At our holiday feast, we throw in the towel a couple of fish short of mark

TODAY'S FIRST FISH: Lobster Bisque from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro with a pinch of Aleppo red pepper.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After I gave up meat and poultry, the Italian-American Feast of the Seven Fishes has always been my idea of a great celebratory meal.

OK. So I took a little liberty, serving the feast on Christmas Day instead of Christmas Eve.

And both me and my son just didn't have room for the Sixth and Seventh Fish -- organic whole-wheat pasta with sardines and anchovies.

And if purists insist that I shouldn't have had lobster twice, I offer up the egg-white omelet I had for breakfast today -- stuffed with wild Alaskan smoked sockeye salmon and reduced-fat Swiss cheese.

SECOND AND THIRD FISH: Salads of fresh-cooked live lobster and canned wild Alaskan pink salmon, both dressed with fresh lime juice, Dijon mustard and seasonings. 

$8.99 A POUND AT SHOPRITE IN PARAMUS: I boiled three live lobsters weighing a total of 3.95 pounds for 12 minutes, and used the tender claw, knuckle and tail meat to make the lobster salads.

FOURTH FISH: A Maryland-style jumbo lump crab cake, with a spoonful of basil pesto, both from Costco.

TRADER JOE'S STUFFED LOBSTER HALF: We had only one frozen crab cake left so I served my son a frozen item from Trader Joe's in Paramus, a shell stuffed with lobster, crab and langostino.

FIFTH FISH: Live Prince Edward Island Mussels, also from the Paramus ShopRite, cooked quickly in a covered pot with chicken broth, sesame oil, sake, fresh tomatoes, and chopped garlic, sweet pepper, celery and scallion.

SIXTH AND SEVENTH FISH: Our final course in today's Feast of the Seven Fishes was supposed to be leftover organic whole wheat pasta spirals (ShopRite) with Moroccan sardines (Fattal's in Paterson) and fresh spinach, dressed in Trader Joe's Puttanesca Sauce, which is made with anchovy paste. This is a portion I had on Friday night.

Whenever you go food shopping, keep in mind GMOs are a big no-no

Look for this seal on packaging, if you want to avoid GMOs --genetically modified organisms -- in organic and non-organic food.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Millions of words have been written about genetically modified organisms in food, but many consumers still are in the dark about the dangers GMOs pose to them and the environment.

That's why it's important to buy organic or to look for the seal of the Non-GMO Project, a non-profit "committed to building and preserving sources of non-GMO products, educating consumers and providing verified non-GMO choices."

I've learned crops raised with genetically modified seeds involve the heavy use of pesticides and chemicals that are harmful to humans, as well as to farmland and the water supply.

Buying 100% organic, certified organic and USDA organic-labeled products is usually the easiest way to identify and avoid genetically modified ingredients. 

The U.S. and Canadian governments do not allow companies to label products "100%/ certified organic," if they contain genetically modified foods.

Still, the United States is not among the 61 countries that already have mandatory labeling of food with genetically engineered ingredients.

"The GMO Deception" is a book available online that promises to tell you "what you need to know about the food, corporations and government agencies putting our families and our environment at risk."

See the chart from the Non-GMO Project at the end of this post for other information on the battle against genetically modified seed and food.

Described as a GMO film thriller, "Consumed" is available on Netflix.

Dole 100% Pineapple Juice from the Costco Wholesale Business Center in Hackensack is labeled "NON GMO" by the company. The metal cans also are BPA free.

Lundberg Organic Brown Long Grain Rice carries the seal of the Non-GMO Project. The California-grown rice is available on Amazon.com.

Organic baby spinach and organic spring mix, above and below, are sold at Costco Wholesale.

Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli or spirals and other shapes are available at ShopRite in Paramus.

Two dozen organic eggs from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro are only $6.99.

Home cooking: Icelandic Golden Redfish and other good things to eat

I brought home Icelandic Golden Redfish in a California Orange Marinade from The Fish Dock at 219A Closter Dock Road in Closter; added pitted olives, Campari Tomatoes, lime juice and chopped fresh mint, and popped the takeout tray into a preheated 400-degree oven.

