Home cooking: Pulling together great ingredients from my favorite stores

For a snack at home, I layered smoked wild Alaskan salmon, reduced-fat Swiss cheese, Dijon mustard and sliced California black figs on Swedish crispbread, topping them with fresh mint leaves from my garden.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Swedish Food Market at IKEA in Paramus stocks a lot of bottled herring with way too much salt and fruit drinks with too much added sugar.

But the simple Swedish crispbread is irresistible: 

These crunchy disks -- each about 3 inches across -- invite you to layer cheese, smoked salmon and fresh figs on them for a midday snack.

Or, you can top them with sliced cheese, organic greens and tuna salad dressed with Dijon mustard, lime juice and ground cumin.

IKEA sells two kinds -- Rye Crispbread and Multigrain Crispbread, both made in Finland -- in 8.8-ounce packages for $2.99 each.

I rely on Costco Wholesale in Teterboro for smoked wild Alaskan salmon ($14.89 per pound), reduced-fat sliced Jarlsberg Swiss Cheese (2 pounds for only $6.69 with an instant coupon last week), and Dijon mustard.

I picked up a pound of California Black Figs for $3.99 at Trader Joe's in Paramus, but had to refrigerate them to prevent spoilage.

I baked a pan of Fresh Wild Coho Salmon from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro with fresh spinach, organic diced tomatoes, pitted black olives, grated cheese, olive oil (on the spinach), fresh lime juice (on the fish) and fresh herbs from my garden.

I cut up the fillet, cooked the pieces skin-side down on a stove-top grill for 4 minutes, then placed them on the spinach. The pan spent another 7 minutes in a preheated 400-degree oven. The organic diced tomatoes were cooked separately with red wine and seasonings, and were added along with the chopped herbs when the pan was removed from the oven.

Fresh wild salmon

If the past is any guide, fresh wild salmon will be available at Costco in Teterboro for another month or so.

Last week, my wife found a Fresh Wild Coho Salmon Fillet instead of the sockeye we've been buying since June ($9.99 a pound).

Meanwhile, I went to the Costco Business Center in Hackensack for a 1-pound package of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix ($4.89), the world's best-tasting salad.

The price fluctuates, and earlier this year, Costco was selling it for only $4.29 a pound, compared to $6.99 in most supermarkets.

When buying the salad, select packages that have little or no condensation to avoid the greens rotting before their use-by date, which is printed on the front label.

No dinner is complete without a salad and a glass of red wine.

A salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix with cherry tomatoes from our garden and kernels shaved off an ear of sweet Jersey corn, dressed simply with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The Organic Spring Mix has a new label, but the triple-washed greens are as delicious as ever. Earthbound Farm added the words "grown without GMOs," "a blend of tender baby greens" and "a versatile classic" to new label. See the ingredients, below.

The Earthbound Farm label on the back or bottom of the package.

Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix can go straight from the container onto a plate or into a bowl. Here, I added cucumbers and our cherry tomatoes. Three large hothouse cucumbers from Costco Wholesale were $3.49.

I also like the Spring Mix from Olivia's Organics, but even on sale at H Mart in Little Ferry (5 ounces for $1.99), you'll pay more per ounce than at Costco for a 1-pound tub of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix.

With Kirkland Signature 100% Liquid Egg Whites from Costco, you can eat an omelet or frittata every day and not worry about cholesterol. Six 16-ounce cartons were $8.79.

At H Mart in Little Ferry on Sunday, Baby Mustard Greens, above, were on sale for 78 cents a pound; and Chinese Eggplant, below, were 99 cents a pound.

I grilled the eggplant slices on the stove top with spray oil and a little salt.

At ShopRite, my wife picked up a carton of Barilla Whole Grain Spaghetti made with 100% whole wheat, which I prepared with olive oil, fresh garlic, cherry tomatoes from our garden and homemade pesto. But the package was a couple of ounces shy of a pound and cost more than the 1-pound package of Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti, which ShopRite also sells ($1.29). The cooked organic spaghetti feels better in your mouth, too.

When you buy six bottles of wine with prices ending in "9" at Total Wine & More in River Edge, you get an additional 10% off. I purchased six bottles of Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Cabernet and Carmenere for an average of under $7 each, plus tax.

Details

For fresh wild salmon and fresh fish from Iceland, smoked wild Alaskan salmon, Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, fresh organic spinach, Dijon mustard and so many other great ingredients at great prices:

Costco Wholesale, 2 Teterboro Landing Drive, Teterboro; and Costco Wholesale Business Center, 80 S. River St., Hackensack.

