At Costco, plenty of wild salmon plus lower prices on almonds, quinoa

Fresh wild sockeye salmon from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro ($9.99 a pound), grilled on the stove-top and accented with homemade basil pesto, torn basil and ground Aleppo pepper.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The fresh wild salmon is running once again at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro.

I found a small refrigerated case filled with many packages of skin-on salmon fillets last Tuesday, and they were priced at a friendly $9.99 a pound.

That contrasts with shortages of fresh wild sockeye in June.

Easy grilling

Six serving portions of wild salmon needed only 7 minutes on a stove-top grill over medium-high heat (4 minutes on the skin side, then flip them for 3 minutes).

I seasoned the fish with Himalayan Pink Salt from Costco and fresh lime juice before grilling, and accented then with homemade basil pesto and torn leaves from plants in my garden. 

Six portions of fresh wild sockeye salmon cost about $17, enough to feed four with leftovers.

Kirkland Signature Almonds come in a new 3-pound bag and at a lower price, below. The raw, sodium-free almonds make a great snack after I roast them at 275 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes, then dust them with Ground Saigon Cinnamon, also sold at Costco.

Once sold in a 4-pound bag under the Nature's Intent label, Organic Quinoa now comes in a larger, 4.5-pound bag with a Kirkland Signature label, at a new, lower price, below, even without an instant rebate.

Nature's Intent Organic Quinoa -- prepared in an electric cooker with whole peeled garlic cloves, organic diced tomatoes, olive oil and salt -- is a great side dish with wild salmon and a stuffed egg-white omelet. With fewer carbs than rice or pasta, quinoa also is a good bread substitute.

Costco Wholesale seems to be the only store that doesn't offer organic whole wheat pasta from Italy. I've purchased various shapes at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods Market and ShopRite. Now, the Teterboro warehouse is offering Organic Chickpea Fusilli Pasta with the color of the whole wheat product, but at more than three times the price per pound, below.

Made in Nature Organic Pitted Dates, above, and Organic Smyrna Figs, below, are unsulfured, meaning they are free of a preservative, and have no added sugar. They taste great with those almonds from Costco.

Himalayan Pink Salt, once available only in a Kirkland Signature grinder, now comes in a 5-pound container that is ready to use in salt shakers, below. It claims to be the purest salt in the world.

These sweet peppers from Canada were labeled non-GMO.

Fresh Peeled Garlic from Miami-based Garland Food appears to have replaced the peeled California Garlic sold under the Christopher Ranch label. Last week was the first time we found a 3-pound bag of Garland garlic that didn't appear to have any dark-colored, soft cloves ($7.29). The label says the garlic comes from Argentina.

Now, Costco members can use Visa credit or debt cards at the food court in Teterboro. A large cup of Kirkland Signature Nonfat Vanilla Yogurt was $1.35.

Shopping for comfort food in Paterson, I can't help but cry for Aleppo

In June 1978, I made a brief visit to Aleppo, the city in the north of Syria where my parents were born. I saw many things and places familiar from the conversations I overheard when my parents invited their many friends to our house in Brooklyn, and I took lots of black-and-white photos. Here, Syrian bread puffed up like a pillow as the loaves baked in an oven before being offered for sale.

In the summer of 1978, you could stop on the streets of Aleppo for a cup of hot tea or a yogurt drink.

Editor's note: In 2013, I described my emotions after I heard the news about a government assault on Aleppo, Syria, the city where my parents were born. Now, the situation has gotten even more hopeless.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Since the start of the Syrian civil war, my occasional trips to buy bread, spices and other food in Paterson's Middle Eastern bazaar have been anything but routine.

I'm a first-generation American born to Jewish parents who emigrated from Aleppo, Syria, in the 1920s.

This week, government forces, backed by the Russians, began an offensive to take back Aleppo from the rebels -- a development that once again turned my thoughts to the city of their birth and its rich food tradition.

Today, The New York Times, quoting a new report, said 470,000 Syrians have died in five years of war -- almost twice the 250,000 counted a year and a half ago.

If that doesn't bring tears to your eyes, I'm not sure what would.

