A big week for seafood

Image by malias via Flickr

The H Mart in Little Ferry wasn't crowded when I dropped in on Monday, but a woman was ahead of me at the fish counter and her appetite seemed insatiable.

She already had the Korean fish monger weigh one of the whole cod fish and slice it into pieces for soup or stew. Now, she was discussing whether to buy two more, each about 3 pounds and buried in ice. I left in frustration.

The fish counter was my last stop in the Korean supermarket. I had a bunch of collard greens and prepared tofu and other food in my cart. I saw whole fluke on ice, but the price sign was missing. Then, I was told it was $2.99 a pound.

Fluke is relatively flat fish that is prized for sashimi -- slices of raw fish without rice. I like to have it cut into four or five cross-section slices, including the head and tail, and cook it with diced tomatoes, olive oil and Italian seasoning or with sake, fish and soy sauces, and sesame oil.

Instead of fluke for dinner Monday night, I prepared frozen cod and mahi-mahi in pasta sauce and served it with spinach penne and a salad. 

Casting a net at Costco

On the way home from H Mart, I stopped at Costco in Hackensack, where the fish case had lots of wild-caught haddock fillets and a whole red snapper that weighed 3 to 4 pounds.


As I wandered around, I discovered the Seafood Road Show, which usually arrives on Fridays, was already set up.

Again, other customers were ahead of me and I just didn't feel like waiting, but I plan to return on Friday and buy king crab legs, dry scallops and farmed prawns or shrimp for our Christmas dinner.

Costco sells large lobster tails at the Seafood Road Show, but they are treated with a preservative and I've never tried them.

For Christmas dinner, my wife and son will be having Cuban-style pork ribs, which we'll pick up on Friday in West New York, along with rice cooked with black beans, yuca and other typical dishes.

I plan to serve them Costco prawns and crab legs as an appetizer, and the seafood, along with the scallops, will be my dinner. I'll also be able to have yuca in garlic sauce and rice with black beans.

Seven-fish dinner

I've heard some Italian families have seven fish or seafood dishes for Christmas dinner, but I've never been invited to what I'd consider the perfect meal.

Seafood Road Show at Costco in Hackensack will be open all this week at

80 S. River Street, Hackensack; 201-487-5471.

'Why does my broccoli rabe turn brown?'

Image by urbanfoodie33 via Flickr

I was looking over the produce selection at DePiero's Farm in Montvale on Wednesday afternoon when I saw a woman picking up a bunch of broccoli rabe (photo) -- the dark green, bitter, Italian variety many people prefer over the standard vegetable. 

I tapped her on the shoulder, then asked, "Why does my broccoli rabe turn brown?"  She answered immediately, "You cooked it too long." Ah-ha.

She described how she prepares it: A few minutes in boiling water, where it turns bright green, "to remove some of the bitterness." Then, she adds it to hot olive oil with chopped garlic and a little red pepper flakes, cooking it for well under 10 minutes, until it is tender but not limp.

Over at the eggplants bin, another woman complains her husband is "a pain in the neck," because he insists she prepare it Italian-style, with an egg wash and breading. I say, "Do you fry it? The eggplant soaks up so much oil. I grill slices on the stove with a little olive oil and salt."


"I don't fry it. I bake it." Voila.

I stopped at DiPiero's for a cup of coffee with a friend after we left a meeting in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y. The hilltop farm store is next to U.S. headquarters for Mercedes-Benz, where I once picked up new models to evaluate for my automobile road test column in The Record. 

I made sure I picked up four ears of bicolor Jersey corn for dinner, to accompany fried, wild-caught flounder from Costco in Hackensack and wilted, fresh spinach in garlic and oil from H Mart in Little Ferry. I steamed the corn, and it was so sweet, we ate it as is. 

I also found a large, stainless-steel pot with two steamer inserts at the Korean supermarket for $29.99. It will allow me to steam vegetables and frozen, wild-caught sockeye salmon in sake, soy sauce, sesame oil and lemon at the same time or prepare forty Korean dumplings at once.

DePiero's Farm, 300 W. Grand Ave., Montvale; 201-391-4576.