A Happy New Year 2010 謹賀新年

I had to work until 12/31/09. So I did not have time to put together the usual New Year's boxes お節の重箱 but managed to make or buy the usual good luck new year dishes.

New Year Soup お雑煮

Only unusual thing I do is to put "mochi" 餅 or rice cake in " fried tofu pouch "aburage" 油揚 as per my wife's request. So that the sticky mochi will not dissolve or attached to your teeth and the bowl. In addition to keeping the mochi under control, the combination tastes pretty good.

Assorted appetizers "Kuchitori" お口取り
Small fish ごまめ, red and white fish cakes 紅白かまぼこ, sweet chestnut 栗きんとん and black beans 黒豆 are bought ready made. The rest were home made. Rolled omelet 伊達巻きwas made from eggs and commercial "hanpen" はんぺん a type of white fish cake, lotus root or renkon レンコン was bought already cleaned and boiled but then I made this "flower" cut and vinegared it. For the first time, I also made kelp roll with salmon 鮭の昆布巻き, which, if I say so myself and my wife (who is impartial) also agrees that this was much much better than the commercial product.

Vegetable and chicken stew 筑前煮

Marinated salmon 鮭のロシア漬け、Herring roe 数の子
This salmon dish is my mother's recipe. She does not remember where she got it. Thinly sliced salmon was layered with onion, lemon slices and marinated in a mixture of sake, rice vinegar and olive oil for at least 3 days. The herring roe was first soaked in weak salt water to remove salt (they are sold preserved by heavily salting) and then marinated in dashi, mirin, and soy sauce mixture for a few days.

Julienned Daikon "Namasu" in sweet vinegar 大根なます, vinegard octopus 酢蛸,
Salmon roe いくら
For  "Namasu", as per my mother's recipe, I do not add water or dashi and we like more assertive vinegar taste. The octopus was bought boiled and frozen and then sliced and vinegared before serving.

Chicken patty with pine nuts and miso 鶏肉野松風焼き, Scotch egg スコッチエッグ

I used boiled quail eggs rather than hens eggs for my Scotch eggs.