Sweet-potato frittata, fresh wild coho salmon fillet with lime and pesto

Slices of boiled organic sweet potato and a fresh tomato, as well as chunks of Pecorino Romano sheep's milk cheese, set this 10-inch frittata apart.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A thick potato omelet from Spain -- tortilla espanola  -- was my inspiration for adding sliced sweet potatoes to my weekend frittata. 

First, I boiled the organic sweet-potato slices to soften them.

I used a mixture of four whole organic eggs, 8 ounces of liquid egg whites, a little low-fat milk and grated Pecorino Romano cheese, and poured all of it into a hot, non-stick, 10-inch pan with olive oil.

As the crust set over a medium-high flame, I layered sweet-potato and fresh tomato slices into the egg mixture, and added small chunks of Pecorino Romano.

I finished the frittata under the broiler, took it out of the oven and added Aleppo pepper and Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto.

The sweet potatoes were from Trader Joe's, and most of the other ingredients came from Costco Wholesale.

Wild-caught coho salmon fillet accented with Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto, both from Costco Wholesale.

Easy wild salmon

My wife brought home a 2-pound fillet of wild Alaskan coho salmon from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack  ($10.99 a pound).

I cut the skin-on fillet into six pieces, put them on parchment paper in a large pan, squeezed on fresh lime juice and added a couple of pinches of Aleppo pepper.

You can also use paprika or another mildy spicy red pepper or even red-pepper flakes in moderation.

The fish went into a preheated, 375-degree oven.

I removed one of the pieces after 8 minutes (rare) and the rest after 12-13 minutes (cooked through).

I spooned on Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto after I took the salmon out of the oven.

I served the salmon with Lundberg Wild Blend Rice prepared in an electric cooker, and finished the meal with a salad.

Simple and delicious.


Related articles

• Costco Wholesale's fish buyer is casting a wider net
• Why are my Costco bananas sweating?
• Diet food never looked or tasted this good

Great seafood and going organic to avoid GMOs

Two organic brown eggs served over organic quinoa prepared in an electric cooker with organic diced tomatoes and organic chicken stock, all from Costco Wholesale. In the absence of a labeling law in the United States, going organic is the only sure way to avoid genetically modified foods and the safety issues they raise.

Wild-caught Pacific halibut is the most expensive fresh fish sold at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, but it's a breeze to prepare and the taste is worth every penny.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

I've seen fresh, wild-caught halibut in the cold case at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack for at least a couple of years, but the price has always stopped me -- until last week.

At $16.99 a pound, the fillets are only $2 or $3 more a pound than the Copper River sockeye salmon that I enjoyed this year.

When I got it home, I didn't have to do much more than slice the 1.16-pound skinless fillet into four serving pieces, place them on parchment paper in a large pan, squeeze lime juice over them and add a few pinches of Aleppo pepper.

Then, I put them in a 375-degree oven for about 10 minutes, took out the pan and spooned refrigerated Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto on each fillet.

My snowy fillet flaked beautifully and tasted wonderful. I served the fish with boiled sweet potatoes mashed with extra-virgin olive oil and seasoning.

A halibut snack reheated in the microwave for 1 minute.

Here is more about halibut from the Environmental Defense Fund:

"Halibut are flatfish (like flounders and soles) and can grow up to 7 feet long and weigh 800 pounds. They have both eyes on the same side of their head, which enables them to better see predators and prey as they lay camouflaged on the sea bottom."

EDF gives its "Best-eco" rating to Pacific halibut (sold at Costco), notes it contains a "moderate" amount of mercury and advises adults to limit their consumption to about 4 times a month.

A takeout dinner of calamari stuffed with shrimp and crab meat; spaghetti with red-clam sauce and whole shrimp; crab cake, broccoli and beets was only $5.99 after 4 p.m. at Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St., Englewood.

A serving of jumbo shrimp with vegetables; dry sauteed string beans and brown rice delivered by Zen Kitchen, 1443 Teaneck Road, Teaneck.

