Cage-free eggs, organic strawberry spread and other big hits at Costco

Costco Wholesale in Teterboro now sells only cage-free whole eggs. On Thursday, Grade AA Cage-Free Large Eggs were $3.79 for two dozen, above, or $8.99 for five dozen, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If you live in New Jersey's Bergen County, two Costco Wholesale warehouses are better than one.

About a year ago, Costco opened a new, larger warehouse in Teterboro, and closed the old warehouse in Hackensack after 21 years.

But Costco breathed new life into the old Hackensack store, which reopened as a Business Center catering to restaurants, caterers and other small businesses last March. 

Now, my membership card gets me into both, and if I run out of spring water, juice, organic spring mix, eggs or milk, I don't have to go to the far busier warehouse in Teterboro.

Hackensack carries about 30 percent of the items found in the bigger warehouse, in the Teterboro Landing Shopping Center off of Route 46.

Still, prices differ slightly and the Business Center on South River Street has its own instant coupons that are good at different dates than in Teterboro.

For example, a 1-pound package of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix was $4.79 in Hackensack on Sept. 21, but only $4.59 in Teterboro on Thursday.

Another big difference is Hackensack's parking lot usually is only about one-third full, because small businesses can order online and have their purchases delivered by Costco.

The Teterboro warehouse also sells cage-free brown eggs, including Organic Large Grade AA Eggs (24 for $6.99).

Fresh Wild Atlantic Cod from Costco Wholesale with organic spinach, cherry tomatoes and grilled eggplant. I breaded the serving pieces in a mildly spicy mix from Pakistan called Lahori Fish, which includes red chili, onion, garlic, ginger, black cumin, green mango, clove, black pepper, cinnamon, carom seeds and tumeric.

Costco's skinless-and-boneless cod fillets are from Iceland ($7.99 a pound). See: 5 easy steps for preparing a Fish and Vegetable Medley

Fresh wild sockeye and coho salmon fillets apparently are no longer available at Costco, but I can still buy a 1-pound package of Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon, which is sliced and divided between two pouches ($14.89). 

Peeled cloves of Christopher Ranch Monviso Garlic from California are once again available at the Teterboro warehouse (3 pounds for $8.99). On previous trips, my wife bought a different brand of peeled garlic from Argentina or Spain. 

Kirkland Signature Roasted Seaweed Snack from South Korea is now available in an organic version for $8.79.

After a long absence, the 42-ounce jar of Kirkland Signature Organic Strawberry Spread is back on the shelf in Teterboro for $6.99, only $1 more than the same size of non-organic Strawberry Spread that was next to it.

Costco usually has the best price on 59-ounce containers of Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice, but starting on Sunday, ShopRite in Paramus has them on sale for $1.99 each. 

A 6-pack of Season Skinless and Boneless Sardines in Olive Oil are on sale in Teterboro through Oct. 23. These heart-healthy little fish from Morocco and marinara are two of the main components in one of my favorite dishes, organic whole wheat pasta with sardines.

Two 40-ounce jars of Victoria White Linen Marinara, which is free of added sugar, also is on sale through Oct. 23.

Wild sockeye salmon with organic diced tomatoes, garlic, fresh herbs

Fresh wild Copper River Sockeye Salmon from Alaska was $14.99 a pound at the Costco Wholesale in Teterboro on Thursday or $2 less per pound than the week before.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A rich reduction of organic diced tomatoes, sliced garlic and red wine is delicious over grilled wild sockeye salmon fillets.

You'll need a 10-inch non-stick pan to thicken the tomato mixture and a stove-top grill for the skin-on fillets, which cook through in about 7 minutes over a medium-high flame -- less if you like them on the rare side.

A 1.65-pound fillet from Costco Wholesale yielded six serving portions -- plenty of heart-healthy fish to serve four ($24.73).

First, I sauteed thinly sliced garlic in olive oil until it was fragrant, then added a 14.5-ounce can of Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes, a couple of ounces of red wine, the juice from one lime and seasonings, including red-pepper flakes and ground black pepper.

I brought that to a boil in a partially covered pan until the tomato juices and wine mostly evaporated, then grilled the salmon.

Once the fish was transferred to a platter, I added the garlicky tomato mixture and chopped herbs from my garden (mint, rosemary and basil).

If you have Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto in the refrigerator, a half teaspoon or more on top of the tomatoes would be a perfect accent.

Salmon, organic diced tomatoes, peeled garlic, pesto and seasonings are available from Costco Wholesale.

A 3-pound bag of peeled Christopher Ranch California Garlic was $7.39 at the Teterboro Costco.

My stove-top grill straddles two burners and easily accommodates six to nine pieces of salmon. I use spray oil and a medium-high flame and turn the fish in the last 2 minutes of cooking.

