5. Pan-roasted sablefish from the Farallones with jade rice and spring pea miso
The chef’s concept for this dish is to use strong accompanying ingredients while using a strong-flavored fish like sablefish. Mussels are smoked on mesquite chips, their liquor added to local kelp to make a rich dashi broth. Staying with the Asian theme, the fish sits on jade rice with a spring pea miso.
“This dish takes a light approach to highlighting one of our favorite pairings - smoked mussels and sablefish,” Ryczek said. “The sweetness of the peas is accentuated by the spring pea miso (rice-based koji mold and spring peas in place of soy beans), giving us an incredible homemade miso that has an unctuous pull on the palate, allowing the seafood to be the star with some really interesting highlights. The unsung heroes of this dish are shiso leaves pureed into some of the base."
Not just a chef but also a gardener and bottler, the shiso leaves are grown in the chef’s backyard, and he also preserves his own Yuzu which always runs out by the time the dish has seen its season out.
