Miso-glazed black cod

Miso-glazed black cod w/ rice and garlic spinach 

My new year's resolution and promise to Jake is that I am going to cook more.  I guess I have to be really inspired or in this case craving something I have had at restaurants.  While my best friend was in town for her birthday, I had originally planned to go to Umami in the Marina district, but that was nixed since she had Japanese food the day before.  In any case, I had already showed Jake the menu before the plans were confirmed so now he was psyched to get the black cod.  I knew he was going to be really sad so that's when I had my a-ha moment and said "I'll just make it for you."

There is this cute little Japanese market at work I frequent sometimes during my lunch break so that week I decided to see if they had any black cod.  Fortunately they did, but unfortnately it was really expensive! Now I know why they charge so much at restaurants and give such small portions.  Anyway, I bought 4 fillets and started marinating that night since it takes two days to fully marinate.

Ingredients
(yields 2 servings)
1 cup nigori saké (good for drinking while cooking also haha)
      -any type of sake will do, i just prefer this
3/4 cup mirin
1 cup white miso paste
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 black cod fillets


Directions
1) Bring the saké and the mirin to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Boil for an additional minute to evaporate all the alcohol.
2) Turn the heat down to medium and add the miso paste.  Mix with a wooden spoon until the miso is dissolved completely.  It may take a while since the paste tends to clump together.
3) Turn the heat up to high again and add the sugar, stirring constantly with the wooden spoon so the bottom of the pan doesn’t burn.
4) Remove from heat once the sugar is fully dissolved and cool to room temperature.
5) Place the black cod fillets in a dish, cover completely with the sauce, cover tightly, and refrigerate for 2 days.
6) Preheat oven to 400°F and set to broil.
7) Lightly wipe off any excess miso clinging to the fillets but don't rinse it off. Place the fish in a broiler pan and cook for 10 to 15 minutes on each side.