An ethnic-food run for Mexican, Peruvian and Syrian specialties

An order of Fish Tacos at Taqueria Los Gueros on Main Avenue in the city of Passaic, above. Below, store-made Spinach & Cheese Pies, Mini Vegetable Pies, Fig & Walnut Roll and more at Fattal's in Paterson.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

This past Saturday, we went on an ethnic-food run to the cities of Passaic and Paterson for Mexican, Peruvian and Syrian specialties.

See The Sasson Report for all the details.

Enjoy.

5 easy steps to a healthy fish dinner, cooking with Middle Eastern spices

A pan of Icelandic haddock with fresh spinach, eggplant slices, cherry tomatoes, pitted olives and other ingredients takes less than 30 minutes to prepare and cook. Complete the meal with a glass of wine and a big salad, below.

 

A 1-pound package of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix was $4.89 at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro. Small cucumbers were $2.50 a pound at ShopRite in Paramus.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I love the ease of preparing a fish medley -- a fresh, wild-caught fillet cut into serving pieces and combined with fresh spinach, pitted olives, tomato, shredded cheese and other ingredients.

You pop the pan into a preheated 400-degree oven and in 15 minutes or less, dinner is served.

The Fish Dock, owned and operated by Icelanders, is where I first encountered and purchased a medley, but because the seafood market is about 10 miles away, I usually make my own version at home.

See the photos below for how to assemble a medley: 

I lined a large pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil and added about a half-pound or more of fresh organic spinach ($3.99 for a 1-pound package at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro), drizzled the spinach with extra-virgin olive oil and added a little sea salt.

I added thin slices of a small eggplant from my garden and brushed them with extra-virgin olive oil.

 

Then, I added pieces from two skinless and boneless fillets of fresh wild-caught Icelandic Haddock ($8.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale), topping the fish with fresh lime juice, Aleppo red pepper, cut up cheery tomatoes from my garden, pitted black olives and a reduced-fat shredded cheese.

Torn basil and mint leaves from my garden were the last touch before I put the pan into a preheated 400-degree oven for up to 15 minutes. This time, I pulled the pan out after 12 minutes and the fish was cooked through. The 2.36-pounds of fish is more than enough for four people, at a cost of about $5.25 each.

The finished dish. The high heat toasted the herbs, but the haddock remained moist and flaked beautifully.

The next day, I enjoyed some of the leftovers over organic brown rice I had prepared in a rice cooker with organic chicken stock, organic diced tomatoes and organic beans.

A breakfast or dinner side dish of fresh spinach is a snap to prepare in a non-stick pan over medium or medium-high heat with a little olive and sesame oils, plus cheap sake or just a little water. Here, I added two Middle Eastern spices -- ground Aleppo red pepper and za'atar, a dried thyme mixture with salt, both of which I buy at Fattal's, a bakery, grocery store and butcher shop at 975-77 Main St. in Paterson.

Aleppo red pepper is a mildly spicy accent for omelets, fish, soups and whole organic eggs. Here, I served the eggs over boiled skin-on sweet potatoes and peeled garlic cloves mashed with extra-virgin olive oil and seasoned with a little salt and just about every spice I have, including ground cinnamon, curry powder, red-pepper flakes and black pepper.

Dashing out to Paterson for $1 bag of falafel, sardines and much more

A bag of five freshly fried falafel is $1 at Salah Edin Middle Eastern Restaurant, 995 Main St., Paterson. Fattal's is on the next block.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

An ideal visit to Paterson would combine sightseeing at the Great Falls, lunch in Aleppo Restaurant and shopping for Syrian bread, spices, yogurt drink and other food in the city's bustling Middle Eastern bazaar.

On Saturday, I wanted to replenish my supply of canned Moroccan sardines, bread and spices, but didn't want to fight the crowds at The Falls, now a national historical park.

So, I headed for Fattal's, where you can get Syrian bread, groceries, meat and poultry, and sit down and enjoy a freshly made falafel sandwich (975-977 Main St.).

