One of The Wife’s home-cooked dishes that I particularly enjoy is her Miso Cream Pasta. It’s one example of wafu (和風) cuisine which combines Japanese ingredients and Italian cooking techniques to create dishes that are molto oishii.
The richness of whipping cream blends well with the umami saltiness of fermented miso, with freshly-ground black pepper adding a delightful kick of spice.
Her specific recipe also happens to be vegetarian, with the addition of zucchini to cut through the heaviness, and shimeji mushrooms to provide added texture and protein.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need:
- Garlic (2-3 cloves, minced)
- Mushrooms (2 packets)
- Zucchini (1 pc, cut into strips)
- Whipping cream (1 packet, 200g)
- 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of miso
- Splash of white or rice wine
- Pasta (120g)
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Add miso to cream, mix well and set aside
- Fill a separate pot with water, add salt and start boiling (to cook pasta)
- Heat up a tablespoon of olive oil in wok (medium heat)
- Fry garlic till fragrant
- Add mushrooms, fry till fragrant
- Add pepper
- Add splash of wine
- Add miso cream mixture, and turn heat to medium low
- Do not boil, keep it at small bubbles on the side
- Add zucchini and cooked pasta, mix well
- Add salt and black pepper to taste
- Add some pasta water, if needed
- Top with grated parmesan, if preferred
Variations
“But why stop there?” I asked The Wife one day. “If it works so well with miso, it should work equally well with other Asian sauces, right?”
Like Korean gochujang, which is already used, together with cream, to make the rosé tteokbokki that’s popular among the MZ generation in Korean.
And also curry sauce, which already partners perfectly with coconut milk. Just replace it with cream, and you get a taste that’s same same but different.
I must have been quite convincing, because she swapped out the miso for gochujang, and made a Rosé Cream Pasta…
… as well as a Curry Cream Pasta.
Both turned out really well, with the same harmonious blend of flavours as the original miso version.
So, if you’re a fan of cream pasta and have some Asian sauces sitting in your fridge, why not experiment and see what you can whip up?
Chances are good that you’ll end up creating something that’s the best of both worlds.
