Tasting and cooking notes -- in pictures

One of my favorite breakfasts got healthier when I asked the Golden Grill, on Queen Anne Road in Teaneck, to grill or broil fresh whiting fillets, which are normally fried.

Frozen sea scallops from Costco Wholesale were a little tough and a few contained fine grit. I made them with organic diced tomatoes, white wine and lemon juice.

I made a faux Cuban sandwich for my son, above, using a crusty baguette from Balthazar Bakery in Englewood. I had only two of the four ingredients, roast pork and Swiss cheese, and no heated press. My son doesn't like mustard, so I used Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, and melted the cheese under the broiler, below.

I used pre-washed organic spring mix to garnish a sandwich of canned fish salad with sweet pepper, onion, garlic, apple, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and ground cumin.

A fluffy 10-inch frittata, above and below, was made with 7 organic whole eggs, smoked wild salmon, shredded cheese, low-fat organic milk, fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, and no-salt organic seasonings. I started it on top of the stove and finished it under the broiler, and served it with orgnaic brown rice and sweet plantains. Almost all of the ingredients came from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

At Whole Foods Market in Paramus, a briny Lobster and Corn Bisque is made without heavy cream. A small, 8-ounce cup is $3.74, including tax.

A 16-ounce cup of Organic Indian Chai, a spiced black tea, is $1.93 at Whole Foods.

Whole Foods' gorgeous antipasti will set you back $9.99 a pound. I'm happy with the assorted Italian olives with whole garlic for $3.99 a pound at Jerry's in Englewood.

A perennial favorite in our home is Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce (Extra Hot), with a black label, which we buy at Hackensack Market on Passaic Street.

An earlier version of canned-fish salad went great with Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, cucumber, tomato, kimchi and za'atar thyme mixture.

I cook ahead hot cereal, pasta with sardines and other dishes in larger than unusual quantities to cut the time it takes to put a meal on the table. Here, fresh blackberries and low-fat milk were added to reheated 10-grain cereal and rough-cut oatmeal with pignoli nuts, dried cherries, black chia seeds and goji berries.

Jerry's products sold in Little Ferry

Image via Wikipedia

Today, I visited Gourmet Marketplace, one of the small retailers that have moved into the former Valley Fair building in Little Ferry, next to H Mart, the Korean supermarket. I was surprised to find some of the products came from Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood.

You won't find as much variety here as you will in Englewood, you can't order a sandwich and there are no free samples of cheese, salami and so forth. But you will find some of Jerry's pasta sauces, balsamic vinegar and other items. I saw a sign in the rear, "meats and cheeses," but didn't go over to see what's available.

I bought two bottles of  Ponti balsamic vinegar "of Modena" (photo) for 99 cents each. The ingredients label didn't list caramel color, as others do. Each bottle is 16.9 ounces.

Gourmet Marketplace, Bergen Turnpike, 
near the Little Ferry Circle, Little Ferry;
closed Sundays