Sea Bass Bento

Note that this dish needs to be marinaded at least 1 day in advance. A bit of a high-effort dish, but worth it when you feel like treating yourself once in a while. It’s not necessarily hard to prepare but like all Japanese bentos, you essentially have to prep a few separate dishes for one single meal - and that’s what makes it high-effort. You don’t need a bento box for this, but having a bento box definitely makes plating so much more fun. This is worth chanting “itadakimasu” to before eating even when you’re eating by yourself (personally, I can’t help but do it). This is a serving for one, feel free to adjust if you’re feeding more people!

Ingredients

Sea bass

  • 1 0.5-1lb piece of sea bass (or other buttery white fish like black cod)

  • 2 tbsp miso

  • 1 tbsp mirin

  • 1 tbsp sake (plus some to rinse the fish with)

  • 1 tsp sugar

Tamagoyaki

  • 3 eggs

  • 2 tbsp dashi (Japanese soup stock, just mix a pinch of dashi powder with 3 tbsp water if you don’t have homemade dashi on hand)

  • 2 tsp sugar

  • 1 tsp soy sauce

  • 1 tsp mirin

  • Salt to taste

  • Cooking oil

Goma-ae (spinach salad)

  • 1/4 bunch spinach

  • 1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds

  • 1 tsp soy sauce

  • 1 tsp sugar

  • Drop of sake

  • Drop of mirin

Nagaimo (midnight diner inspired)

  • 1 short piece of nagaimo (cut into 2 or 3 half an inch thick medallions)

  • 1 tbsp cooking oil

  • 1 tbsp soy sauce

  • Salt to taste

Steps

Marinade the fish (day before)

  1. Pat the sea bass dry and sprinkle evenly with salt throughout

  2. Let rest for 30 minutes on some paper towels (this is really important because it helps draw out additional moisture from the fish, no one wants a soggy grilled fish!)

  3. Use some sake to rinse off the fish and pat dry again

  4. Mix together miso, mirin, sake, and sugar to form a paste and cover the fish evenly with the paste and marinade over night

Goma-ae

  1. Boil a pot of water with a pinch of salt and blanch the spinach (1 minute) until wilted (do not cover, this helps keep the spinach more green)

  2. Drain and shock the spinach with ice water

  3. Collect the spinach into a ball and firmly squeeze out the water (the ball of spinach should not be dripping any water, but no need to overdo it make it into a pressed spinach pancake)

  4. Snip the spinach ball down the middle with scissors and set aside

  5. Roughly ground the sesame seeds in a mortar and pestle (I’ve used spoon and bowl before which also work but just require a bit more effort)

  6. Mix together ground sesame seeds, soy sauce, sugar, mirin, and sake until well combined and pour over the spinach

  7. Toss the spinach with the sauce until combined, set aside

Sea bass, Tamagoyaki, Nagaimo

  1. I recommend cooking the fish, tamagoyaki, and nagaimo at roughly the same time, because you want all three things to be served warm. This means you will need 2 pans (one non-stick)

  2. Preheat the over to 450°F

  3. Take out the fish and brush off all the extra marinade (the marinade burns easily) and place onto a baking lined with parchment paper

  4. Mix together all the ingredients under tamagoyaki except cooking oil in a bowl

  5. Bake the fish for 10-15 minutes, no need to flip

  6. Meanwhile, heat both pans on medium heat

  7. Add a drizzle of oil to the non-stick one and wipe off excess oil with a paper towel (you want the pan to be oiled, but with no visible puddles of oil rolling around if that makes sense)

  8. Add 1 tbsp of oil to the other pan, and add a light sprinkle of salt to it

  9. Pour 1/4 of the egg mixture into the non-stick pan once hot, and adjust to low heat

  10. Once the egg begins to set, use a flat spatula to roll the egg from one side of the pan to the other (kind of like folding a towel), you want it to be a rectangular log

  11. Brush the egg pan with a bit more oil using the paper towel you wiped oil with in the beginning, and pour in another 1/4 of the egg mixture - repeat the roll, oil, and pour until you run out. Remove the egg log from the heat and let rest

  12. Add the sliced nagaimo to the other pan and cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes, flip all the nagaimo and cook for another 3-4 minutes

  13. Pour the soy sauce over the nagaimo, swirl the pan to make sure every piece of nagaimo is getting some soy sauce love, turn off the heat

Assemble into a bento!