A platter of heart-healthy wild salmon, organic diced tomatoes and garlic.

Another use for Costco's peeled garlic is a 10-inch frittata with chopped garlic, black olives, grated cheese, fresh tomatoes and pesto, served here with sweet potatoes that were boiled with whole cloves, then mashed, using extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings, including cinnamon, curry powder, red-pepper flakes and black pepper.

Pour about 3 cups of liquid whites or whole eggs -- including plenty of chopped garlic, grated cheese and olives -- into a 10-inch pan over medium-high heat until the crust sets, then move the pan to the oven, where the top of the frittata will set and brown nicely under the broiler. Add Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto and chopped fresh herbs after you take the pan out of the oven.

You can prepare whole garlic cloves, organic diced tomatoes and organic brown rice in an electric cooker. The cloves will turn creamy.

On Friday, Baby Bok Choy was on sale for 88 cents a pound or half price at the H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave., in Englewood. I sauteed nearly 2 pounds with olive and sesame oils, sake and seasonings.

For a dinner salad, I enjoy Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix with hothouse tomatoes and cucumbers -- dressed in extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar -- over reheated organic brown rice.

Good and bad news at the Hackensack Costco Wholesale

Teterboro Landing will be an enormous new shopping center across the street from Teterboro Airport. A Costco Wholesale with a gas station and a Walmart will be the anchor stores. The Costco is scheduled to open in November 2015.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Costco Wholesale won't be closing its Hackensack warehouse store after a larger Costco with a gasoline station is completed about 3 miles away in Teterboro.

That's the good news. And the bad news?

Members who rely on the Hackensack store for wild-caught fish, organic and non-GMO groceries, clothing and other items no longer will be able to shop there.

The store, which opened in July 1994, is expected to be converted into a Costco business center exclusively for members who buy by the pallet, a store manager said on Monday.

The Teterboro Costco is scheduled to open in November 2015.

The walls of the Walmart store went up in about three weeks, a Teterboro police officer said.

The new Costco will go up in this area.

The main entrance to the shopping center will be via Teterboro Landing Drive, which is about a block from Route 46 and across the street from a busy business airport, below.

Costco v. Walmart

I plan to boycott the new Walmart in Teterboro -- because of its labor policies -- but will go into the store to see if it offers anything to compete with Costco Wholesale's Kirkland Signature store brand and its selection of organic, antibiotic-free and non-GMO food.

I appreciate a bargain as much as any shopper, but don't shop by price alone, which is the main appeal of Walmart.

I am not interested in the gas station the new Costco in Teterboro will have.

My Toyota Prius gets better mileage on Shell than it does on any other brand, including the low-price fuel sold at Wawa.

The Walmart in Teterboro will be 160,000 square feet and the Costco will be 156,000 square feet, compared to 122,000 square feet in Hackensack, according to press reports.

There should be enough room in Teterboro for a wine department offering Costco's Kirkland Signature label, and for wheel alignment, which is missing at the Hackensack Costco tire store. 

Two new items at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, above and below.

A large bottle of cabbage kimchi is a good value, but the label lists "beef bone extract" as one of the ingredients, below.

Missing items

Will a bigger Costco in Teterboro mean the store will not run out of items as much as the Hackensack Costco does?

In April 2013, I bought a 164-foot roll of Kirkland Signature Parchment Paper for $5.99, and when it finished, I could never find it again in Hackensack.

The "genuine vegetable parchment" eliminated the need to use aluminum foil when roasting fish, meat, poultry or salt-free almonds in the oven.

On Monday, I couldn't find any salted fish in the Hackensack warehouse store -- not the Canadian cod we had been buying or the Alaskan pollock we used as a substitute.

I also came up empty when I asked for a 3-pound bag of peeled garlic from the Christopher Ranch in California.

A manager said the store had run out of the refrigerated item, and that there may be a shortage.

I e-mailed the company, but haven't heard anything back, which is typical of Christopher Ranch.

   

Teaneck Farmers' Market, sweet potatoes with garlic and more

On my first visit to the Teaneck Farmers' Market this summer, I bought fruit and lettuce from Sunden's Stone Pointe Farm in Old Tappan.

Editor's note: I won't make a special trip to a farmers' market to shop for pricey fruits and vegetables, but will stop at one if I happen to be passing by. Today, I also discuss garlic mashed sweet potatoes, and how I've come to rely on Costco Wholesale's pure egg whites to make a quick open-face omelet. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

New Jersey farmers' markets are terrific, but their higher prices discourage me from making a special trip to one.

When I lived in Englewood, I loved the downtown farmers' market, and even Hackensack had one for the first couple of years I lived here.

