Miso soup is the perfect soup when you are feeling under the weather or need a boost. It is a mixture of miso paste and dashi, the essential soup base made from a simple infusion of seaweed and tuna. Dashi is also used in many other Japanese dishes and is an essential ingredient. Forget that powdered dashi and make up a batch yourself.
Chef David Bazirgan’s Fifth Floor Miso Soup
Dashi:
4 each 4″ strips of konbu
5 quarts of water
1 oz bonito flakes
Soak the konbu in cold water for 30 minutes. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Remove konbu and reduce the infusion for 5 minutes over high heat. Add bonito, and simmer over low, barely moving water for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain and use for miso soup or a multitude of other recipes.
Miso Soup:
2 quarts Dashi
12 oz cubed tofu (soft or medium tofu)
6 T red miso
2 T yellow miso
Garnishes: wakame or hijinke seaweeds, green onion slivers, cooked mushrooms, cooked spinach, cubed cooked potato, etc.
Bring dashi to a simmer, remove one cup and whisk in miso pastes. Transfer this mixture into the rest of the dashi and simmer. Add the tofu and mushrooms and other garnishes as desired.
Serve hot.
Heather in SF 