In addition to one-stop shopping, Fattal's offers a large parking lot. 

Fattal's parking attendant allowed me to run over to Salah Edin on the next block to order two $1 bags of falafel, but said next time I should try Fattal's superior version.

A refrigerated case in Fattal's offers many kinds of cheese, including Middle Eastern-style string cheese, bottom shelf.

Fattal's offers three types of Al Shark-brand Moroccan sardines, but the ones in tomato sauce contain the lowest amount of sodium (99 cents a can). I use them to prepare organic whole-wheat pasta with sardines and anchovies in a red sauce.

Other shelves hold kits for making falafel, tabbouleh salad and other Middle Eastern specialties; fig preserves, extra-virgin olive oil, bulgur wheat and many other items.

A za'atar spice mixture has four ingredients: Dried thyme, sumac, sesame seeds and salt. I don't buy mixtures that include wheat as a filler.

Yogurt drink, meat pies, sardines

At Fattal's, I filled my shopping cart with a gallon of Merve Ayran Yogurt Drink ($10.29), 18 cans of Al-Shark Sardines in Tomato Sauce ($17.82); and a bag with a dozen medium-size Syrian pocket breads, which are preservative free ($1.50).

Six Fattal's Meat Pies and six Fattal's Spinach Pies were $9.49 each.

A bag of Toros Brown Bulgur Wheat was $1.49, and a box of Sadaf Tabouli Mix was $3.19.

A large bag of Salloum Bros. Za'atar from Lebanon that weighed nearly a pound was $5.59.

You can add za'atar to fried eggs, omelets and hummus; rub it into poultry or meat before cooking, or add olive oil to the thyme mixture and spread it on bread.

On returning home from Paterson, I stuffed two halves of a fresh Syrian bread with falafel, organic spring mix and hummus, and enjoyed them as a light lunch.

I added fresh lime juice, minced fresh garlic and Lebanese extra-virgin olive oil to the contents of a can I had in the cupboard, above and below, and garnished the dip with chopped fresh mint from the garden.

Libano Verde-brand Chickpea Dip from Lebanon is sold at Fattal's. Ingredients are chickpeas, sesame paste, salt and citric acid.

In Paterson, $1 bag of falafel is not as big of a bargain as it once was

The window of a Syrian wedding shop on Main Street and Gould Avenue in Paterson's South Paterson neighborhood, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The parking lot of Fattal's was far from full today, so I'm sure no one noticed me in my car when I ripped open a plastic bag, tore off a piece of whole-wheat pocket bread, wrapped it around a hot falafel ball and ate it.

At home, I ate two more still-warm falafel in the same thin, Lebanese-style bread with garlicky hummus I made the day before from a can I bought at Fattal's on a visit in April.

But when I emptied what was supposed to be two paper bags, each with seven falafel, into a storage container, I came up short.

It turns out Salah Edin, a Middle Eastern restaurant near Fattal's in Paterson, has reduced the $1 bag of falafel to five from seven.

That's still a good deal, and the ground-chickpea falafel are beautifully fried and greaseless.

At Fattal's, I bought two dozen cans of Al Shark-brand Moroccan Sardines in Tomato Sauce (99 cents each), and a package of Fattal's large homemade Spinach Pies (six for $8.99).

At Nouri's, 999 Main St., I bought a package of medium, Lebanese-style whole-wheat pocket bread for $1.25.

Salah Edin is at 995 Main St., and Fattal's is at 975-77 Main St.

At home, we keep cans of Moroccan Sardines handy to add to bottled pasta sauce when we prepare organic whole-wheat fusilli, shells, spaghetti and other shapes. The whole-wheat pastas are available at ShopRite, Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's for $1.25 to $1.49 a pound.

Nostalgic for the past

Visits to the bustling Middle Eastern bazaar known as South Paterson once were filled with memories of the family meals of Syrian food my mother prepared every night in Brooklyn.

