Kitayama Miso Sauce with steak

Today's post is a shameless rip-off of Kitayama's red miso sauce, which was served with thin slices of strip steak. We dined there several weeks ago and the BF has not stopped raving about it. From what we could tell, the sauce was red miso with ginger and possibly sesame and soy. Toying around in the kitchen tonight, I managed an approximation that we agree is similar in flavor, if a little thinner in consistency. (The original was thick, almost like pudding.)  The flavor is deep and roasty, with that tangy sweetness characteristic of miso, brightened by ginger. I suspect the original is probably reduced over low heat to better meld the flavors and thicken the final result, but our no-fuss homemade approximation is pretty tasty, IMO. :)

Kitayama-inspired Red Miso Sauce: 
I don't measure when I cook, unless I'm following a recipe, so all amounts are approximate.

1/3 cup Akadashi dark red miso paste
2 tsp dark sesame oil
2 Tbsp beef broth (you can use dashi or vegetable broth or water, if you prefer)
1 generous tsp of grated fresh ginger  (I used about a half-inch of a peeled ginger knob)
1/4 tsp hot chili oil
1 tsp McIlhenry Farms honey (You can order this from the Tabasco site - it has a deeper, darker flavor than most clover honeys. Avocado honey would also work well, if you have a farmer's market or Alien Fresh Jerky stand near you.)

In a bowl, stir the miso and broth together until smooth. Add in the other ingredients to taste, stirring until all lumps are gone.  Serve with steak or other hearty fare.  If you're as averse to dirtying dishes as I am, don't even bother transferring to a serving dish - I just set the bowl on the table with the same spoon I'd used to stir. :)  For this sauce, I skipped adding soy sauce as planned - between the salt in the miso and the salt in the broth, soy sauce, even reduced sodium, would have probably been a bit too much.

NY Strip Steaks, Asian style:

Take your 8-10 oz strip steaks and sprinkle/rub with the following:
Sake (probably a teaspoon per steak)
Soy (another scant teaspoon per steak)
Seasoned pepper
Onion powder
A pinch of salt
A spoonful of hoisin (per steak)

(The amounts above are approximate, because the BF did the marinading and he doesn't like to measure, either. :)  Just do the math for the number of steaks you're making if you really must dirty a set of measuring spoons.)
Rub the marinade ingredients into the meat about 15 minutes before grilling to medium done-ness. The BF likes a 60/40 of charcoal and hickory chips when he fires up our ancient Weber, so that's how we did them tonight.

Garnish with thinly sliced green onions.

Oven Roasted Asparagus was the side dish:  1 Tbsp EVOO, a generous pinch of salt and a generous pinch of pepper, toss to coat, and arrange on a cookie sheet (I use a foil-lined jelly roll pan because I hate cleanup). Pop in a 400* F oven for 10 minutes, turning once halfway through. Easy!

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Someday, I'll actually take my camera down to the kitchen to get you some pictures, but I'm not about to pretend I can do those gorgeous, perfectly exposed shots that the talented bloggers like Canelle et Vanille or Sprinkle Bakes have managed. I have an HP digital point-and-shoot that cost me $50 when it was new (5 years ago). No expensive equipment here!