Shiitake Broth & Miso Tofu Shot Recipe

Broth

10 dried shiitake mushrooms

½ sheet kombu

Miso

50ml Mizkan Honteri Mirin-style (infused with ½ tsp dried chipotle chilli flakes for one week)

100g miso

200g roasted pumpkin flesh (no skin or seeds, preferably orange fleshed pumpkin)

2 roasted red peppers (deseeded & skinned)

Furikake

20g dried seaweed flakes

20g roasted sesame seeds

2 red peppers

2 yellow peppers

3 large fresh shiitake

Other

1 large eryngii mushroom (sometimes sold as king oyster)

Yellow or green cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced

100g tofu, preferable smoked to marry with the mushroom broth and flavour of the whisky in the cocktail

Broth

1. In a small saucepan put your shiitake in cold water and let stand for 30 minutes, then put on a very low heat to bring the temperature of the water up very slowly.

2. When you can see very small frothy bubbles at the edge of the mushroom remove from heat and add the sheet of kombu. Let stand for 30 minutes then drain and keep the broth. This is temple Ichiban Dashi (first Dashi/Stock) – add some to a small 100ml atomiser spray.

3. Put water in again with the mushroom and kombu and repeat the process until frothy bubbles appear. Take off the heat then let stand for 30 minutes. This is temple Niban Dashi (second Dashi/Stock) and will be used for the dish.

Assembly

1. Cut the red and yellow peppers into 1-inch strips as thin as possible and bake at 130°C for 60 minutes. At the same time, cut the 3 fresh shiitake in half and bake at the same temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Mash the roasted pumpkin, pepper, miso and chilli Honteri together (keeping a splash of the Honteri aside for the broth). Cut the tofu in ½-inch squares and put to one side, then cut the mushroom into 1-inch squares and fry with a touch of oil in a frying pan, turning over regularly until it shrinks to the same size as the tofu. Remove from the heat and put to one side.

3. Lay out your dried pepper and mushroom on a chopping board and with a sharp knife cut finely, without turning to a powder, then mix with the seaweed and sesame seeds

4. Add 1 tsp of soy and ½ tsp of chilli Honteri to 100ml of your Niban Dashi – this is your soup shot stock!

5. Now to plating – in a canape bowl, add 1 square of the mushroom, then top with a square of tofu and gently press (it may work better the other way round depending on how flat the mushroom surface is) then add ½ tsp of pumpkin miso mix and top that with a thin tomato slice. Add a mouthfuls worth of your soup shot stock to the canape and sprinkle of a pinch of your furikake. You can also add dried chilli flakes to the mix or even Shichimi if you want a kick!