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Sous vide oyster chicken with miso roast vegetables and japanese espagnole sauce.

Bold, umami-rich flavours are the hallmark on this exceptional take on classic, "boring" food. 
You need an accurate thermometer (digital is best), or, of course, a sous vide setup. You can cook the chicken from frozen as well, it defrosts in the cooker. A general rule of thumb - add on 1/3-1/2 of the cooking time if cooking sous vide from frozen, depending on the thickness of the meat that you're cooking. 
Recipe for Espagnole sauce here
Course Main Course
Cuisine Japanese
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 1 chicken breast per person
  • 2 tbsp oyster sauce per chicken breast

1 portion Japanese Espagnole sauce

vegetables

  • 200g Assorted root and other vegetables per person Any starchy or sweet veg works well, including peppers, onions, carrots, beetroot, marrows etc.
  • 2 tbsp brown miso
  • 1/2 cup amasi or buttermilk/yoghurt

Cooked starch - I used bulgar wheat, but sticky rice or couscous would also work well.

Instructions

  • Start your chicken 1 1/2 hours before you plan on eating. 
    Preheat your oven to 200C.
    Fill a large pot or water bath for the sous vide cooker, heat it to 62*C and keep it there. If you're using a stovetop thermometer method, you are not going to be able to get this accurate - try aim for between 60-65, and if you find yourself overshooting regularly (which you will) then cut down the cooking time accordingly. 
    Vacuum pack each chicken breast with its portion of oyster sauce - I use a ziplock bag and water displacement method, but feel free to just suck the air out manually. You want no air at all in your bag, just chicken and oyster sauce.
    Cook the chicken at 62C in your sous vide cooker for an hour if fresh, and 1h20m if cooking from frozen. 
  • Chop your veg into roastable chunks, and put in a baking tray.
    Mix the miso and the amass/buttermilk/yoghurt and spoon over the veg liberally. 
    Bake for 30-45 minutes, until soft and starting to caramelise.
  • While all this is on the go, make your Espagnole sauce
  • When the chicken is done, remove from the ziplock bags and pour the remaining oyster sauce and any juices from the chicken into the sauce. 
    (Optional) - toast the outside of the chicken with a blowtorch, or pan fry very quickly on high heat to crisp up the outside.
    Slice the chicken widthwise into 1cm slices, arrange with roast veg and starch with sauce over. 
    If you have - goes well with warm sake, otherwise a light red wine such as a bordeaux blend.