Wild Salmon with Ripe Peaches and Tomatoes

Homemade wild Alaskan sockeye salmon with ripe peaches and tomatoes. I roasted the fish on parchment paper in a 375-degree oven for about 10 minutes.

Other ingredients are fresh oregano from the garden, fresh lime juice, ground Aleppo pepper and ground cinnamon. Everything except the Aleppo pepper and oregano is available at Costco Wholesale.

I had to wait a few days for the peaches to ripen on my kitchen counter before buying a fillet of wild sockeye salmon from the Copper River in Alaska at Costco Wholesale ($13.99 a pound).

I also had reserved a few ripe Sunset-brand beefsteaks to prepare Wild Salmon with Ripe Peaches and Tomatoes, but decided to try it without the salty capers I used last year.

My teenage son suggested I try cinnamon on the peaches, in addition to the lime juice and spicy ground Aleppo pepper I use for seasoning the fish.

I cut the salmon fillet into serving pieces and placed them on parchment paper in a pan, adding the peach segments and sliced tomatoes between the pieces.

The peaches and tomatoes heated through in the 10 minutes I roasted the fish in a 375-degree oven, and the sweet fruit tastes great when eaten with the rich salmon.

Next time, I'll use capers and more cinnamon, and season everything with the sweet-hot powder.

I made a 10-inch frittata with smoked wild salmon, tomato, pesto, and reduced-fat milk and cheeses, using two whole organic eggs and the new Kirkland Signature Egg Whites, a clear, watery liquid that will take some getting used to. All the ingredients are available at Costco.

The watery egg whites don't give a frittata the body of the item it replaces, Kirkland Signature Real Egg Product, which was thickened with food gums and colored yellow. More whole eggs may be the solution.



Good and bad

I made my first Saturday morning frittata with the new Kirkland Signature Egg Whites, and may have to use more whole eggs for body.

The new product is 100% liquid egg whites -- clear and watery -- and doesn't have any of the thickening agents, spices or color in Costco Wholesale's old Real Egg Product.

I used only 2 whole organic eggs and may have to up that to 4 in the future.

The frittata came out fluffy, but a little watery.

Leftover frittata and wild salmon made for a filling breakfast.

Another Breakfast of Champions: Wild salmon with leftover collard greens.

A couple of pounds of green-leaf and red-leaf lettuce are the first produce from my garden. They came from plants we purchased at H Mart, the Korean supermarket chain. 

AARP lists good and not-so-good foods

A Whole Foods Market shopper, right, sampling crispy, wild-caught flounder.

Editor's note: Today, I report on AARP's "New American Diet," and try some premium free samples at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

The editors of AARP The Magazine can't resist exaggerating how much weight you'll lose or money you'll save, if you just follow their advice.

When it comes to food safety and nutrition, I've found Consumer Reports magazine and its newsletter, On Health, far more reliable.

Now, the magazine for the 50-plus set is heralding "The New American Diet" from Dr. John Whyte.

In the December 2012/January 2013 edition of the magazine, a double-page photo illustration of fruits, vegetables and fish promises:

"Groundbreaking research shows how the right foods can fight disease. Here's how to lose weight and live longer."

I found a list of good foods and not-so-good foods on Page 41:

Eat this: figs, brown rice, oil and vinegar, sweet potatoes, whole-wheat bread, unbuttered popcorn, whole-wheat pretzels, grilled or roasted chicken, piece of dark chocolate, handful of blueberries, whole-wheat pasta, high-fiber cereal, broiled salmon, steel-cut oats, nuts or seeds, Greek yogurt, olive oil.

Avoid this: cookies; white bread, rice, potatoes or pasta; chips or crackers; fried chicken, sugary cereal, ice cream, butter, prepared salad dressing, fish sticks and instant oatmeal.

Low-fat dairy foods also are recommended.

There is no explanation why pricey Greek yogurt is preferable to other yogurt with active cultures. Or why cream isn't on the no-no list.

But the list of the right foods to eat seems to be on the mark.

On Page 43, here are some of the tips on "How to lose weight fast."

Drink water (not diet soda), eat breakfast every day, sleep at least 7 hours a night, eat smaller meals more often, eat fish two or three times weekly (and red meat at most once), spend at least 30 minutes on a meal, count steps (at least 10,000 per day), incorporate heart-healthy nuts and olive oil into your meals; eat plenty of vegetables and fruit, especially berries."

From my own experience, I would add: ditch bread and pizza. 
 
Super samples

At the Whole Foods Market in Paramus today, I had some terrific free samples: 

Breaded and fried wild-caught flounder; an avocado-and-cucumber sushi roll; and sauteed collard greens, sweet corn and broccoli from the Hudson Valley of New York State.

At the butcher counter, where ground-beef sliders were on sale for $4.99 a pound, an employee grilled some and offered them to other customers.

Whole Foods usually offers free samples only on the weekends.

I picked up organic Fuji apples on sale for $1.99 a pound, and about 5 pounds of frozen organic chicken necks and feet for $2.99 and $3.99 a pound, respectively.

