Substitute green tobiko for roe of other colors. [1] Green tobiko, the eggs of flying fish roe, in sushi (a gunkan maki—photo courtesy Toria Sushi.[2] Oyster with caviar (photo courtesy Rebelle NYC). [3] Caviar potato bites; the same concept works with potato chips and cucumber slices (photo Fotolia). [4] Top grilled fish (photo courtesy FishStar). [5] In a simple butter sauce (photo KN Studios | Fotolia).

Ready for some culinary adventure on St. Patrick’s Day?

We look forward to our annual green bagel and corned beef and cabbage, but needed to find something green for hors d’oeuvre and a first course (not guacamole, not spinach dip, not green bean salad, but something special).

Browsing through the market, we came across a large jar of green tobiko caviar and began to play with it.

Tobiko (flying fish roe) is a popular sushi ingredient, as both a garnish and in a gunkan-maki or “battleship roll” (photo #1).

The roe, or caviar*, if you will, comes from the flying fish of Iceland and the Pacific Ocean. Naturally orange in color with a delicate nutty taste (no fish flavor), it has eye appeal and a crunchy texture.

Over the past 20 years, the roe has been colored black, gold, green or red—for colorful garnishes beyond the sushi bar.

It can also be flavored; for example, spicy orange tobiko, green wasabi-flavored tobiko, yellow citrus- ginger-and yuzu-flavored tobiko and pale red ume (plum) tobiko.

We’ve even had brown truffle tobiko!

So garnish we will! Here’s what we came up with for green tobiko with everyday dishes, nothing haute cuisine.
 
BREAKFAST

 
APPETIZERS

 
FIRST COURSE

 
DINNER

TOBKO VS. MASAGO: THE DIFFERENCE

Even if you’re a sushi bar habitué, you may not know that there’s a difference between masago and tobiko.

Both are small beads of roe, both are naturally orange in color.

However, the do differ:

 
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*For centuries, “caviar” referred only to sturgeon eggs; all other fish were “roe.” However, the barriers have broken down, and no one should look askance at you if you call tobiko, ikura, and any other fish eggs “caviar.”

Gearing up for St. Patrick’s Day, we wanted to try a Green Bloody Mary. Yes, can green it up for St. Patricks Day, with the tricks below.

The first GBMs of our experience were made with the green tomatoes and yellow tomatoes of August—more legit than this St. Patrick’s Day version, since puréed tomatoes equal the tomato juice of a traditional Bloody Mary.

But those tomatoes are around for just a few weeks of the year, and months away from St. Patrick’s Day.

So we went a-looking, and found this recipe from New Orleans bartender Jimmy Syock, who made it as part of the Bloody Mary Bar at Atchafalaya Restaurant.

He uses what’s typically a year-round fruit: the tomatillo (yes, it’s a botanical fruit; all about tomatillos).

We adapted Jimmy’s recipe a bit, although we kept his party-size measurements. You’ll get 12 Collins glass-size drinks, and more if you use an Old Fashioned/rocks glass.

Recipe #2, below, is much simpler to make, and makes just four servings.
 
 
RECIPE #1: JIMMY SYOCK’S GREEN BLOODY MARY

Ingredients For 12 Drinks

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE all ingredients except lime juice and salt in a blender; process until smooth. Strain to remove the pulp and any remaining seeds.

2. STIR in the lime juice and add salt to taste. Chill until ready to serve.

3. GARNISH as desired from the list below.
 
GARNISHES

We’ve omitted the standard celery stalk and lemon or lime wedge. When you go green, you upgrade your garnishes.

Some ideas:

[2] Here’s the recipe from The Kitchy Kitchen, which includes the option of infusing your vodka with vegetables.

[3] Tomatillos from The Chef’s Garden.

You might enjoy putting an “antipasto pick” together with choices from each group; for example, a cheese cube, grape tomato, ham cube, and gherkin.
 

[5] Fully loaded, from The Wayfarer | NYC

Ingredients For 4 Drinks

 
Preparation

1. PURÉE the tomatillos and cucumber in a blender or food processor. Add the vodka, horseradish, and a few dashes each of green hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon celery salt and a pinch of kosher salt.