In 1978, I visited a Jewish yeshiva in Aleppo, and met teachers and an excited group of students.

Jewish life

My father's father was a pastry maker in Aleppo, and my mother's father was a rabbi and shochet, who was certified as competent to kill cattle and poultry in the manner prescribed by Jewish law.

My parents met on Manhattan's Lower East Side, married, sailed to Cuba for their honeymoon on the Morro Castle, and eventually settled in Brooklyn, where my mother self-published the first edition of her Syrian Jewish cookbook in the 1950s.

When I moved to northern New Jersey in the late 1970s, I began visiting Paterson to shop or eat in bakeries, markets and restaurants opened by Syrian Christian immigrants in the South Paterson neighborhood bordering Clifton.

They began arriving in the late 1800s and early 1900s to work in the city's silk mills.

In 1968, Michael Fattal, a baker from Aleppo, opened Fattal's in Paterson. Today, you can find hundreds of items, including store-baked spinach pies, pastry, cheese, yogurt drinks, imported extra-virgin olive oil, spices, tea and chewy pocket bread, or order a Syrian specialty and enjoy it in a small dining area at the back of the greatly expanded bakery, butcher and grocery store.

A mildly spicy Aleppo pepper is the perfect accent for fish and egg dishes or you can use a pinch or two when making hummus.

Fattal's on Main Street

My first stop on Thursday was Fattal's, one of the few South Paterson businesses with is own parking lot.

I made the trip because I had nearly run out of crushed red Aleppo pepper, which I sprinkle liberally on fish and egg dishes.

I bought a little more than a half-pound of crushed pepper ($6.99 a pound), a quarter-pound of ground cumin ($4.99 a pound), and a pound of Fattal's own grape leaves stuffed with vegetables ($7.99 a pound).

A 3-liter bottle of La Ziza Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Lebanon was $20.99 or just under $7 a liter. A half-gallon of Merve Ayran Yogurt Drink was $10.29.

A half-dozen freshly baked Spinach and Cheese Pies were $8.99, and 13-ounce cans of Libano Verde Hommos Tahina from Lebanon were 99 cents each.

Easy hummus

All you need to do make creamy hummus is empty the contents of a can into a bowl, and add fresh lime juice, extra virgin olive oil and plenty of minced or ground garlic to taste.

I garnish hummus with Aleppo pepper, crushed mint leaves or both.

In Paterson, after dashing over to Salah Edin, a restaurant on the next block, for two bags of freshly fried falafel, I went back into Fattal's for a package of medium Syrian breads (12 for $1.50), the only ones I could find without preservatives.

South Paterson

Even as Aleppo is being slowly destroyed, South Paterson is prospering, with the opening of new cafes, pastry shops and restaurants.

Over the years, Syrian businesses have been joined by numerous Turkish, Lebanese and Palestinian cafes, bakeries and restaurants. 

A new strip mall has opened on Main Street, and a new building is going up near Salah Edin Restaurant.

The big farmers' market off of Crooks Avenue is open year-round. And a large McDonald's has opened on the Paterson side of Crooks Avenue.

At Salah Edin, $1 buys a bag of five freshly fried falafel.

On the drive home, the smell of fresh Fattal's bread teased me. At my kitchen counter, I immediately made and ate two small sandwiches with hummus, one with a cold stuffed grape leave and the other with a warm falafel, above and below.

Fattal's bread keeps beautifully in the refrigerator or freezer.

The dining room of Aleppo Restaurant at Main and Thomas streets in Paterson.

What's still standing

On Thursday, I put my groceries in the car, left it parked in Fattal's lot, and walked two blocks to visit Mohamed K. Jello, a devout Muslim who owns Aleppo Restaurant.

The terrific Syrian food there reminds me so much of my mother's cooking.

I embraced Mohamed, and he served me a glass of hot ginger tea.

He said relatives still are living in the northern part of the city, and so far are safe.

We talked about the destruction of the minaret in the Great Mosque, but he said the old clock tower is still standing.

Click on the following link to my 2013 post on Aleppo, written almost 35 years to the day after my 1978 visit.

