Rachel Khoo: cut the mustard

Paris has long enjoyed a love affair with Japanese food. It comes in many guises: cheap high-street takeaways for office folk, trendy health cafés with tofu salads in bento boxes for the fashion set, and, of course, the more authentic ramen restaurants of the 1st arrondissement, frequented by virtually everyone.

Much of this popularised Japanese food is more a nod to the real thing than faithfully authentic, much like the Japanese food I cook at home.

This is one such melting pot of a dish, combining some of my favourite Japanese condiments with a very French flavour — Dijon mustard. It’s a speedy and healthy supper, packed full of flavour.

Miso salmon with pickled sugar snaps and sesame soba noodles

Serves 4

200g sweet white miso paste

2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 salmon fillets (250g each)

340g soba noodles

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

For the pickled sugar snaps:

100ml rice wine vinegar

50g unrefined brown sugar

150g sugar snaps, trimmed

10 radishes, quartered

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6 and line a baking tray with parchment. Mix the miso paste with the mustard and vinegar in a large bowl. Pat the salmon fillets dry and place in the bowl with the miso, smearing all over with the mix. Lay skin side down on the baking tray and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the pickle ingredients, apart from the sugar snaps and radishes, in a small pan with 200ml water and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, allowing the sugar to dissolve. Place the sugar snaps and radishes in a bowl and pour the pickle over the top. Set aside.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add the noodles and cook as per the packet instructions, usually 2 minutes. Drain and toss with the sesame oil and seeds. Divide the noodles between 4 bowls and top with the pickled sugar snaps and chunks of the salmon.