For California Black Figs, organic sweet potatoes, organic whole wheat pasta; Green Plant, a 100% fruit and green food juice blend with no added sugar, and antibiotic- and preservative-free beef hot dogs and bacon:

Trader Joe's, 404 Route 17 north, Paramus.

For cans of pitted black olives, conventional sweet potatoes, grass-fed Australian beef, lactose-free milk and Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Pasta:

ShopRite, 224 Route 4 east at Forest Avenue, Paramus. 

For a large variety of Asian greens, fresh fruit, fresh whole fish for as little as $1.99 a pound and prepared Korean food:

H Mart, 260 Bergen Turnpike, Little Ferry; go for the low prices and ignore the shabby entrance and drab interior of this large supermarket.

For crispbread; frozen meatballs, including a vegetarian version; and other food from Scandinavia:

Swedish Food Market at IKEA, 100 IKEA Drive, Paramus. 

For inexpensive red wine:

Total Wine & More, 135 Kinderkamack Road, River Edge.

Jumbo New Jersey mug, salty herring, summer fruit, red wine and more

The Jumbo New Jersey Mug holds 24 ounces or a day's worth of coffee. Trenton, which is in a perpetual state of political gridlock, isn't listed on the side of the cup.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I went looking for a sugar bowl and came away with a bonus -- an unusually large mug with a lighthearted graphic of the Garden State on each side.

I found both at Bed Bath & Beyond, off Route 4 in Paramus, after a fruitless search for a sugar bowl at the nearby IKEA, a maze-like furniture store with a grocery section I tackle once a year, if then.

IKEA has a smaller collection of kitchenware than I remember from my last visit.

I did purchase a pair of thin, flexible IKEA cutting boards that you can carry to the stove and funnel sliced garlic or chopped onion directly into the pan ($1.99).

When I couldn't find a sugar bowl, I also bought three colorful metal canisters for storing flour, sugar and other dry ingredients ($4.99).

From IKEA's grocery section, I bought a box of Muesli, a cereal mix with dried berries and nuts ($4.99); Oat Biscuits and Organic Ginger Thins ($2.49 each), and a package of addictive Rye Crispbread ($2.99).

At Bed Bath & Beyond, the sugar bowl was $4.99 and the jumbo mug $5.99.

I stopped buying pickled herring at IKEA after reading the label and seeing the high sodium content. Five pieces of this herring in dill marinade has 1500 milligrams or 62% of the daily recommended intake of sodium.

IKEA's packaged sauces for fish, left, have the same high sodium content as the herring, and none of the cheeses offered are made from part-skim milk. Sparkling fruit drinks contain added sugar.

IKEA's restaurant offers a dinner entree for only $4 -- mashed potatoes, vegetables and antibiotic-free chicken, lower left, something you don't find in far more expensive places.

A pint of New Jersey blueberries was $1.99 and a box of 16 sweet Ataulfo Mangoes was on sale for $10.99 last weekend at H Mart, 260 Bergen Turnpike in Little Ferry, below. A 15-pound bag of Kokuho Yellow Label Rice, grown in California, was reduced to $9.99. 

Wild Gulf Shrimp from Whole Foods Market cooked in minutes after I heated up olive oil and sauteed plenty of sliced garlic until it was fragrant. First, we marinated the shrimp in fresh lime juice and seasonings. I served them with mashed Kabocha squash and a medley of cooked sweet peppers, red onion and fresh corn.

For four people, I bought 2.2 pounds of wild-caught shrimp (16 to 20 per pound). On Thursday, they were on sale for $14.99 a pound, and the employee behind the seafood counter at Whole Foods in Paramus deveined them for me while I went to pick up other items.

The wild shrimp in the dinner cost about $8.50 per person. They cook in minutes after you put them in hot oil. I turned them once. They are ready when they turn white and curl up. 

The Whole Foods in the Bergen Town Center also had a sale on antibiotic-free chicken drumsticks for 99 cents a pound, above. Four ears of local sweet bi-color corn were only $2.

Whole Foods has a smaller selection of inexpensive red wine and no bottles for $3.99, as before. Still, I found six bottles of sangiovese, shiraz, tempranillo, tinto and a cabernet-merlot blend for $5.99 or $6.99 each. You get an additional 10% discount when you buy six bottles at one time.

A 1-pound box of 365 Everyday Value Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti from Italy is $1.49 at Whole Foods. Here, I prepared the spaghetti with four cans of skinless-and-boneless sardines, a can of anchovies and a 40-ounce jar of Victoria Marinara Sauce, and served the pasta with sauteed fresh spinach. The canned fish and sauce were from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro.

