Fresh wild Alaskan salmon with roasted green salsa and garden herbs

Fresh Wild Copper River Sockeye Salmon with Roasted Salsa Verde and chopped herbs from the garden.

Editor's note: Cooking at home gives you the most control over what you're eating, and pricey ingredients like fresh wild salmon can be put on the table for surprisingly little when compared to a restaurant.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If you have the makings of a salad and a leftover side dish, such as organic brown rice, you can put a wild-salmon dinner on the table in 10 minutes for about $5 a person.

That's what I did on Tuesday night after my wife came home with a 1.5-pound fillet of Fresh Wild Copper River Sockeye Salmon from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack ($13.99 a pound).

Costco's price for this wonderful Alaskan salmon dropped $1 a pound since it first appeared at the end of May.

I cut the fillet into five serving pieces, and added a little sea salt from a grinder. Then, they went on a pre-heated grill pan for 10 minutes.

I could have poached the fillets in Whole Foods Market's 365 Everyday Value Roasted Salsa Verde, but decided to heat up the contents of a 16-ounce jar separately and spoon it over the salmon, when I plated it, and over the side dish of organic brown rice.

A fresh 1.5 pound skin-on fillet of wild salmon was $13.99 a pound on Tuesday at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, a drop of $1 per pound.

While the salmon was grilling, I warmed up MSG-free Roasted Salsa Verde with fresh lime juice. Whole Foods Market in Paramus sells the medium-spicy green salsa in 16- and 24-ounce jars.

The serving pieces of salmon spend 8 minutes to 10 minutes on a pre-heated grill pan sprayed with oil. My All-Clad grill pan straddles two burners and I turn the heat on both of them to medium.

Another home-cooked dish is Cabbage and Salt Fish with a side of okra and Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce (Black Label).

More home cooking

Want to know what you're eating?

Buy the ingredients yourself and prepare them at home.

Two Costco Wholesale organic eggs -- fried in olive oil sunny side up -- with leftover organic brown rice, a great bread substitute. I seasoned them with Aleppo pepper, a spicier form of paprika; and chopped parsley, oregano and mint from the garden.

The chewy Armenian lavash I brought home from a new Hackensack restaurant, Lavash City Grill & Bakery, makes a wonderful snack spread with no-fat Greek yogurt and za'atar thyme mixture. I store the flat, unleavened, preservative-free bread in the refrigerator.

For breakfast, I supplemented a simple egg-white omelet I made at home with leftover falafel, tahini, muhammara and hummus from restaurants.

The last piece of wild salmon, right out of the fridge, made a great light dinner with a pile of organic greens dressed in Spanish extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

An organic-egg omelet using ingredients from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, including reduced-fat Swiss cheese and Mexican salsa. I had it for breakfast with leftover organic brown rice, fresh chopped callaloo, bottom left; and leftover Chinese broccoli with fresh garlic from Lotus Cafe in Hackensack.