It’s officially Spring! This brings me great joy, can you tell? I say this knowing that the weather here in New England will still challenge us until probably the end of April, but the anticipation of sun and warmer temps has put a pep in my step!
And then, she looks up from her computer and it’s snowing. I mean, what???? Well, at least the third sentence of the first paragraph was accurate. And post-script, it thankfully did not last long!
Well, snow notwithstanding, we are talking about lighter meals here today and I made one this past weekend for hubs and me that was easy to put together, light and tasty. It requires one ingredient you may not have in your fridge, white miso paste, but if you buy it I promise it will go to good use as I have another recipe coming soon for chicken marinated and basted in a miso-based sauce that you are going to love. Miso is a Japanese ingredient, a fermented soybean paste. Commercially here in the US you can usually find white, yellow or red miso paste. The paste gets darker the longer the fermentation process. White miso which is called for in this recipe has a sweet, mild and delicate flavor. It’s used in all kinds of sauces, salad dressings and I’ve even seen it as a secret ingredient in chocolate chip cookies!
Butter Leaf Salad with Spicy Miso Chicken is a modified version of a recipe I found on The Defined Dish, a blog I follow on Instagram. It reminds me of one of my favorite recipes on The Kitchen Scout for Turkey Larb Lettuce Cups which have terrific flavor, but can be a little messy (although fun) to eat. Butter Leaf Salad with Spicy Miso Chicken mimics the lettuce cups by laying down a bed of soft, butter lettuce and then topping it with a heap of ground chicken that has been stir fried with a whole host of aromatics including garlic, shallot, ginger, green onions, and seasoned with sesame oil, white miso paste, sriracha, soy sauce or tamari and lots of fresh herbs.
The Defined Dish kept her “salad” to just letuce, but I wanted more so I’ve added thinly sliced Persian cucumbers, sugar snap peas and thinly sliced red onion. The salad gets topped with a rough chop of dry roasted unsalted peanuts, more herbs and a squeeze of lime juice.
I also modified her recipe which called for 1 1/2 pounds of chicken because ground chicken is often sold in 1-pound packages and I didn’t want to split up another package to make the recipe. It also worked better to serve the two of us. You can get 3 proper servings out of the recipe as written, or feed two hungry people. My husband loved this salad and I served it with some Trader Joe’s scallion pancakes that I cut into wedges. Oh, and I also used Trader Joe’s frozen ginger cubes which I always have on hand just in case. They come in really handy when I don’t have fresh ginger in my bin!
An easy weeknight meal for the busy Spring ahead? I think you should give this one a go. I’ve also listed some other Spring type salads that you may consider for your holiday tables coming up, plus a few other recipes on the blog that use miso paste as well! And don’t forget the carrot cake (or cupcakes), my favorite.
Until next time…
A few salads for your holiday tables…
Grilled Asparagus and Beet Salad (I think I’m making this for Easter!)
Farro Salad with Spinach, Feta and Olives
Wilted Radicchio, Endive and Asparagus Salad
White Bean “Tabbouleh” with Avocado Dressing
Carrot Cupcakes or Carrot Cake for dessert…
Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Other Kitchen Scout recipes with miso paste…
Veggie and Grain Bowl with Peanut Miso Dressing
This recipe is adapted from The Defined Dish. I love to keep frozen ginger cubes from Trader Joes in my freezer as a back up to having fresh and they come in super handy. Trader Joes also sells frozen scallion pancakes that are quite tasty and make a nice side dish to the salad, cut into wedges. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon avocado or other neutral oil
- 1 shallot, diced small
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger (or 2 frozen ginger cubes)
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal, white and green parts separated
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, more to taste
- 1 pound ground chicken (or turkey), preferably not breast meat
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon white miso paste
- 2 teaspoons sriracha, or more to taste
- 2 Tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce or Tamari
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves, plus more for garnish
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves, plus more for garnish
- 1 large head butter lettuce, roughly torn (use 2 if they are small, see note)
- 1-2 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced on a mandolin
- 1 cup sugar snap peas, sliced on the diagonal
- Thinly sliced red onion
- 2 Tablespoons roughly chopped dry roasted unsalted peanuts
- Lime wedges for serving
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot, garlic, ginger, white parts of the green onions and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until tender, about 2 minutes.
- Add the ground chicken, salt, and pepper. Cook, breaking up the meat into crumbles with the edge of your spoon until cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add in the sesame oil, miso paste, sriracha and soy sauce or Tamari. Stir until well incorporated and the miso paste is evenly distributed throughout the mixture. This may take a few minutes.
- Stir in the mint, cilantro and green parts of the onion.
- To serve, add the lettuce, cucumbers and snap peas to a platter (or in individual bowls). Spoon the miso chicken mixture over the top. Garnish with a little more mint and cilantro, the slivered red onions and a sprinkling of the peanuts. Serve with a lime wedge and enjoy!
Tips from The Kitchen Scout
You can also use Boston or Bibb lettuce for this recipe.