Bright spots on the road to recovery

Image via Wikipedia


The good news is that my weight has dipped below 190 pounds (bathrobe off). But the bad news is  I still don't have my old appetite back and medication continues to affect my taste buds.


My other vital signs this morning were blood pressure, 117 over 71; heart rate, 75; oxygen saturation, 97%; and temperature, 96.6 degrees. I am 5 feet 9 inches.


I'm more or less following the diet I stuck to for about a year before my Sept. 16, 2011, open-heart surgery -- losing about 30 pounds -- but straying occasionally with a slice of pizza or toast with peanut butter, jelly, and thinly sliced cucumber as a reward for surviving.


This morning, I had an egg-white omelet filled with small, egg-like seaweed topping from Ikea and oozing with marinated fresh mozzarella cheese from Costco Wholesale.


On the side, I has two plumb tomatoes, sprinkled with za'atar thyme mixture from Fattal's Bakery, and mixed Italian olives from Jerry's Gourmet & More. I drank hot organic black tea (Newman's Own from Amazon.com). 


For dinner Monday night, I had leftovers from Sunday night: Fresh wild Alaskan coho salmon fillet from Costco, with lemon juice, chopped garden herbs and Aleppo red pepper (Fattal's); baked yams and a salad of organic spring mix, plus a glass of wine.


Recent breakfasts have included leftover imported whole-wheat spaghetti from Trader Joe's with codfish, onion and sweet peppers -- with an egg-white omelet oozing that fresh mozzarella.


Jerry's Gourmet and More, 410 S. Dean St., Englewood; 201-871-7108.

Shopping and tasting notes

Costco continues to be the source of great food, despite the frustrations of shopping there and dealing with the crowds at the Hackensack store near my home. The cash rebates with the Costco American Express card more than pay for my annual membership fee.

On Monday, I picked up Legal Seafoods Alaskan king crab and sweet corn chowder, two containers totaling 40 ounces for $9.99. Two pounds of the reddest strawberries I have ever seen were $6.99. And, of course, I couldn't leave without a one-pound tub of Earthbound Farm organic spring mix for $4.49, the lowest price around. It's prewashed, so you just grab some for sandwiches or a dinner salad.

At H Mart, the Korean supermarket on Bergen Turnpike in Little Ferry, I bought two fresh, wild-caught whole tilapia at $2.99 a pound. The store also sells farmed whole tilapia, but these fish were red (photo), not the dark green of the farmed variety. I poached them Tuesday night in cheap sake, soy and fish sauce, and sweet rice wine for about 20 minutes and served them with yellow rice and leftover canned black beans combined with canned diced tomato.

We had free-range shoulder lamb chops from Australia tonight with potato fritters -- or rosti -- I bought in IKEA, Paramus, and stored in the freezer. Produced in Poland, they made a fine, non-greasy substitute for potato latkes. All we needed was a salad of organic spring mix to complete the meal.

My own seafood festival

I enjoyed fish at every meal on Thursday and I plan to attend an all-you-can-eat crayfish party tonight at Ikea in Paramus. Seafood is often the wisest choice when eating out because there is usually so little information about the origin of poultry and meat on menus.

My breakfast at home Thursday was another fat sandwich of preservative-free smoked wild sockeye salmon from Costco ($13.99 a pound), with hummus, tomato, romaine lettuce and shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano. This morning, I had the same sandwich, adding homemade pesto and substituting fresh mozzarella.

I was in Morristown on Thursday afternoon and stopped at The Grand Cafe, an elegant place for lunch: moist, flaky baked cod atop garlic mashed potatoes and wild mushrooms, all floating in a broth made from fresh peas ($12.95). Delicious. I soaked up every bit of the broth with crusty rolls. This legendary fish, often salted, feeds many ethnic groups: Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Jamaicans and more.

Back in Hackensack, I visited one of my all-time favorites, Wondee's, for another great Thai dinner: steamed shrimp-and-pork dumplings and steamed whole red snapper, topped with minced red chilies and garlic and swimming in a reddish broth ($16.95). This dish positively glows.

I ate all this wonderful food on a day when the media reported a federal study of mercury pollution in fish taken from nearly 300 streams across the country, but I'm not worried because the wild-caught fish I ate contained little mercury and came from the ocean or in the salmon's case, a river. I looked at the Web site of the U.S. Geological Survey, which released the study, but couldn't find a list of the streams or fish. The link is below.

http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/081909.html