CSA zero: Leek, mibuna and corn ramen for one
I had my eye on a version of this recipe for months, I’d kept it saved in my bookmarks manager optimistically tagged “csa” but I wound up never getting corn this year. The past week I’ve felt a bit sick, which means that I want ramen. I’ve mentioned before but I love using instant ramen in things, but don’t love the flavor packets that come with. For me, the high point of ramen is the texture. We’ll call this a “veggie forward” ramen though, because I had a ton of random CSA stuff that I thought would go well in this, and lo! I was right.
I was tempted to add sugar but resisted the urge because corn and leeks are both super sweet. The leek is optional and the mibuna is too, I had some from my csa that needed using, so they found their way in. The anchovy is also optional, I like a bit of a Korean style stock, but Noah doesn’t. He was out of town when I made this, so I did it my way. If you want you could use a dried mushroom or strip of kombu in the broth, or just a pinch of msg. A splash of sake while cooking the leeks is nice but not necessary. Do be sure to boil the corn and let it sit for a bit though (maybe an hour or so, with the lid on while you do other things), otherwise it will be pretty lacking in corn flavor. When straining the corn out of the broth give it a good squeeze to get all the… corn stuff… out.
I was inspired to add in the mibuna because 1. I didn’t feel like making two separate dishes for myself, and 2. I encountered this incredible older blog that lists more english recipes for this vegetable than anywhere else I have found. Big ups to recipes for tom, because it really demonstrated that this is a vegetable that mostly should be simmered a little bit. You could totally use spinach or some other tenderish green instead, although this is a nice sort of peppery green.
Leek, mibuna and corn ramen
Ingredients:
1 leek
1 cup of frozen corn, divided
A few dried anchovies, if you have some
1 ramen packet (not the flavorings or vegetable powder)
1 large handful of mibuna/mizuna (optional, you could use spinach instead if you like, I just had some from the CSA)
1/2 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tbs miso (if you’re making all my recipes and have some leek miso… what a perfect time to use it!)
1/2 tbs butter, plus a bit more for the leek
Scallion
In a small pot mix 1 1/2 (or a bit more) cups of water, dried anchovies (gutted and beheaded), and 1/3 cup corn kernels. Bring to a boil. Keep at a rolling boil for a minute or two, then turn off the heat and let steep.
Before you cook:
Slice leek, keeping the white and light green parts. Drain the broth into a two cup measure, pressing the liquid out of the corn. You want 1 1/4 cups of liquid.
Add a bit of butter to the pan, cook the leeks until soft.
Add 1 1/4 cup of the broth, bring to a boil. Add ramen, cook two minutes. Mix the soy sauce, miso and butter with a bit of the broth until the miso is dissolved. Add soy sauce, miso, and butter, stir. Add the corn and mibuna, if you’re using an egg, crack the egg in. Put on lid. Cook for another minute, turn off the heat and let stand for one more minute.
Serve with ground black pepper and scallion.