Now, all I can think about are the horrors of the civil war in Syria, where the brutal Assad regime indiscriminately bombs civilians.

I stopped into Aleppo Restaurant on Main and Thomas streets, to say hello to the chef and owner, Mohamed K. Jello.

The restaurant is named for the northern Syrian city where my parents were born.

While I was waiting for Mohamed to return from shopping for the restaurant, I spoke to an employee who was enjoying a bowl of ful mudammas or fava beans in sauce for breakfast.

He said the media have drastically under-reported the number of people killed during the Syrian civil war.

Libano Verde Hommos Tahina from Lebanon allows you to make your own at home by adding lemon juice, garlic and extra-virgin olive oil. The can for 99 cents, right, once 15 ounces is now only 13 ounces.

To make hummus from a can, I used fresh lime juice, finely chopped fresh garlic and extra-virgin olive oil, all to taste; chopped fresh mint and Aleppo pepper.

In April, five of the seven falafel for $1 at Salah Edin Middle Eastern Restaurant were still warm when I got them home, above. Now, you get five falafel for $1.

Salah Edin in April. Today, I walked past before I realized the restaurant had removed its sign in anticipation of getting a new one on Tuesday.

Kings Whole Wheat Pita is baked in Paterson without preservatives, but I couldn't find the thin, Lebanese-style loaves today at Fattal's or Nouri's, two Syrian bakeries on Main Street that have competed for decades.

Fattal's is a combination Syrian bakery, butcher, grocer and small cafe, with its own parking lot, at 975-77 Main St. in Paterson. The store also sells gold bracelets and necklaces, and other jewelry.

From the roar of the Great Falls to a bustling Middle Eastern bazaar

Paterson's Great Falls, now part of a national park, is a major tourist attraction in a city that also boasts a bustling neighborhood of Middle Eastern and Turkish restaurants and bakeries.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If like me you hate traffic noise and all of those annoying motorcycles, I've found a roar both of us can live with.

On a visit to Paterson's Great Falls, you'll witness the power of Mother Nature and hear the glorious roar of falling water, which completely drowns out the human cacophony.

Then, you can drive a couple of miles to the city's South Paterson neighborhood for a snack of freshly prepared falafel, and to shop in Fattal's, where you'll find bread, pastries, meat, olives and olive oil, shelves of groceries and even gold bracelets.

Fattal's Spinach & Cheese Pies have no artificial ingredients, and they freeze beautifully.

Good food, free parking

Fattal's isn't the only Main Street store with free parking, but the lot is one of the biggest and on the weekends, a tall man acts as part guard, part traffic cop, directing you to a free space and helping you back out when it's time to leave.

After I visited the Great Falls on Saturday, I stopped at Fattal's for 18 cans of Al Shark-brand Moroccan Sardines in Tomato Sauce (99 cents each) and a tray of Spinach & Cheese Pies ($8.99).

I also picked up a half-gallon of Ayran Original Yogurt Drink, which has a lower sodium content than competing brands ($5.49).

On the next block, I went into Salah Edin Middle Eastern Restaurant and ordered $4 worth of falafel balls (7 for $1) and a small container of tahini sauce ($3).

I had to wait about 15 minutes while they were prepared, but when I got to my car, I ate two of the piping hot falafel dipped in tahini.

I could taste them all the way home.

Lunch spot

If you want more than a falafel snack, Aleppo Restaurant at Main and Thomas streets serves an array of Syrian specialties.

Three of my favorites are lentil soup; muhammara, a spicy dip made of sweet and hot red peppers, and the chopped Arabic Salad. 

Details

Great Falls National Historical Park, 72 McBride Ave., Paterson. National Park Service Welcome Center open 7 days.

Fattal's, 975-77 Main St., Paterson; 1-973-742-7125. Open 7 days, free parking lot.

Salah Edin Middle Eastern Restaurant, 995 Main St., Paterson; 1-973-225-0575. Open 7 days. Credit-card minimum is $10.

