52 Foods Week Forty: Misome

Last week at the Farmers’ Market we discovered misome, a hybrid asian green designed for high temperatures. High temperatures are exactly what Fiddler’s Green Farm, a Yolo County grower, contends with. We brought home a large bunch, unsure what to do with it. Misome resembles a cross between baby bok choy and kale, with dark leaves and thin, pale stalks. Raw, the stalks are firm and a bit creamy and the leaves taste like broccoli, with a tinge of spiciness at the end.

My research suggested that either pickling or stir frying would be a good preparation. We opted for a stir fry with shitaki mushrooms and skirt steak. I started by sautéing some chopped onions and garlic in grapeseed oil.

Onion and Garlic in Grapeseed Oil

When they became translucent and soft, I added shitaki mushrooms.

Add Shitaki Mushrooms

While the mushrooms softened, I washed the misome and chopped it in half, separating the stalks from the leaves.

Separate Stems

Next I added the stalks to the pan to let them get tender.

Add Stems

After about five minutes, I added the misome leaves as well.

Add Leaves

When the leaves were wilted, I removed the vegetables from the pan and added some crushed red pepper flakes. Then I prepped the skirt steak. We are big fans of Five Dot Ranch’s beef, and their skirt steak in particular. It’s nicely marbled, and cooked for a few minutes to medium rare it requires just a little salt and pepper to be melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

Five Dot Ranch Skirt Steak

I sliced the steak into small strips, about 3/4″ wide, then added it to the pan.

Add Steak to Pan

I let the steak sear all over, then poured a little soy sauce over it.

Add Soy Sauce

I also poured some teriyaki sauce over the vegetables, then returned them to the pan with the steak.

Return Veggies to Pan

I stirred everything together and let it cook for another couple minutes, then removed it to a bowl and poured the pan juices on top.

Finished Stir Fry

We enjoyed this stir fry over white rice. The cooked misome was robust, with a bit of spice and bitterness, and accompanied the steak and shitakis nicely. I expect that using a second bunch of misome instead of the steak would be very successful as a vegetarian stir fry, if that were your preference.

Misome, Steak and Mushroom Stir Fry

All the photos are here.

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