Petoraaru karei no shioyaki, kinomezu-gake / grilled petrale sole with young sansho leaf dressing

The fresh citrus note of young sansho leaves brings out the sweet taste of petrale sole in season. A very pleasant, light dish.

1/2 of recipe:
116 calories; tomatoes in photo excluded); 22.3 g protein; 1.4 g fat; 1.5 g carbohydrate; 1.5 g net carbs; 250 mg sodium; 57 mg cholesterol; 0 g fiber



<Ingredients>

2 fillets petrale sole (235 g in photo)
Generous pinch salt (0.6 g max, to sprinkle on fish; not in photo)

For kinomezu sweetened rice vinegar with young sansho leaves
5-8 kinome young sansho leaves (6 leaves in photo)
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp usukuchi shoyukoji soy sauce rice malt
1/4 tsp sake
1/4 tsp mirin


<Directions>
1.

Sprinkle salt on sole, and let sit for 20-30 minutes.

2.

Meanwhile, prepare kinomezu dressing.
Microwave sake and mirin for 5-10 seconds to get rid of alcohol.
Let cool.

Remove sansho leaves from stems, and chop.

Place sansho leaves in suribachi mortar, and grind.

Put rice vinegar, usukuchi shoyukoji, sake and mirin, and mix well.

Set aside.

3.

When ready to cook sole, wipe off moisture that appears on surface of fish.

Line a frying pan with parchment paper, and heat.
Place sole, with the side intended to be served facing up placed down in pan, and cook on medium heat.

Wipe off moisture that comes out of fish. 

When fish has generally turned opaque, flip, and cook other side.

Again wipe off moisture that comes out of fish, to create a crispy surface.

4.

When fish is done, plate, and pour kinomezu dressing.

<Notes>

• Kinomezu in the above recipe would taste a bit weak. But do not add more soy sauce or salt -- when served with the fish, the dish will have enough salty taste.
• If usukuchi shoyukoji is not available, use usukuchi soy sauce. When usukuchi soy sauce is used, use less than 1/2 tsp, as its saltiness is much clearer. If usukuchi soy sauce is used, regular shoyukoji or regular soy sauce works fine; these (especially regular soy sauce) would add a deeper brown tint to the dressing, so you might want to replace some with shiokoji or salt to retain the green tone of sansho leaves.
• Shioyaki indicates grilled items where only salt is used as a seasoning. The salt I sprinkled is mainly to remove excess water from the fish (to improve its flavor). For shioyaki dishes, more salt is often used, or additional salt is sprinkled immediately before grilling. As part of being more sodium savvy, the recipe above skips the final salting and relies on the fish itself and dressing. No matter how much salt you use, fresh fish is the key. No oil is involved, so deterioration easily comes through.
• Shioyaki typically is prepared by grilling or roasting without oil. However, the above method of using a frying pan lined with parchment paper simplifies “grilling” of skinned fillets, which tend to crumble when flipped.
• Nutrition figures for petrale sole are from FishWatch US Seafood Facts site by NOAA.
• For the sodium intake calculation, 93% of salt sprinkled on sole is assumed to be absorbed by the fish.