Aleppo Restaurant, 939 Main St., Paterson; 1-973-977-2224. Open 7 days. Call for hours during the holy month of Ramadan, which ends July 17. No alcohol allowed. 

Salad-bar spinach omelets, kimchi rice and fresh wild-caught fish

Fresh spinach from the cafe salad bar at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, where I volunteer one day a week, and reduced-fat Swiss Cheese from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack are terrific for stuffing egg-white omelets. Here, I served the omelet with sweet potatoes mashed with extra-virgin olive oil, cinnamon and other seasonings.

This morning, I used the last of the salad-bar spinach for another egg-white omelet, this one made with grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese from Costco Wholesale, za'atar thyme mixture and Aleppo red pepper, the last two from Fattal's, 975 Main St., Paterson.

An easy snack uses leftover organic brown rice, which I prepared in an electric cooker with organic diced tomatoes, and Arirang Kimchi, made and sold in a storefront at the H&Y Marketplace, 1 Remsen Place, Ridgefield.

My wife seasoned and pan-fried fresh whole croaker she bought on Sunday for $2.99 a pound at the H Mart, 28 Lafayette Ave., Englewood. Whole papaya, Kabocha squash, mustard greens and scallions also were on sale.

She also purchased two large wild-caught red snappers for $5.99 a pound at H Mart. She seasoned the fish and prepared it in a covered pot with fresh thyme, sweet peppers, onion and garlic. The light, flavorful sauce included extra-virgin olive oil, fresh lime juice and the liquid the fish gives up during cooking.

My wife cut up, seeded and boiled the Kabocha squash, including the dark-green skin, then mashed it with extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings. This morning, the mashed squash was a great bread substitute with two organic eggs from Costco with shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese and Aleppo red pepper.

--VICTOR E. SASSON

$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.

Two places you must visit on crazy Route 17 in Paramus

A delicious Harvest Salad at the Suburban Diner on Route 17 in Paramus is served with a small bowl of soup, below.

Manhattan Clam Chowder.

Editor's note: Traffic seems to be building as Thanksgiving approaches, but I managed to make four stops for lunch or food shopping on Friday and Saturday.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

New Jersey specializes in highways lined with entrances and exits to restaurants, stores and malls, ensuring drivers several heart-stopping moments on every trip.

But two good reasons to venture out on Route 17 in northern New Jersey are the Suburban Diner and Trader Joe's -- in that order.

On Friday, I met a friend at the diner for a heart-healthy lunch before we drove up to Trader Joe's, which, like every food store, shouldn't be visited on an empty stomach.

At the diner, I ordered a special of Harvest Salad, which came with a cup of soup ($11.95).

Fresh spinach was the foundation for roasted butternut squash, pear sections, crumbled blue cheese and dried cranberries, with, at my request, a creamy pear vinaigrette dressing on the side.

Refreshing and delicious, though the pear could have been riper.

Suburban Diner, 172 Route 17 north, Paramus; 1-201-261-2605.

I roasted Brussels Sprouts from Trader Joe's with extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt, adding grated Pecorino Romano Cheese, red-pepper flakes and black pepper after I removed the pan from the oven.

Shopping frenzy

We thought the diner was busy, but when we got to Trader Joe's, the crowd of shoppers seemed even bigger.

But I didn't have to wait to check out. 

According to my receipts, I drove to Trader Joe's, shopped and checked out in 16 minutes.

I bought a large stalk of Brussels Sprouts ($2.99); two 64-ounce bottles of low-sodium Garden Patch, which is 100% vegetable juice ($3.49 each); and two 2-pound bags of sweet potatoes ($1.69 each).

For the meat eaters in the family, I picked up two packages of antibiotic- and nitrite-free bacon ($5.49 each); uncured, antibiotic-free beef hot dogs and jumbo hot dogs ($4.99 each).

A 4-pack of Organic Apple Sauce with Cinnamon was $1.99.

Trader Joe's, 404 Route 17 north, Paramus; 1-201-265-9624.