See: My heart goes out to Aleppo, Syria

Details

Fattal's, 975-77 Main St., Paterson; 1-973-742-7125.

Aleppo Restaurant, 939 Main St., Paterson; 1-973-977-2244. No alcohol allowed.

Salah Edin Restaurant, 995 Main St., Paterson; 1-973-225-0575.

In 1978, a clock tower known as Bab al-Faraj was a major landmark in Aleppo, and I often heard it referred to when my parents and their friends reminisced about their lives in the city, said to be the oldest in the world. 

The minaret of the Great Mosque of Aleppo, shown in June 1978, was destroyed during fighting in April 2013. The building dated to the 11th through 14th centuries.

In 1978, I explored the cobblestone streets and alleys of Aleppo's old city, where I was surprised to see Star of David motifs in a metal door, upper left.

Even in 1978, parts of the old city were being cleared for the construction of apartment buildings, above.

Residential buildings in Aleppo near the clock tower.

Stalls selling brooms.

A March 2015 report on The Guardian.com said troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were using the ancient citadel of Aleppo to rain down destruction on enemies below, and that the 13th century fortress had suffered "untold damage."

$1 bag of falafel, 99-cents sardines, 9-inch whole-wheat pocket bread

And then there were none .... Five of the original seven falafel in a paper bag were still warm when I came home. They are only $1 at Salah Edin Middle Eastern Restaurant, 995 Main St., Paterson, below, part of a Middle Eastern bazaar known as South Paterson.

Around noon on Saturday, my order of tasty falafel -- ground chickpeas mixed with parsley -- was deep fried to order.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I dashed out to Paterson on Saturday for a refresher course on Middle Eastern flavors after a bitter winter that kept me close to home.

My first stop was Fattal's -- which sells freshly baked pocket bread and a wide array of food and spices, even gold necklaces and bracelets -- at 975-77 Main St. 

Fattal's has its own parking lot and, on the weekends, a guard will help you find a parking space and, with gestures and waving arms, will help you back out when it is time to leave.

I stocked up on Al Shark-brand Moroccan Sardines in Tomato Sauce, the variety that has the least sodium. I bought two dozen cans at 99 cents each (125 grams). 

I use them in pasta dishes or add them to canned-seafood salads.

I also bought a half-pound of crushed Aleppo red pepper ($6.99 a pound), perfect for garnishing egg and fish dishes.

A gallon of refrigerated Merve Ayran Yogurt Drink -- with live active cultures -- was $10.99, compared to $8.69 two years ago.

Fattal's has one of the largest parking lots in South Paterson.

Crushed red pepper is perfect for fish or egg dishes. I store it in the freezer of refrigerator.

I used Aleppo pepper this morning on an egg-white omelet stuffed with smoked wild salmon, fresh spinach sauteed in a separate pan, marinara sauce and reduced fat cheese.

King's Whole Wheat Pita is baked in Paterson without preservatives, and sold at Fattal's alongside its own bread.

This bread is impossible to resist

Even though I've been on a no-bread diet for years, I couldn't resists buying a bag of 9-inch pocket bread called King's Pita ($1.39 for six loaves).

This is a thin whole-wheat bread in the Lebanese style, perfect for wrapping or stuffing.

At home, I ate spoonfuls of leftover canned-salmon salad with sweet peppers and celery in the soft, chewy bread. Fantastic.

I can just imagine scooping up hummus with it.

The ingredients are bran, whole wheat flour, water, salt and yeast.

Bag of falafel

I asked the guard in Fattal's lot if I could leave my car there and walked over to Salah Edin Middle Eastern Restaurant on the next block for a $1 bag of seven falafel balls.

They were fried beautifully, leaving only a little oil on the paper bag. I ate two of the piping hot falafel immediately, and took the rest home for family members.

A small cup of tahini would be perfect with the delicious falafel, but then they probably wouldn't cost only $1.

My Jewish mother, who was born in Aleppo, Syria, made falafel at home not with chickpeas, but with fava beans, the way it's done in Egypt, where they are called ta'amia.

I prefer fava-bean falafel, but the only place I know that serves it is an expensive restaurant in Tenafly with an Egyptian chef/owner.