Closter's market is one of the bigger and better ones, but I've been there only two or three times on Sundays, when I've driven up for a haircut at a Korean barber shop.

Now, the closest market to me is in Teaneck. Today, I stopped in on the way home from doing an errand in town.

Two farms set up stands at Garrison Avenue and Beverly Road in Teaneck on Thursdays, and Sunden's Stone Pointe Farm from Old Tappan seems to have better produce.

Two ears for $1

You know I haven't been to a farmers' market in years when I tell you I was shocked that $1 now buys only two ears of sweet Jersey corn.

Sunden's cantaloupes were much bigger than the other vendor's, and they were $4 each, compared to $4 each or two for $7.

I also picked up beautiful Jersey peaches with the fuzz still on them for $1.99 a pound, and big heads of romaine and red-leaf lettuce for $1.99 each.

One good thing about a farmers' market is that produce generally looks better and is bigger than what you find in a ShopRite or other supermarket.

More signs needed

One disadvantage is a lack of signs. Most items I saw at around 10:30 this morning were unlabeled -- no prices and nothing on where they were grown.

After I wrote this, I got a call informing me the hours of the market are noon to 6 p.m., but vendors will sell to you before the official opening.

I only want Jersey produce when I go to a farmers' market, yet I saw boxes of pineapples, bananas and other fruit that clearly aren't from the Garden State.

And all that other stuff they sell -- Amish pies, fresh mozzarella, empanadas and whatever -- why bother?

This year, the market's last day will be Oct. 30.

Don't spare peeled California garlic from Costco Wholesale when making mashed sweet potatoes, a terrific substitute for a bagel or bread at breakfast, below.

A simple, open-face omelet with a slice of reduced-fat Swiss cheese takes only minutes when you use Kirkland Signature Egg Whites from Costco Wholesale.

Sweet potatoes and garlic

I stopped at the Paramus ShopRite looking for sweet potatoes on Tuesday, and saw only loose yams, which are starchier and probably have more calories.

In the week since my last visit, some produce department fixtures were moved.

Then, on a low shelf, I saw net bags of Southern's 10 in 1 Sweet Potatoes, a reference to 10 ways they can be prepared as shown on the label (3 pounds for $2.99).

They are triple washed, and all about the same size.

When I opened the bag the next day, one of the sweet potatoes was rotten and inedible, but I cut up the rest -- skin and all -- and boiled them with fistfuls of peeled Christopher Ranch Monviso Garlic from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

They take about 45 minutes to soften. 

After I drained them and returned them to the pot, I added liberal amounts of extra-virgin olive oil, a little salt and just about any other seasoning I had around:

Black pepper, red-pepper flakes, cinnamon, dried onion and no-salt seasoning.

Then, I mashed and served them. There were plenty of leftovers.

An egg-white omelet with sliced reduced-fat cheese, Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon from Costco Wholesale and Aleppo pepper.

An egg white-smoked wild salmon omelet with leftover organic whole wheat spaghetti in bottled pasta sauce with added anchovies, sardines, red wine and organic diced tomatoes, below.

My wife used more peeled garlic from Costco when she made escoveitched fish on Wednesday, frying fresh whole porgy she bought at H Mart in Englewood for $2.49 a pound. Onions, sweet pepper, garlic and whole peppercorns are stewed separately in vinegar, then spooned over the plated fish.

Teaneck Farmers' Market.

With kitchen-sink whole wheat pasta, almost anything goes

Organic whole wheat pasta shells from Whole Foods Market in Paramus are perfect for catching such ingredients as salted cod fish, chopped garlic, fresh baby spinach and organic diced tomatoes.

A serving of kitchen-sink pasta dusted with bread crumbs. Most of the ingredients are available at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss a pasta dish that can include as many or as few ingredients as you have on hand; shopping at Costco Wholesale and ShopRite, and waiting for the first fillets of fresh Alaskan wild salmon.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With kitchen-sink pasta, almost anything goes:

Cook lots of chopped garlic in oil until fragrant, then add three cups of organic chicken stock and Italian white wine; and a can of rinsed anchovies, and bring to a boil to reduce and thicken.

Next, add big flakes of salted cod fish that was boiled in water and drained three times; a can of organic diced tomatoes with juice, and capers.

A full pound of imported organic whole wheat shells should be cooked in more water until al dente, drained and then added to the sauce along with as much as a half-pound of organic baby spinach.

If you have a large colander, put the fresh spinach in it, then pour the hot water and pasta over it, blanching the leaves.

Transfer everything to the pot with the sauce, and mix well.

Serve with grated cheese and bread crumbs on the side.

