Nigel Slater’s kitchen diary: grilled miso chicken with soy and lemon potatoes

Photographs by Jonathan Lovekin

This feels like the wettest autumn ever; I have already been drenched several times this week. Arriving home, I had barely taken my coat off and the miso paste was out, stirred into almost boiling water, then simmered for a few minutes with a handful of dried mushrooms.

It was a life-saver. If I’d had more time, I’d have included a few pieces of pumpkin, peeled and cut into walnut-sized chunks and simmered for 10 minutes. Within minutes I’m warm, if not exactly dry.

Miso crept slowly into my cooking, starting a few years ago, in marinades for salmon and chicken, then into quick-fix broths for cold nights, and then into pastries and, most recently, into soft-textured cookies.

I was intrigued and delighted by an idea in Yoshiharu Doi’s new book, Rice, Miso Soup, Pickles: the Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life that suggests crushing Japanese yams into miso soup (I use sweet potato), but even more so by the dish he makes in the forest over a camping stove, of fried mushrooms, aubergine and miso paste.

I tend to add light miso paste with chicken and the darker (saltier, richer and more savoury) style with pork. Both work with a little honey, mirin and ground dried chilli as a marinade, but I prefer the lighter types in baking. It is difficult to think of any ingredient, savoury or sweet, that will so successfully turn a summer dish into a winter one: a clear vegetable soup, a sauce for grilled fish, even a vegetable casserole is immediately given a depth and resonance that makes it appropriate to the cold, wet weather. The salty, smoky, red-wine notes of dark miso perhaps even more so.

I saw some fat chestnuts this week, plump and shiny enough to roast. It is essential to split the skins with a sharp knife to stop them exploding all over the kitchen. A simple cross through the skin will do and will make them easier to peel, too. I like to roast them (in a roasting tin, crossed-side uppermost, for 35-40 minutes at 180C/gas mark 4), then crumble them into a pumpkin salad, or crush them with a pestle and mortar and scatter the toasty, nutty shrapnel over a salad of raw red cabbage and chopped dill.

Late autumn is the (only) time of year I think of Mont Blanc, that OTT dessert of chestnut purée, cream and meringue. A dish made far easier with ready-made chestnut purée.

In my view you will also need a jug of warm chocolate sauce. But then, when don’t we need one of those?

Serves 4. Ready in 1 hour.

For the chicken:

mirin 135ml

white miso paste 4 tbsp

honey 4 tbsp

vegetable oil a splash

chicken thighs 4, boned

Aleppo pepper ½ tsp

coriander chopped, to finish (optional)

For the potatoes:

potatoes 500g, small

butter 125g

olive oil 1 tbsp

garlic 4 cloves

lemon juice 100ml (1 large lemon)

soy sauce 2 tbsp

For the chicken: in a small saucepan, mix the mirin, miso paste, honey and vegetable oil and bring to the boil.

Stir until the miso paste has dissolved, then immediately remove from the heat.

Place the boned chicken thighs in a shallow dish, pour over the warm marinade, turn once to make sure they are coated, then set aside for half an hour. Longer will not hurt.

For the potatoes: cut the potatoes in half. Melt the butter over a moderate heat in a heavy-based saucepan and pour in the olive oil. Place the potatoes in the butter, cut side down, and lower the heat.

Peel the garlic cloves and tuck them among the potatoes. Leave for 15 minutes on a low to medium heat, then turn the potatoes over.

There are two ways to cook the chicken: on a hot griddle pan (note this way means much smoke and a sticky pan to clean), or using an overhead oven grill.

If you are taking the first route, heat a ridged griddle pan over a moderately high heat. Place the chicken, skin side down and lightly drained of its marinade, on the griddle. Press it down on to the ridges of the pan with a palette knife or a heavy weight, then, when the skin is golden and crisp, turn the legs over and cook the other side. Much will depend on the heat level, but you can expect this to take 15 minutes in total.

If you are using the oven method, heat an overhead grill, line a grill pan with foil, then place the chicken pieces on the foil. Sprinkle with the Aleppo pepper. Place the chicken under the heated grill, letting it brown, then turn and cook the other side. This will taker roughly 7-8 minutes on each sides, depending on the heat of your grill.

When the potatoes have started to brown and their cut surfaces are lightly crisp on both sides, pour in the lemon juice and turn up the heat.

When the lemon juice has reduced by half, add the soy sauce. Let it bubble for a minute or so, then spoon on to a serving dish. Place the grilled chicken on top of the potatoes and serve. I rather like a little chopped coriander leaf on here, but it's up to you.