Salmon with sweet potato & misoyaki sauce

The first time I had salmon like this was at Molly's house and she said that her father made a sauce that he cooked the fish in. Then she thought of covering it with sesame seeds. I started doing something very similar which has evolved into a first-marinate-then-roll-in-sesame kind of thing. And now I'm out of sesame seeds and must buy more.

Sliced about a pound of salmon filets into 4 chunks and marinated in a mixture that was equal parts tamari, orange juice and olive oil (enough to cover the fish). Slapped it in the fridge and left it alone until it was time for dinner (about 3-4 hours). When it was time to cook, I removed the pieces from the marinade and coated them in sesame seeds. Put in the oven at 375 for about 10 minutes, until flaky but still moist. Voila. Fish is easy.

Sliced a big sweet potato into 1/2" half rounds. Steamed them until just soft, then put on a sesame oil treated ridged cast iron pan and stuck under the broiler to fake-grill until they had nice grill marks and were done through. Kept warm until dinner and hoped they wouldn't dry out.

Mashed up 2 heaping tablespoons miso with 3 tablespoons hot (but not boiling!) water and 2 tablespooon white wine to make a runny paste. In a small pot over medium heat, mixed 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water and 2 tablespoons white wine. Heated and stirred briskly until it became thick, then whisked this into the miso mixture until it made a smooth, thick sauce. Added a little honey to taste.

About 3 hours before dinner, cut 1/2 hothouse cucumber in thin slices and marinated in 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar, 1/2 tablespoon sugar and a healthy pinch of red pepper flakes. Added thin peels of 1 carrot and poured it all over 1/3 thinly shredded red cabbage about 1/2 hour before serving. Mixed well and let it stand at room temperature.

Molly and George came over for dinner. Along with the things described above, we also had broccoli (sadly, I forgot about it and it overcooked. I threw out the leftovers at the end of the night because I hate soggy broccoli and Molly yelled at me, then fished a piece out of the trash. True story) and rice. George brought cherry cheesecake pie and Molly did her laundry.