About 15 minutes later, dinner was served. The marinade, imported from Germany, includes canola oil, salt, orange granules and peel, and lemon-juice powder. It's gluten free and non-GMO, according to The Fish Dock, which is owned and operated by Icelanders (201-564-7939).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

This seafood lover has a new mantra:

When in Closter, stop at The Fish Dock and check out the selection of fresh fish flown in from Iceland.

On Thursday, I found fillets of wild-caught Golden Redfish with and without a marinade ($12.99 a pound and $14.99 a pound, respectively).

I chose the marinated fish, and when I got home, added olives, tomatoes and a couple other things before putting the takeout container into a preheated 400-degree oven for 15 minutes.

I plated the moist, flaky fish, poured a glass of red wine and finished with a big salad of red-and green-leaf lettuce from our garden, dressed simply with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Two fillets weighing about 1.2 pounds fed three people.

When cooked, Golden Redfish breaks into large, meaty flakes.

Ling, Wolffish, Icelandic Salmon and other fillets were available when I dropped into The Fish Dock on Thursday afternoon.

A 10-inch pesto and sweet-potato frittata I made early in the week kept on giving. Here, I enjoyed a wedge with leftover falafel and hummus, a small sweet potato and sauteed spinach.

An organic egg with shredded cheese, Aleppo pepper and chopped fresh mint is wonderful eaten over organic whole-wheat fusilli prepared in a red sauce with sardines, especially when you break the yoke over the pasta.

For a hearty breakfast, a simple egg-white omelet joins sauteed spinach, sweet potato and coarse brown bulgur wheat. I added Mexican-style salsa to the bulgur and sweet potato before reheating them.

Good buys on organic eggs, fresh whole fish, sweet potatoes, olives

PESTO AND EGGS: Two dozen Kirkland Signature Organic Eggs are a good deal at the regular price of $6.99, but at the Costco Wholesale in the Teterboro Landing shopping center, an instant coupon dropped that to $4.99. Here, I poached two eggs in marinara sauce, served them over organic brown rice and added pesto for the Italian colors: Green, white and red.

PASTA AND EGGS: Two organic eggs served over whole-wheat Garofalo Pappardelle -- a wide ribbon pasta from Italy -- with anchovies and sardines in marinara or what I like to call a seafood bolognese.

BIG EYES: Fresh wild-caught Ocean Perch look like Red Snapper, but at $2.99 a pound costs less than half the price. I bought these at H Mart, 260 Bergen Turnpike, Little Ferry, and poached them in a light sauce of organic chicken stock, sake, miso and minced garlic.

SWEET ON POTATOES: Three pounds of Organic Sweet Potatoes in a net bag are $4.49 at Trader Joe's, 404 Route 17 north, Paramus. Here, I drained steaming skin-on pieces with peeled garlic cloves I had boiled for about an hour, and mashed them with extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings, including curry powder, cinnamon, red-pepper flakes, sea salt and black pepper, below.

SKIP THE BREAD: Mashed sweet potatoes, here with roughly chopped fresh mint, are a great bread substitute in a breakfast of eggs, fish and sauteed spinach. 

SWEET-POTATO FRITTATA: Organic sweet potato slices, Campari Tomato halves and Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto from Costco Wholesale top a 10-inch frittata of whole eggs and whites, and two kinds of grated cheese, below.

FOUR CUPS: You'll need about 4 cups of whole eggs and whites for a 10-inch frittata. Set the crust of the frittata over a medium flame on the stove, finish under the broiler and add the pesto after you remove the pan from the oven.

PASTA WITH OLIVES: Cans of ShopRite Pitted Black Olives were on sale for 88 cents each at the Paramus store, compared to the regular price of $1.19. A 1-pound package of Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli was $1.29. Here, I prepared the fusilli and olives in a combination of marinara and vodka sauces, with three cans of Moroccan sardines. Two bunches of fresh spinach sauteed in olive oil and sake -- on sale for 99 cents at the Super H Mart, 321 Broad Ave., Ridgefield -- made a great side dish.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

ShopRite, H Mart supermarkets ask customers to jump through hoops

At ShopRite's Can Can Sale, 8-ounce cans of Glade Spray are 99 cents each, compared to 19-ounce cans of Lysol Disinfectant Spray for $3.99, below.

