Try mixing and matching flavors from kitchens around the world

Medium-spicy Roasted Salsa Verde from Whole Foods Market in Paramus puts a Mexican accent on Jun's Tofu, made fresh at H & Y Marketplace, a Korean supermarket (1 Remsen Place, Ridgefield).

Jun's Tofu is made from non-GMO soybeans. A 1-pound, 13-ounce package, with or without black sesame seeds, is $5.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When preparing meals at home, I love mixing and matching ethnic favors from around the world.

Aleppo pepper and Mexican salsas are versatile, and can be used with fish or egg dishes.

When you poach fresh fish, the salsa serves as both the cooking medium and as a sauce for the rice, quinoa or pasta you serve on the side.

Then, you can use leftover salsa in egg-white omelets stuffed with fresh spinach, smoked wild salmon and za'atar thyme mixture.

From the Middle East, za'atar and crushed red Aleppo pepper are available at Fattal's, 975-977 Main St., Paterson. 

Cabbage or cucumber kimchi is a great side dish with almost any meal.

Bland tofu is a foil for spicy cabbage kimchi made next door to H & Y, the Korean supermarket in Ridgefield, at Arirang Kimchi. A 64-ounce jar is $9.99.

Ras el Hanout, a Moroccan spice mixture I found at a butcher shop in Montreal, includes cumin, ginger and allspice. Here, I added a pinch or two to serving portions of fresh wild sockeye salmon I grilled on the stove top, below. I seasoned the fresh fish with sea salt and fresh lime juice before putting them on the grill.

Fresh wild sockeye salmon was $9.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. I cooked them on a preheated grill that straddles two burners for 6 minutes over medium to medium-high heat.

Grilled white peaces lend sweetness to wild salmon poached in Roasted Salsa Verde and accented with Aleppo pepper, below.

If you add the salmon to boiling salsa and cover the pan, the fish will be ready in about 7 minutes.

I stuffed an egg-white omelet, from top, with za'atar thyme mixture, salsa, smoked wild salmon from Costco Wholesale, fresh spinach I cooked earlier in the same pan and shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, also from Costco.

I finished the folded omelet with Aleppo pepper and chopped herbs from the garden, including mint, parsley and rosemary.