My wife makes soup with the chicken parts, which she usually buys at ShopRite.

Whole Foods' parts are naturally raised, but ShopRite's chicken feet and necks aren't.
   

Dining in never looked so good

A Korean seafood pancake goes well with tofu and a homemade frittata.

We baked flounder coated in breadcrumbs and chili spices, and added sweet plantains.

We fried whole whiting and served it with collard greens, sweet potato and a Korean roll from H Mart. The seafood pancake (top) was left over from a meal out.

We boiled whole-wheat penne, front, and finished it in bottled pasta sauce with anchovies,  red-pepper flakes, powdered garlic and dried Italian herbs.

The next day, the penne went beautifully with eggs sunny side up and a drizzle of olive oil. I especially like breaking the yolks over the pasta and tomato sauce.

More hassles at H Mart

Image by wallyg via Flickr

At Super H Mart in Ridgefield.

With my H Mart coupons expiring in two days, I wanted to get over to the Korean supermarket to pick up two 1-liter bottles of 100% pomegranate juice for $4 (normally $7.98).


That H Mart coupon offers an unusually good discount -- about 50%. For example, a second unused coupon offered 10% off "oriental sweet potatoes" that sell for 99 cents a pound, reducing the price to 90 cents a pound.


So, this morning, after a workout in the cardiac-rehab unit of Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, I stopped first at ShopRite in Englewood before driving a short distance to H Mart.


I picked up what I thought was a sweet potato and brought it over to a cashier with my coupon, and asked her if this was the right item. She said yes, so I bagged four or five small ones.


At checkout with a different cashier, the coupon was rejected -- I had the wrong potatoes -- only one of the problems I encountered today.


I found the pomegranate juice down one of the aisles, and put two bottles, the limit, in my cart. I found some fresh collard greens for 99 cents a pound and two small heads of red-leaf lettuce for 99 cents.


Another coupon offered 10% off green seedless grapes, but they were priced at $1.79 a pound, compared to 99 cents a pound at ShopRite, where I bought red grapes for the lower price. No sale.


Also on sale with a coupon was a table-top electric hot pot for $34.99, compared to the regular price of $49.99, but I'm not sure I would use it more than once or twice. 


I did want to use a coupon for live blue crabs that cut the price of $1.99 to 99 cents, but in the fish department, I found an empty bin. An employee brought out maybe 15 crabs, saying more were due to be delivered around noon.


I was trying to call my wife to find out if she wanted crabs for dinner, when a woman walked over and said she had called about blue crabs, and wanted to buy the ones the man had just put out.


I gave up, and handed her my coupon for the crabs.


The cashier rang up the pomegranate juice for $3.99 each, but scanned the coupon once for $1.99. I pointed out the coupon said 2 for $4.


She took off 20 cents for my reusable bag, the most of any supermarket in North Jersey. Then, I remembered I had a $1.06 credit for spoiled fruit I returned to the store a couple of weeks ago.


She said the checkout "machine" was new and couldn't process the credit. I again asked for the proper discount on the pomegranate juice, and told two people waiting on line behind me to be patient.


Her solution was to give me a second $1.99 discount for the juice, then discount an additional $1.99 for my store credit, while taking back the 20 cents for the reusable bag.


My balance was $4.99.


This is the same H Mart that resisted giving me credit for a 12-inch stainless-steel steamer that rusted after less than a year of use. A cashier lectured me about drying it completely before I put it away.


H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave., Englewood; 
201-871-8822. Food court is closed.


Applegate Farms


Organic and naturally raised cold cuts are sold under the Applegate Farms label. In addition to being raised without antibiotics and growth hormones, the meats are uncured and free of preservatives.


The ShopRite in Englewood is one of the few to carry Applegate Farms, but rarely puts the sliced ham, beef, turkey and other meat on sale.


Today, I looked over the price labels and saw some were selling for the equivalent of about $18 a pound and others for about $13.70 a pound.


Trader Joe's has Applegate Farms cold cuts at much better prices, but is not as convenient. 


Related articles

• H Mart coupons prove to be no big deal (doyoureallyknowwhatyoureeating.blogspot.com)
• Lousy fruit is just waiting for you (doyoureallyknowwhatyoureeating.blogspot.com)
• A diet guaranteed to take off weight (doyoureallyknowwhatyoureeating.blogspot.com)

How far would you drive for $1.99 clementines?

Image via Wikipedia

Newark's Ironbound section got the name from the surrounding railroad tracks.

I blinked a couple of times and made sure the $1.99 sign was for the 5 pounds of clementines from Spain piled up this afternoon at the entrance to the produce department of A. Seabra Foods, a Portuguese supermarket in Newark's Ironbound neighborhood.

The lowest price I've seen previously was $4.99. I grabbed two of the small crates and went looking for other bargains.

I found Jona Gold apples at 89 cents a pound and collard greens for $1.29 a pound. Mineola tangelos were four for $1.99 or about $1 a pound, compared to $2.49 a pound at Whole Foods Market (those may have been organic).