The Can Can Sale price for Lysol matches the $15.99 Costco Wholesale charges for a 4-pack, but this week Costco is offering an instant coupon of $4, lowering the price to $11.99.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

ShopRite has a great deal on 15.5-ounce cans of organic beans for 77 cents each, but you'll have to buy 10 to get that low price.

The organic beans, which are made with water and a little sea salt, normally are $1 each. 

Welcome to ShopRite's Can Can Sale, which I shopped at the Paramus store on Wednesday, picking up Organic Black, Pinto, Kidney, Garbanzo and Cannellini Beans.

For a one-dish meal, I add organic beans, organic diced tomatoes, and water or chicken broth to organic brown rice or organic quinoa, and prepare them in an electric cooker.

Progresso Soups are $1.08 in 18.5-ounce cans, a discount of 97 cents, but you can't lower the price by buying 10 cans.

At the Can Can Sale, Adirondack Seltzer is a better buy by the ounce in liter bottles, above, than in cans, below, but you'll need a calculator to figure that out.

Botticelli Pasta Sauces from Italy in 24-ounce jars are half-price at the Paramus ShopRite ($1.99), including a meatless Bolognese Sauce, left. The vodka sauce is one of the few without heavy cream.

I prepared a pound of Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli ($1.25 at ShopRite) in the Vegan Friendly Bolognese Sauce, which substitutes soy for meat. Next time, I'll add a little red wine while heating up the sauce and use a half-pound of pasta.

A addictive Korean seaweed roll known as kimbap was $6.79 at H Mart in Englewood, where the price of such prepared side dishes and snacks has risen dramatically in the past year.

H Mart rebates are not cash

The Korean supermarket chain known as H Mart offers customers a Smart Savings Card similar to ShopRite's Price Plus Club Card.

To qualify for sales and specials at both stores, customers must use their loyalty cards.

But, unlike the ShopRite card, the Smart Savings Card also is a rebate card, entitling the customers to 1% back on their purchases.

There's a big hoop to jump through, however.

You don't get the rebate until you spend $1,000, and when you receive the $10 certificate, you have to use all of it to buy more food at H Mart.

On Saturday, at the Fort Lee H Mart, I picked up two $10 rebate certificates, then purchased fresh whole whiting ($4.99 a pound), and a head of red leaf lettuce ($1.29) for a total of $18.26.

When I gave the cashier the two $10 certificates, she informed me she couldn't give me change. 

I had to use one $10 certificate and a credit card for the $8.26 balance.

At the Englewood H Mart on Tuesday, I bought fresh Chinese Broccoli and Chinese Eggplant, both on sale; and a Seaweed Roll for a total of $9.94, and paid with the second $10 certificate.

Again, the cashier said she couldn't give me the change. I ate the 6 cents difference.

I added a little sea salt and brushed Chinese Eggplant slices with sesame oil as they grilled on the stove top until the flesh turned creamy.

I washed and seasoned, then cooked Chinese Broccoli in chicken broth and sake in a covered pot. I brought the liquid to a boil first, then cooked the broccoli for less than 5 minutes, softening the thick stems.

H Mart eggplant and broccoli over organic quinoa prepared with organic diced tomatoes, whole garlic cloves and olive oil in an electric rice cooker. The organic quinoa, diced tomatoes and California garlic were from Costco Wholesale.

Details

The Paramus ShopRite is at 224 Route 4 east, but also is accessible from Spring Valley Avenue.

The Fort Lee H Mart is in the Linwood Plaza shopping center on Fletcher Avenue, and the Englewood H Mart is at 25 Lafayette Ave.

Other H Marts are in Little Ferry and Ridgefield. All of the Korean markets have counters offering fresh fish and other seafood at low prices. 

From the store to the plate with only a few simple steps in between

ISLAND SALAD: Using cooked conch I brought home from H&Y, a Korean supermarket in Ridgefield, my wife produced a colorful and delicious salad, adding minced garlic; chopped onion, sweet and hot peppers, and lime juice. The result reminded me of the spicy Conch Salad I once had in the Bahamas, where they say "conk."

