A Happy New Year!
Tonight, Jason and I had a traditional Japanese-style New Year dinner. I was busy in the kitchen all afternoon to prepare for this celebration meal.
There is nothing more satisfying than having the first toast of the year with the premium sake. This is the "genshu" sake (undiluted with water) of Taiyo Shuzo in Niigata, Japan. We got it bottled to order when we visited the brewery a couple of weeks ago and brought back to LA. The flavor was just gorgeous. I added the "celebration" gold leaves to the sake to make it look even more special.
Simple "Osechi Ryori" (Japanese New Year's Dishes) in Ju-bako (tiered lacquerware boxes). Buri (grown-up yellowtail) sashimi, Date Maki (egg and white fish roll), Kamaboko (fish cake), and Kurikinton (mashed satsuma yam with chestnuts). I also made Chikuzen-ni (stewed root vegetables with chicken>
Gobo rice and Ozoni soup. Soup was served with grilled mochi, mizuna, and mitsuba. I also added small slices of yuzu rind for the aroma.
Soup was cooked with my soup & stew donabe, "Miso-shiru Nabe", and the rice was made with the double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san". These wonderful donabe pots definitely made our New Year dinner very special!