A 3-liter tin of Corrado's Extra Virgin Olive Oil was $23.99 on Saturday -- $10 more than the same quantity of EVOO at Fattal's in Paterson.

Stocking up on EVOO

After hearing about the poor olive harvests in Spain and Italy, and possible higher prices for extra-virgin olive oil, I drove to Fattal's in Paterson on Saturday.

I picked up three 3-liter bottles of Al Defah Extra Virgin Olive Oil for $13.99 each, adding them to the two I had at home.

I also picked up Fattal's Mini Meat Pies ($8.99), and a package of crushed dried mint ($6.99 a pound).

The EVOO in the Al Defah bottles is said to be from Palestine, and I've been using it for months in salads and cooking.

After visiting Fatal's, I crossed the border into Clifton to shop at Corrado's, a big, ethnic supermarket that once was the low-price leader.

But the prices for most produce, imported whole-wheat pasta, dried cod from China and Canada, and extra-virgin olive oil were higher than at the other stores I patronize regularly.

The only real bargain I saw were bananas for 39 cents a pound.

I didn't buy anything, and I don't think that has ever happened before on my infrequent visits to Corrado's.

Fattal's, 975-79 Main St., Paterson; 1-973-742-7125. Open 7 days, parking lot.

Corrado's Family Affair, 1578 Main Ave., Clifton; 1-973-340-0628. Open 7 days, large parking lot.

Flavors from the Middle Eastern kitchen bring meals alive

Pomegranate seeds and non-fat Greek yogurt lend a Middle Eastern accent to organic Spanish brown rice with black beans, garlic cloves, organic diced tomatoes and saffron.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

This onetime bread lover couldn't get enough of loaves spread with a fragrant mixture of za'atar (Arabic for "thyme") and olive oil.

Fresh bread covered with za'atar -- dried thyme, sumac, salt and sesame seeds -- was terrific, but I also loved toasting it and hearing the mixture sizzle when it got hot.

Za'atar and yogurt, filled with diced cucumbers and dusted with dried mint, are flavors I recall fondly from the Syrian cooking I enjoyed growing up in Brooklyn.

I discovered Aleppo pepper -- a simple, mildly spicy crushed red pepper that adds color and flavor -- in the Syrian groceries and restaurants in Paterson's Middle Eastern bazaar. 

I continue to enjoy those flavors today.

Now, I use za'atar to season eggs, rice, fresh tomato slices and other food, relishing the sour sumac and crunchy sesame seeds.

In an omelet stuffed with smoked wild salmon, the sourness of the za'atar contrasts nicely with the slightly salty fish.

At dinner tonight, I tried to recall the flavors of my mother's mujaddara -- a rice-and-lentil dish served with yogurt, diced cucumbers and dried mint -- using thick Greek yogurt and hothouse cucumbers from Costco Wholesale, dried mint from Fattal's in Paterson and pomegranate seeds from ShopRite.

Aleppo pepper and za'atar thyme mixture can be added in the last few minutes of cooking an egg-white omelet stuffed with reduced-fat Swiss cheese or used liberally inside and outside the omelet.

I sprinkled thyme mixture over organic Spanish brown rice before I reheated it in the microwave, and used a thick layer, such as you'd find on za'atar bread, with two organic eggs fried sunny side up.

Aleppo pepper added color and flavor to fresh wild Atlantic cod when I poached the skinless fillets in Roasted Salsa Verde from Whole Foods Market, and organic diced tomatoes and fresh lime juice, both from Costco. The fish was $7.99 a pound at Costco.

Taking a break from eggs at breakfast, I plated the last piece of leftover cod with sweet potatoes and whole garlic cloves mashed with extra-virgin olive oil and seasoned with sea salt, cinnamon, curry powder and other seasonings.

Za'atar thyme mixture, Aleppo pepper, dried mint and many other spices are available at Fattal's, 975-77 Main St., Paterson; 1-973-742-7125.

Fattal's is open 7 days a week and has a large parking lot.