Pomegranate seeds, Bob's Red Mill, Palestinian EVOO

Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal topped with non-fat Greek yogurt, pomegranate seeds and Organic Blue Agave syrup.

I added pine nuts, hemp hearts and dried dates to my whole-grain cereal, which cooked in less than 10 minutes in a covered pot.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss a great hot cereal to warm you in chilly weather, pomegranate seeds, a visit to Fatal's in Paterson, "room for milk" at Starbucks and the annoying habit of Greek diners to charge more for extra spinach.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With the return of cold weather, I sometimes take a break from eggs at breakfast and reach for Bob's Red Mill, a hot cereal. 

This morning, I added pine nuts, hemp hearts and dried dates to the 10 Grain Hot Cereal as it was cooking and once it was in the bowl, topped it with pomegranate seeds, non-fat Greek yogurt and Organic Blue Agave nectar.

Everything but the cereal came from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

I ate the cereal from a blue Miya of Japan bowl ($6.99), which I found at New King Fung Supermarket, 625 Kinderkamack Road, in River Edge.

My wife bought the large Pom-brand pomegranates, weighing a total of 8 pounds, for $14.99 on Nov. 4; removed the seeds from one of them and refrigerated them in a container.

I had three-quarters of a bag of Bob's Red Mill in my cupboard from last winter.

In reading the label, I saw refrigeration is recommended once the bag is opened.

Three cups of water, a little salt and 1 cup of Bob's Red Mill yield 2.5 cups of hot cereal.

Bob's Red Mill has other cereals besides 10 Grain, as well as an organic line. I bought mine at ShopRite.

Pomegranate seeds, Campari Tomatoes and two kinds of Italian cheese with an Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix salad, dressed in extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Za'atar and EVOO at Fatal's

On Wednesday, I drove to Fattal's in Paterson to replenish our supply of Al Shark Sardines in Tomato Sauce from Morocco (99 cents for a 4.38-ounce can).

I bought more than two dozen cans of the wild-caught fish, which is low in mercury.

We use the sardines, along with anchovies, in pasta sauce.

We also use canned sardines, with canned tuna and salmon, to make a salad with chopped onions, celery and apple, dressing them in Dijon mustard, lime juice and ground cumin.

Fattal's sells crushed red pepper by weight, but I could get only about a third of a pound before the store ran out ($6.99 a pound).

I use the mildly spicy pepper, which I refer to as Aleppo pepper, to accent eggs, fish and other dishes.

I bought packaged crushed red pepper from Turkey, but it contains salt. 

A package of za'atar thyme mixture from Jordan contains wheat, an ingredient I don't believe is found in the mixture Fattal's sells by weight.

Za'atar is good with bread dipped in olive oil, and sprinkled liberally over fresh tomato slices or omelets and other egg dishes.

The predominate taste is not thyme but sour sumac, as well as the crunch of sesame seeds.

I also picked up another 3-liter bottle of Al Defah Extra Virgin Olive Oil for a low $13.99 or only $4.66 a liter.

On the label, there is nothing in English on the origin of the oil, but one of the employees pointed out a Palestinian flag and said the oil is from Palestine.

Six store-made Spinach & Cheese Pies were $8.99.

On Saturday at Starbucks on 1st Avenue and 69th Street in Manhattan, I asked for a Tall cup of Veranda Blend with "a little room for milk." The young woman behind the counter said she would put my coffee in a larger, Grande cup, and leave room for milk, and she did, giving me a full cup of coffee.

On Thursday, I ordered a Greek omelet with feta cheese, spinach, onions and mushrooms at the River Edge Diner (516 Kinderkamack Road), and asked for extra spinach. I was charged more for what looked like frozen spinach ($8.75 or $9.60 with extra spinach). But at the suggestion of the waitress, I asked for the home fries well-done, and they were the best I've ever had.

