CAMP RECIPE: Summery Soba Noodles with Cod Fish

I have a simple philosophy for our on-the-road cooking: keep it under two cooking pots, have no more than ten ingredients, and a max of two exotic/harder to get ingredients. I tend to follow this self-made line of reasoning with very few variations.

On the day-to-day, we have fairly simple meals. Simple breakfasts, sandwiches for lunch, and whatever I can throw together with the ingredients on hand one-pot wonder for dinner.

Then there’s the one, or two meals, that I go all out and break away from my usual camp cooking philosophy. Call it camp fine dining if you want. It is, without a doubt, above and beyond the usual on-the-road call of duty. But, you know what? You’re in the middle of nowhere, you deserve at least a meal where you bring the best of what civilization has to offer to your campsite. This Japanese inspired soba with cod dish is one of those. It hits all the notes that you look forward to in a meal. It’s incredibly balanced in its flavors, it’s delicate, has a hit of luxury, the soba makes it very filling, and, most importantly, it’s incredibly delicious.

INGREDIENTS:

Serves 2-4

Prep time: 15 min
Cooking time: 20 min

• 2 small filets of cod (can be substituted for salmon)

• soba noodles

• 1 cup soy sauce

• 3 cups of water

• 1⁄2 cup dried bonito flakes

• 6 square inches of kombu (dried kelp)

• 2 tbsp edamame

• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

• 3 tbsp mirin

• 15-20 cherry tomatoes

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 4 tbsp vegetable oil

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 2 tbsp flour

• Salt to taste

• Pepper to taste

Directions:

First thing to do is to make the dashi, or japanese fish stock. Start by bringing 3 cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, turn down the heat to a simmer and add in the dried bonito flakes and kombu. Simmer for 10 minutes, then turn off the heat. Cover a small bowl with a paper towel and pour in the broth. The paper towel will strain the broth. Pour into the bowl, the soy sauce, mirin, rice wine vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil. Adjust to taste. It should have a brine-y salty note first, then sweet, then a hint of acidity at the end. Set aside to cool.

Wipe down the pot you used to make the dashi, and bring water to a boil. Once boiled, add in the soba noodles. Simmer for about 7-10 minutes until al dente. Remove the noodles with chopsticks or a set of tongs into a bowl of cold water. This will stop the noodles from cooking and clean any extra starch from them. Drain water from the bowl and set aside.

In a frying pan, add in vegetable oil and bring it up to temp. Once the oil starts to shimmer, add in the tomatoes. You’re blackening these as much as possible. Once the tomatoes are in the pan and sizzling and popping, do not touch them for at least 1-2 minutes. Flip the tomatoes so they blacken on another side. Remove from pan and set aside.

Remove the fish filets from their packaging and pat them dry with a paper towel. Season the filets with salt and pepper and sprinkle with flour. Spread flour evenly. The flour will create a wonderful crust once it fries in the pan. Pan fry the filets at a medium high heat.

Place soba noodles into a serving bowl, ladle on the broth, top with tomatoes and fresh edamame, and finally, place the cooked fish on top.