MISO-MAPLE BRAISED LEEKS (2024)

FAQs

How does Gordon Ramsay cook leeks? ›

Season leeks with soy, maple, sesame oil, and mirin. Top with sliced garlic and a few knobs of butter around the outside of the pan. Add just enough stock to cover leeks halfway, bring to a boil and pop into over to roast until caramelized and tender when pierced with a knife.

Leeks have a mildly sweet flavor that is reminiscent of other alliums, such as onions, shallots, garlic, and chives. They are often used the way onions are — as part of a base of flavors for soups, stews, and other long-cooking dishes. However, their more mild flavor means they can be enjoyed on their own as well.

Pair white miso with chicken, roasted vegetables, or a white fish like cod; you can also use it in marinades, salad dressing, or miso butter. Aka (red) miso is a dark, rich miso made with a higher proportion of soybeans to rice koji.

Miso paste is a fermented soy bean paste that's used a lot in Japanese cooking. It's made by fermenting steamed soy beans with salt, grains (usually rice or barley) and koji, a type of fungus. But don't let that put you off – it's a phenomenal way to add flavour to meat, fish and more.

Arrange the leeks in one layer in a baking tray or earthenware dish and roast in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes until golden and almost caramelized. Keep your eye on them - I've seen many chefs burn baby leeks when cooking them this way and it drives me mad!

To be properly cleaned before cooking, leeks must be topped and tailed (roots discarded, dark-green parts removed), and the white and light-green parts sliced thin and left to swim in a water bath so as to encourage the removal of any clinging dirt.

Boiling miso can harm the probiotic bacteria. At temperatures above 115 degrees Fahrenheit these delicate bacteria are destroyed. We recommend adding miso paste to soups just prior to serving.

The aromatic qualities of miso – as well as some of the nutritional benefits – are damaged when boiled. This is why miso is traditionally stirred in at the final stage of cooking, either over a gentle simmer or heat with turned off.

Red Miso (Aka)

Its texture is thick and slightly grainy, making it perfect for adding texture to dishes. Unlike white miso, which is made with a higher proportion of rice and has a milder, slightly sweet flavor, red miso is made with a higher proportion of soybeans.

Miso is a fermented food, meaning it contains live, active cultures of bacteria—you know, like the good stuff that's also found in yogurt. Adding it to boiling water will kill the probiotics in the miso, nixing the health benefits it typically offers, like better digestive health.

What does miso do to your body? ›

The Bottom Line

A little dose of miso goes a long way to please your taste buds. It also may contain health benefits like improving digestion, supporting healthy immunity and even reducing risk of certain cancers. Reap the benefits yourself by making one of our miso recipes today.

The best way to store miso, considered a living food, is to keep it in the refrigerator. If you would like to store it in a freezer, the temperature must stay higher than 25F or -5C. The miso will not freeze and the aroma and flavor will not go away, if it is only stored in the freezer for a few months.

Leeks are the mildest of the onion family and really shine when they're cooked, offering a lovely subtlety to dishes and a delicate, melty texture. Typically, the white and light green parts are consumed, while the dark green tops are left out, being full of fibers and hard to chew.

Leeks belong to the allium family along with garlic, shallots, and all types of onions. The sharp flavor of raw leeks turns sweet and mellow when they're cooked—so sweet and mellow, in fact, that they can be eaten on their own, like a vegetable.