An appealing change in Egg Whites from Costco Wholesale

A wedge from a 10-inch frittata made with Kirkland Signature Egg Whites, which now look milky when you pour them out of the carton, below. When Costco Wholesale first introduced the product, it poured clear, and that proved disconcerting for many who liked the old Real Eggs, which had several added ingredients, including sodium and yolk-like coloring.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss a welcome change in Kirkland Signature Egg Whites, how to add body and flavor to an egg-white frittata, cooking organic brown rice with lentils, memories of Nathan's in Coney Island and the state of free food samples.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The only ingredient listed on a carton of Kirkland Signature Egg Whites is "100% liquid egg whites."

But in a subtle change, Egg Whites appear milky when poured out of the carton, not clear.

It took a while for me to warm up to the new product, which replaced Kirkland Signature Real Eggs.

But I've learned to add reduced-fat shredded and sliced cheeses, chopped garlic and other ingredients to give Egg Whites more body and flavor.

I made a 10-inch frittata with a 16-ounce carton of Egg Whites, three whole organic eggs, shredded Kirkland Signature Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese and a leftover reduction of organic diced tomatoes, red wine, garlic and fresh herbs that I had used to prepare wild salmon.

After I finished the frittata under the broiler, I added Aleppo pepper and several teaspoons of refrigerated Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto.

I ate a wedge with mashed Korean sweet potatoes and stewed tofu, both from H Mart. 

Organic brown eggs from Costco Wholesale with Aleppo pepper and shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese from Italy, available in wedges at the warehouse store for $11.29 a pound. I served them with leftover organic whole wheat fusilli pasta. The reduced-fat, aged cheese also can be added to salads or eaten with fruit, such as the ripe black figs I bought today.

In an electric cooker, I combined Lundberg Organic Brown Long Grain Rice, left; Tru Roots Organic Sprouted Lentil Trio from Costco, Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes; organic chicken stock and whole garlic cloves from Costco; salt and extra-virgin olive oil. The result is a protein-rich one-dish meal or a tasty side dish, below.

I ate the organic brown rice-lentil dish for breakfast today with a small wedge of frittata and leftover snow pea leaves from Lan Garden on Route 46 in Ridgefield.

A Nathan's in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn is decorated with a mural and framed photos of the Coney Island original, where decades ago, I often enjoyed a fillet of fish sandwich instead of the famous hot dogs.

Today, the closest Nathan's comes to the fillet of fish sandwich is a heavily battered Fish and Chips, which I didn't try. And this Nathan's serves beer, but not coffee.

Grazing on free samples

Jerry's Gourmet & More at 410 S. Dean St. in Englewood and Costco Wholesale in Hackensack offer free samples seven days a week, but most other food stores restrict them to the weekends.

The Korean supermarket chain called H Mart appears to be cutting back on free samples at some of its stores, especially on Fridays.

On Friday night at the Little Ferry H Mart, one of the bigger stores in the chain, only one woman was offering free food samples.

The Fort Lee H Mart and the Super H Mart in Ridgefield usually have at least a half-dozen food sampling stations.

At the Englewood H Mart today, I tried a few kinds of fruit, a spicy preparation of baby octopus and noodles.

Cheese festival

At Jerry's today, there were a couple of dozen full-fat cheeses available as well as tiramisu, bread to dip in olive oil and other samples.

At H&Y Marketplace, a Korean supermarket in Ridgefield, I tried samples of fruit, conch, octopus and Japanese somen noodles.

At Costco on Friday, I enjoyed spinach-and-cheese ravioli, and pizza, among other samples.

At Whole Foods Market in Paramus on Friday, I loved a little fresh mozzarella served on bread with a small basil leaf and balsamic vinegar glaze, and a tiny serving of Olivia's organic salad mix with dressing.

The samples are small -- perfect if you are on a diet and want to skip lunch. They also allow you to indulge in tiny portions of food you normally don't eat, such as pizza, bread and full-fat cheeses.

I made one purchase at H&Y, a 2-pound tray of California Black Mission Figs for $6.99 (1 Remsen Place, Ridgefield).

At Jerry's, I picked up two half-liter bottles of Ponti Primus Balsamic Vinegar of Modena from Italy for $1.99 each.

Ponti, which calls itself the No.1 brand in Italy, doesn't add color to its balsamic vinegar.