silver) dory
• salt and white pepper
• 2 leeks, white part cut into 10 cm lengths, green tops of 1 leek reserved
• 20 g (about 8 caps) dried shiitake mushrooms, rinsed 
• 10 slices ginger, plus 2 tsp finely shredded
• 750 ml (3 cups) well-flavoured fish stock or dashi (see Note)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp mirin
• 120 g fresh baby corn
• shichimi togarishi (Japanese 7 spice) (see Note), to serve
• soba noodles, to serve

Instructions

Rub sesame oil into fish and season with white pepper. Set aside.

Wash the green tops of leek and slice thickly. Combine leek tops, mushrooms, sliced ginger, soy sauce, mirin and fish stock. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain, discard leek and ginger. Slice mushrooms into small pieces and return to the stock.

Return the stock to a steady simmer. Add the baby corn and cook for 4–5 minutes until the baby corn is almost tender. Slice the leek lengthways into 1 cm-thick batons. Add the leek and cook for 2–3 minutes until soft. Season the broth to taste and add the fish fillets. Reduce heat to low, cover and poach gently for 2–3 minutes until the fish is just cooked through. Gently lift fish from the saucepan using a slotted spoon.

Ladle soup and vegetables into wide bowls. Rest fish on top of vegetables and scatter over extra ginger and shichimi togarashi. Serve with noodles.

Note

• Dashi is a Japanese fish stock flavoured with seaweed and bonito, available in the Asian section of the supermarket. Mix 1 sachet to 500 ml–750 ml hot water until dissolved.

• Dried shiitake are available in the Asian section of the supermarket. Shichimi togarashi is a blend of spices including chilli powder, sesame seeds and roasted nori. If unavailable, substitute cayenne pepper and toasted sesame seeds.

Photography by Benito Martin. Styling by Lynsey Fryers.

Revol tagine from The Chef and The Cook.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.