AFTER DINNER: A quick after-dinner salad made with triple-washed Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, tomatoes from our garden, extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You can turn this salad into a main course by adding smoked wild salmon and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, both available at Costco Wholesale.

COMFORT FOOD: Mashed organic sweet potatoes from Trader Joe's, organic carrots from Costco Wholesale and Kabocha Squash from H Mart in Englewood were boiled with peeled garlic cloves for about an hour, below. Sweet potatoes, mashed or baked, are a great bread substitute that you can eat to your heart's content.

NO NEED FOR BUTTER: Drain, return to the pot and add extra-virgin olive oil and as many seasonings as you have on hand, including curry powder, cinnamon, black pepper, red-pepper flakes, a little sea salt and whatever else you like, then mash. I make enough to provide side dishes for several breakfasts and dinners or as a snack at midday.

GOOD BUY: At Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, 10-pound bags of conventional sweet potatoes cost about 79 cents a pound.

BAKED PLANTAINS: A baked sweet potato, with a little organic salsa, and baked -- not fried -- sweet plantains, all served alongside an egg-white omelet stuffed with smoked wild salmon and reduced-fat Swiss cheese. Most of the ingredients are from the Hackensack Costco.

BOTTLE-AND-CAN PASTA: Organic whole-wheat spirals in marinara sauce with drained and rinsed anchovies, sardines, red wine, extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings, including red-pepper flakes and ground garlic. Instead of grated cheese, I added panko bread crumbs as an accent. I used a 44-ounce jar of pasta sauce, one can of anchovies, three cans of sardines in tomato sauce and a 1-pound package of Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli from ShopRite ($1.25), enough for several meals.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

Bring home the bacon, but don't forget to eat pasta with your eggs

An open-face egg-white omelet with smoked wild salmon from Costco Wholesale and sun-dried tomatoes, served for breakfast over leftover organic whole-wheat pasta corkscrews from Italy that are only $1.25 a pound at ShopRite.

Editor's note: Food prices in most stores usually go up periodically. At Costco Wholesale, they've been known to go up and down without explanation. Now, Trader Joe's, where prices have stayed the same for years, is starting to raise prices on some items, including bacon.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I'm retired, but I still bring home the bacon for the meat eaters in my family from Trader Joe's, a reliable source of uncured, antibiotic-free pork.

For years, you could find Trader Joe's Uncured Bacon for $3.99 and $4.49, but on Friday and on a previous trip, I could not find that item in the Route 17 store in Paramus.

I did find a 12-ounce package of W-brand All Natural Uncured Bacon for $5.49.

Trader Joe's Uncured Beef Hot Dogs and Jumbo Uncured Franks are now $4.99 each, a hike of 50 cents.

Since I stopped eating meat and poultry more than five years ago, I eat pasta -- not bacon -- with my eggs, and enjoy plenty of wild-caught fish.

The pasta also is a good substitute for bread or a bagel at breakfast. 

An organic egg from Costco over leftover pasta made for a quick dinner with a salad and a glass of wine. I used 1 pound of pasta and a 24-ounce jar of Victoria Vodka Sauce, which gets its richness from cheese, not heavy cream. To the sauce, I added red wine, anchovies, extra-virgin olive oil and a can of organic diced tomatoes.

Fresh wild Atlantic Cod fillets from Costco Wholesale are boneless and skinless, and cost only $7.99 a pound. They poach in about 7 minutes in Whole Foods Market Roasted Chipotle Salsa, and can be served over sweet potatoes and peeled garlic cloves mashed with extra-virgin olive oil. 

Bring the sauce to a boil in a covered pan, then add the fish. The serving pieces, dusted with ground Turkish pepper, will firm up and turn snowy white in about 7 minutes in the covered pan. For a thicker sauce, omit the fresh lime juice I used, and add the lime at the table.

Fresh strawberries and 1% lactose-free milk over Bob's Red Mill Hot Cereal is a nice change of pace on mornings when I don't have eggs.