I looked over the fresh, wild-caught fish -- from sardines to Chilean sea bass -- and was tugged by the strong smell from all the dried codfish piled up in a corner.

When I drew near, I also could smell the blood sausage piled high on the meat counter. 

I bought four codfish fritters in the prepared-food section, as well as two shrimp fritters, at 99 cents each. (After tasting them, I'd stick with the cod fritters next time.)

Image via Wikipedia

The store carries other Spanish products, including small wheels of goat-milk's cheese called Rocinante from Toledo at $11.99 a pound. 

I was in Newark for a court hearing today, and couldn't leave without visiting the Ironbound, the busy Spanish-Portuguese-Brazilian neighborhood filled with restaurants and markets.

A. Seabra Foods is one of the few stores with its own parking lot, a good thing because street parking was impossible to find before noon, when alternate-side rules were lifted.   

It's also the first supermarket I've seen with small shopping carts for children and small plastic shopping baskets with long handles that you pull behind you like luggage.

A. Seabra Foods, 260 Lafayette St., Newark; 973-589-8606.

Our half-turkey Thanksgiving

Faced with a 13-pound heritage turkey and the inevitable leftovers of mostly white meat (not our favorite), I've decided to cut our fresh bird in half and roast it with Middle Eastern spices, sweet white potatoes and yams, and dried apricots. The other half will go into the freezer. Next year, we'll invite relatives or friends or go back to preparing only turkey drumsticks, thighs and wings from Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff.

I got into this mess because I wanted to try one of those sleek turkey breeds that were around for hundreds of years before the industrial white broad-breasted turkey was developed and pumped full of antibiotics and butter and who knows what else. When I was growing up in Brooklyn, my Sephardic Jewish mother would roast a turkey for Thanksgiving, but always prepare side dishes of  white rice, sour sauce with kibbe, stuffed grape leaves and other specialties.

Here is the rest of this afternoon's menu in Hackensack:


Sausage-apple stuffing and cranberry relish form Abma's Farm
Quick collard greens with garlic
Pumpkin pie from Mazur's Bakery in Lyndhurst
Spanish fig cake served with Manchego cheese and almonds
New beuajolais wine

Happy holiday to all.

What's in your freezer?

We have a side-by-side refrigerator-freezer and the freezer side is stuffed, to the point where we "lose" food that gets shoved to the back of  shelves or bottom of drawers.

I did a quick inventory yesterday and found a package of guacamole from 2005, presumably from a multi-pack I bought at Costco. I am going to serve it tonight with Trader Joe's chipotle salsa, shoulder lamb cops from Australia, collard greens and potato salad with extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, cumin and allspice (photo above).

This is what else I found: uncured all-beef hot dogs and bacon from Tader Joe's, spinach-cheese ravioli, lobster bisque and wild Alaskan sockeye salmon, all from Costco; coarse, red Aleppo pepper, cumin, spinach pies, meat pies and spicy lamb sausage, all from Fattal's Bakery in Paterson; potato fritters and frozen pancakes from IKEA; three or four kinds of Korean dumplings, including meat-less, from Best Dumpling and H Mart, both in Englewood; pizza and focaccia from Jerry's in Englewood, Readington Farms' antibiotic-free whole broiler and chicken parts from Shop-Rite, some Turkish borek from Taskin Bakery in Paterson, and those Australian lamb chops, from Stop & Shop.

We have a house guest arriving tomorrow and plan to serve her some of these freezer "treasures."

 See next post: "A quick bread salad for breakfast."

Shopping notes

In one trip to Englewood today, I shopped at three of my favorite places for food -- H Mart, Balthazar Bakery and Jerry's Gourmet, where I sampled cheese and wine.

H Mart was almost empty, because the street was blocked by police for Veterans Day. I looked over the blue crabs, large Chilean sea bass fillets and fresh fish, then bought a Korean roll made with rice, vegetables and crab (not sure if it is artificial) and wrapped in seaweed ($4.99). I've sometimes heard this called finger maki. I also picked up plum tomatoes, a head of escarole and fresh collard greens. (25 Lafayette Ave., 201-871-8822.)

At Balthazar Bakery, I bought a quarter of the signature pain de siegle (sliced), a large, round, sourdough rye bread with a "B" stamped in the crust ($3.75 for a quarter). I looked longingly at the wonderful fruit tarts and other pastries, but bought none. (214 S. Dean St., 201-503-9717.)

At Jerry's, an employee was pouring Portuguese and Italian wines to go with the free cheese samples, and I tried them. I had hoped to find three complete dinners with wild fish, such as the Chilean sea bass I had recently, but had to settle for farmed salmon and farmed tilapia. The restaurant-quality dinners are only $6.99.

In the back of the store, there were a couple of cases of imported Pomi marinara sauce, from fresh tomatoes, in aseptic packages that don't need to be refrigerated. At two 26.45-ounce packages for $3.99, they were a good deal. Each would be more than enough for a half-pound of pasta. (410 S. Dean St., 201- 871-7108.)