  

A couple of handfuls of Christopher Ranch peeled garlic from Costco Wholesale goes into the dish, made with a 1-pound box of made-in-Italy 365 Everyday Value Organic Whole Wheat Shells, which are $1.39 at Whole Foods Market.

Costco cod, berries

I went into Costco Wholesale in Hackenack on Wednesday, hoping the first fresh, wild Alaskan sockeye salmon fillets had arrived, but took home a consolation prize, Atlantic Cod.

Fresh Atlantic Cod Fillets are $7.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. I cooked them in about 10 minutes in two kinds of bottled Mexican salsa that I brought to a boil, and I served the wild-caught fish with a baked sweet potato, also from Costco.

On Wednesday, the Hackensack Costco was selling 32-ounce containers of Georgia blueberries for $6.99 next to 18-ounce containers of the same blueberries for $5.99.

ShopRite celery

Today, I picked up a Pacific-brand Celery Stalk at ShopRite in Paramus for $1.49, but in handling the plastic bags noticed some weighed more than others.

The one I bought weighed about a quarter-pound more than others on the shelf.

ShopRite also was selling 16-ounce cartons of 100% liquid egg whites for $3.29 each (see photo below), compared to six 16-ounce cartons of pure egg whites from Costco for only $8.79.

Favorites: Sweet potatoes and Simply Vietnamese

Boiled slices of sweet potato are the main ingredient in this frittata, which is made with whole eggs and egg whites, sun-dried tomatoes, sliced cheese and prepared pesto. Most ingredients are from Costco Wholesale.

Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto from Costco is spooned on after the frittata is finished under the broiler, above, and removed from the oven.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

With Easter in mind, Costco Wholesale in Hackensack has brought back bags of sweet potatoes, which are great baked, mashed or boiled for use in frittatas.

Late last year, Market Fresh-brand sweet potatoes were available in 10-pound bags, but this month, the bags hold only 6.5 pounds ($5.99).

I usually bake a half-dozen of the smallest, reserving the bigger potatoes for slicing, boiling and using in frittatas; or for boiling with peeled California garlic and mashing with extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings.

The sweet potatoes are often bruised and don't hold up well at room temperature.  After a day or two, I refrigerate them.

Costco usually offers them around holidays.

Trident Seafoods The Ultimate Fish Stick from Costco, above, served with leftover whole-wheat pasta shells. Chopped Christopher Ranch peeled garlic, fresh tomatoes, celery, scallions, canned sardines, canned anchovies (drained and rinsed), chicken stock and red wine went into the sauce.

The organic whole wheat shells from Italy are $1.39 a pound at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

Same sticks, lower price

Trident Seafoods' fish sticks, made with wild Alaskan Pollock, have a new panko breading.

A 4-pound bag was on sale last week at Costco Wholesale for $8.99 after $3 off.

Trident says the sticks are 65% fish, and made from fillets of pollock, a cousin of the cod.

The bag my wife brought home last week contains 60 fish sticks, as did the 4-pound bag we purchased from Costco in 2011, when the price was $12.99.

If you follow the cooking instructions for a conventional oven, the fish sticks come out crunchy on the outside.

House Noodle Soup with Ribs ($12.50) at Simply Vietnamese, a BYO with free street parking in downtown Tenafly.

The restaurant's Summer Rolls with Shrimp are stuffed with shredded vegetables and translucent noodles, and served with a small side salad and a vibrant peanut sauce ($8.50).

Simply Vietnamese

We love Asian restaurant for their abundance of seafood, tofu and vegetables, and one of our favorites is Simply Vietnamese, the only reason to dine out in downtown Tenafly.

We stopped in late Saturday afternoon during a rainstorm, and were told we could sit anywhere.

The meat eaters in the family ordered their favorite bowl of noodle soup -- each one a meal in itself -- and I tried something new, Crispy Tofu in a spicy sauce with a side of brown rice.

We also shared a favorite appetizer, Summer Rolls with Shrimp.

K.T. Tran,  the chef owner, came out of the kitchen to say hello, and we spoke to Peter the waiter about his hybrid car.

Another longtime waiter, Joe, was off.

Crispy Tofu in a highly spicy sauce is the perfect entree for non-meat eaters ($15.95). I asked for brown rice ($2). It's also available with a garlic sauce.

Pho noodle soup is the specialty of Simply Vietnamese, and the anise-flavored broth is available with seafood, beef, pork, chicken or tofu and vegetables. The Beef Combo, above, is $14, and a meal in itself.

Crispy shrimp chips with a spicy dipping sauce are complimentary.

Simply Vietnamese, 1 Highwood Ave., Tenafly; 201-568-7770. BYO, free street parking.

Web site: Great Vietnamese food, service