Why I love leftovers

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A reliable source for Aleppo pepper is Fattal's Bakery in Paterson.

You're probably tired of reading about the fresh, wild sockeye salmon I've been buying at Costco in Hackensack, but I'm far from tired of eating this fatty fish for dinner, breakfast and whenever.


Most of time, I cut a fillet into six or seven portions, add fresh lemon juice, Aleppo red pepper and chopped herbs from the garden, and bake it for 10 minutes to 15 minutes at 375 degrees, depending on whether I want it rare or cooked through (for my wife and son).


When I remove the clear plastic wrapping over the foam tray, the raw fish is glistening with oil. Costco says wild salmon arrives in stores only three days after processing in the northwestern United States. It's a low $7.99 a pound.


I cooked the salmon Monday night, eating two portions for dinner with blanched and sauteed Shanghai bok choy, and some stewed tofu in a red-pepper sauce.


This morning, I plated a leftover portion of fish, a chunk of stewed Alaska pollock, a piece of tofu and more baby bok choy with garlic, left over from the 2 pounds I bought at H Mart for 78 cents a pound.

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Bok choy growing in a garden.

I warmed everything in the microwave for about 1 minute while I fried two eggs in extra-virgin olive oil, sunny side up. 


To the eggs, I added a little salt, a little Aleppo pepper and leftover chopped basil, oregano and rosemary, and when they were ready, I slid them from the pan on top of the bok choy.


A tasty, filling, fork-and-knife breakfast.


Rx for good eating


I took advantage of a doctor's appointment in Englewood to pick up a large jar of Arirang cabbage kimchi at the factory, 191 W. Englewood Ave.


My next stop was Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St., for mixed Italian olives at $3.99 a pound, compared to $6.99 a pound and $7.99 a pound elsewhere. 


But the store was out of them, so I bought a container of Cerignola black olives, which were only $3.99 for 18 ounces.

Contradictons at Costco

A salmon farm in Finland.

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For about six months every year, Costco sells wild salmon and artificially colored farm salmon side by side. You'll also notice this in the chicken and meat sections -- organic poultry and organic or grass-fed meat mixed in with a much larger selection of their conventionally raised counterparts.

Yestersday, on my weekly visit to the Hackensack warehouse store, I saw a woman put a large tray of farmed salmon in her cart, and I asked her if she knew it is artificially colored. She thought the farmed salmon at Costco might be different, but it isn't. I told her she could find wild Alaskan sockeye salmon fillets in the freezer case and I have found that steaming them yields a fish that would fool many people into thinking it is fresh.

She also had one of the store's rotisserie chickens, which also are raised conventionally. The one time I asked the employee tending the rotisserie, he couldn't tell me anything about the chickens, inlcuding the brand. My frugal friend Jay, who has tried almost every rotisserie chicken in North Jersey, says the antibiotic-free, vegetarian-fed bird from Whole Foods Market in Paramus gets the crown.

Yesterday, I saw Coleman-brand organic skinless and boneless thighs at Costco, but they were in pouches -- not one of those foam trays -- and when I picked them up, the feel of the formless meat was unpleasant and I didn't buy any.

The contradictions continue throughout the store. At Christmas,  I was all set to buy the first Costco ham raised without antibiotics or growth hormones, but when I looked at the label, it listed harmful preservatives used in curing. I would have bought an uncured ham. Most of the cold cuts offered also have sodium nitrates or nitrites as preservatives, though I have noticed expensive imported prosciutto without them.

Though they are pricier, wild fish and organic poultry taste better.This morning, I used part of a frozen wild salmon fillet I had steamed for dinner last night in my breakfast sandwich, stacking it with Costco's smoked wild salmon, herbicide-free tomato slices and organic lettuce. I also used Dijon mustard, though pesto or hummus would have tasted good, too, as would have a slice of Swiss or shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. (Sockeye salmon is shown).

A sockeye salmon.

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With the sandwich, I had some lemony, Hannah-brand taboule salad from Costco ($4.99 for 21 ounces), a relatively new item, and Arirang kimchi, an MSG-free brand made and sold in Englewood. Costco recently put out jars of kimchi, but unfortunately, they are made with monosodium glutamate, and it's not worth the couple of dollars I would save.