2. POUR into 4 ice-filled glasses. Garnish and serve.
 
 
KNOW YOUR BLOODY MARYS

 
 
MORE BLOODY RECIPES

These recipes use traditional red tomato juice, but you can switch to the green blend as you prefer.

If you’re a fan of Cream Of Rice or Cream of Wheat porridges, you’re a lock to enjoy the rice-based Chinese version.

This traditional Chinese dish has evolved from gruel to porridge* to a porridge mixed with bits of protein (chicken, pork, shrimp) and vegetables (green onion, peas) to a spread of “DIY congee,” where the table is laden with dishes of condiments to tailor the dish to one’s taste.

Congee can be as simple as a plain bowl of porridge, or as complex as the condiments and toppings allow. More luxurious versions cook the grain in chicken broth rather than water.

It is easy to digest and very simple to cook.

Plan to make it for breakfast or brunch, lunch or late dinner; serve as a DIY spread for a special meal (see the garnish options below); and reheat any leftovers on subsequent days.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF CONGEE

Congee (CON-gee with a soft “g”) is an ancient dish, made in China for thousands of years from uncooked rice and boiling water.

The Book of Zhou (published 636 C.E.) says that the mythical Emperor Huang Di (2698–2598 B.C.E., mythical dates) was first to cook congee made from millet—or, we guess, his cooks did it, since we can’t imagine an emperor standing over a stove. This is considered the earliest reference to congee. [source]

Tobie Meyer-Fong, associate professor at Johns Hopkins University who researches late imperial China and Chinese cuisine, has found references that date congee to the Han dynasty, circa 206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E. Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, author of Chinese cookbooks, maintains that congee dates to approximately 1,000 B.C.E., during the Zhou dynasty. [source]

Today it is eaten throughout Asia (known by different names), in Burma, China, Korea, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Tibetan, Vietnam and elsewhere.

The name in Chinese, which means the watery one, derives from the Tamil language of India, where kanji refers to the water in which rice has been boiled.

It can be part of a meal, but is most often served as the main dish of the meal (and often, the only dish).

Congee can be made in a pot or in a rice cooker. Some rice cookers even have a congee setting, for households who want to cook the rice overnight.
 
 
RECIPE: SIMPLE CONGEE

Ingredients For 6 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PLACE the water, broth, rice, salt and ginger in a large pot set over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Continue boiling, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. REDUCE the heat to medium low, cover and cook for 40 minutes longer, until the porridge has a creamy consistency, stirring occasionally.

3. REMOVE from heat the and keep warm. Discard the ginger pieces. Stir the chicken into the soup. Serve garnished with the green onions, cilantro, julienne-cut ginger and soy sauce, or let people garnish their own.

You can serve congee family-style, from a casserole-type dish, or bring individual bowls to the table.
 
 
CONGEE GARNISHES: CREATE YOUR OWN CONGEE MASTERPIECE

For a party, offer as many as you like. At home, serve half a dozen options (including the soy sauce); but keep rotating them each time you serve congee, so it’s never the same dish.

Traditional

 
Non-Traditional Garnishes

[2] Congee With Pork & Scallions (here’s the recipe from The Woks Of Life.

[3] This Ginger Chicken Congee is made with brown rice. Here’s the recipe from Honest Cooking

[4] Seafood Congee. Here’s the recipe from Omnivore’s Cookbook.

[5] A soft-boiled egg, crispy shallots and cilantro top this congee. Here’s the recipe from Sprinkles And Sprouts.

 
Plus

 
 
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*Gruel is a cereal—based food—typically made from oats, rice, rye or wheat—boiled in milk or water. It is a thinner version of porridge. Some gruels are so thin that they are drunk rather than eaten. It is a food that is eaten every day, easy to digest, and thus also used during an illness. It is usually the first non-milk food given to infants, a food for the elderly and those with dental or stomach problems, and above all, comfort food. Some people call congee a soup.
 
 

[2] Deconstructed Eggs Benedict: poached egg, julienned Canadian bacon and English muffin crouton atop a mixed green salad.

[3] Romaine, apples and grapes with a honey-yogurt dressing, topped with granola.

[4] Blueberry and mandarin breakfast salad (photo © Blueberry Council).

We first heard of breakfast salad in 2014. Someone sent us a recipe, but it got lost in the shuffle.

In the ensuing two-plus years, the concept has spread. So if you’re ready to move on from the last breakfast trend—overnight oats—here’s a roundup of the latest.
 
 
WHAT IS BREAKFAST SALAD?

Breakfast salad is a fusion of conventional breakfast items with salad greens or other raw or cooked vegetables. Example: bacon and eggs on a lettuce wedge, or yogurt and fresh fruit salad atop mesclun greens.

For years we’ve served what we never thought to call “breakfast salad”: an omelet topped with lightly dressed baby arugula and watercress.

And for brunch, a poached egg on top of a frisée salad with lardons, or on top of a Caesar salad, is another favorite, adding more protein to both.

So we decided to take a look at what other people were eating for breakfast. We found:

 
 
BREAKFAST SALAD RECIPES

We decided to go purist. Here are some recipes that fit our bill of breakfast salad fare:

 
 
Do you have a favorite breakfast salad recipe? Please share!

And feel free to eat breakfast salad for lunch or dinner. The concept is no different from an omelet or any luncheon salad.

National Farmers Day is October 12th, and National CSA Day, a floating holiday, is the last Friday in February.

CSAs deserve as much attention as they can get, so today’s tip is help yourself, help a small family farmer:

Head to the CSA DAY website and find a CSA near you.

You can also check on LocalHarvest.org.

If you currently browse farmers’ markets for the best local produce, the next step is to join a CSA and have the farmers’ market come to you (not literally).

WHAT’S A CSA

CSA stands for community-supported agriculture, which is a direct-to-customer business model for farmers.

The concept originated in Europe and Asia in the 1980s as an alternative financing arrangement, to help sustain small-scale farmers.

It was first adopted in the USA by some biodynamic farmers in Massachusetts, in the mid-1980s. They coined the term CSA.

The concept spread, and more and more food enthusiasts became excited to have the freshest produce while supporting local small farmers.

In a CSA, farmers and consumers bypass commercial supply lines (middlemen, warehouse storage) and deal directly with each other.
 
 
HOW A CSA WORKS

In a CSA, the consumer buys a share of a farm’s output in the form of a weekly (or biweekly) box filled with freshly harvested produce.

In the traditional CSA model, participants pay for a season’s worth of produce (called a membership or a subscription), in advance. The CSA member then receives a box of fruits and vegetables every week throughout the harvesting season.

This model helps stabilize the farm’s income. It’s a boon for small family farms, which get ash in hand to run the farm when they most need it (in advance having something to harvest and sell). The farmer commits to giving the best to a committed set of customers.

In return, members receive a weekly box of locally-grown produce. The contents differ each week and members never know what they’ll get, but seasonal harvests root vegetables in the fall, tomatoes, and berries in the summer, etc.

Some people join a CSA for the freshest fruits and vegetables, to support local farmers, and to know where their food comes from. Each farmer selects his/her own model, but in general:

 
 
CSF: A CSA FOR SEAFOOD

There are also CSFs—community-supported fisheries—that use the CSA model to support their small, local fisheries. Use this locator to find one near you.

Members support sustainable, transparent supply chains of ethically sourced or captured fish.

[1] Farmers pick what’s ready, shortly before delivery (photo © Halas Farm).

[2] Boxes get packed and labeled at the farm, then trucked to the delivery spots (photo © Driftless Organics).

[3] You open the box, and decide what to make with the week’s bounty (photos #3 and #4 © Urban Tilth and The Chef’s Garden).

[4] Enjoy the beauty as well as the fresh flavor.

[5] A similar concept for fish delivers the fresh catch (photo © Inhabitat | Shutterstock).

Here’s more about CSFs.
 
 
CSAs: HOW YOU BENEFIT

You become part of a community with reverence for the land.
 
The fun aspects include:

 
And if there’s something in the box that you absolutely won’t eat, score points by gifting fresh produce to a neighbor, teacher, etc.