Avoiding GMOs

The European Union has a law calling for labeling of food containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), but the United States doesn't.

Going organic is the only sure way to avoid GMOs, but in the United States there are some organic and non-organic foods that carry a label from the NON GMO Project.

The NON GMO Project Verified label appears on Tru Roots Organic Quinoa, right, and  non-organic Lundberg Wild Blend Rice.

Click on the following link: nongmoproject.org

The European Union's Web site is: GMO Compass

Related articles

• Costco: Shifting More and More to Organic
• Costco return policy is only as good as employees
• Target Introduces GMO-Free Food Line

Giving up meat, poultry and bread: Diet food never tasted this good

Thin Icelandic flounder fillets ($7.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack), coated in a homemade mixture of spices, take about 12 minutes to cook in a 375-degree oven. I enjoyed them with boiled sweet potatoes that I mashed with extra-virgin olive oil, a little salt, cinnamon and other seasoning. I finished the meal with an organic spring-mix salad.

Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Spaghetti ($1.39) in canned Trader Joe's Marinara Sauce with anchovies, sardines and canned Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes (about 75 cents a can at Costco Wholesale).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR


When you give up meat, poultry, bread and pizza to lose weight -- as I have -- then everything else is diet food.

Of course, I've never been a big fan of cake, pastry and pies. My idea of a sweet ending to a meal is fresh fruit and a great cheese.

My diet foods include wild-caught seafood, organic salad mixes, reduced-fat cheese, greens, vegetables, fresh fruit, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice and tofu.

Instead of butter, I use lots of extra-virgin olive oil in cooking and salads.

Salt-free, raw almonds I roast at home and dust with cinnamon are my main snack, but I also rely on snack bars from Kashi, Kirkland Signature and others to help me skip lunch. 

Lundberg Wild Blend Rice from Costco stands in for bread in this Jamaican breakfast of ackee and salt fish (ShopRite is a good source for dried cod at $6.99 a pound).

An open-face, egg-white omelet with Campari tomato halves gets its gooey richness from reduced-fat Jarlsberg Swiss Cheese and Kirkland Signature refrigerated Basil Pesto. All the ingredients come from Costco.

45-pound weight loss

I've had a weight problem since I was 13, and I've taken off and put on so much weight my clothes have needle tracks from being altered repeatedly.

In 2010, I started using a trainer at the gym who said that if I really wanted to lose weight, I should give up bread and pizza.

Earlier in 2010, I gave up meat and poultry, and immediately lost 4 pounds.

But the no-bread, no-pizza diet, which I observe to this day, knocked off more than 40 pounds.

Last week, I gave away a half-dozen pairs of shorts with 40- and 42-inch waists.

We grow lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and black figs in our garden.

Sweet fig halves from our garden top a salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix and Sunset-brand Gourmet Cucumbers, dressed simply in extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar and eaten at the end of the meal.

An occasional guilty pleasure is the heel from a Balthazar baguette, still only $2 at the bakery on South Dean Street in Englewood.

A platter of escoveitch fish using porgy from H Mart in Englewood ($2.49 a pound). The fish is pan fried, then doused in a spicy sauce of vinegar, whole pimento, carrot, sweet pepper and onion.

Porgy with steamed broccoli.

Leftovers for breakfast: A frittata with pesto and smoked wild salmon, left; wild coho salmon with pesto and organic diced tomatoes; and whole-what pasta with anchovies and sardines. Most of the ingredients can be found at Costco Wholesale.

Related articles

• Two real time savers: Cooking ahead and leftovers
• Bagels are boring: Just go wild at breakfast
• Clothes too big? Rush down to Costco Wholesale
• Fresh Wild Salmon with Organic Diced Tomatoes

Fresh Wild Salmon with Organic Diced Tomatoes

Fresh, wild-caught sockeye salmon from Costco Wholesale was $10.99 a pound this week, but a 1.5-pound fillet is enough to serve a family of 5.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

If you can open a can, squeeze a lime and chop fresh herbs, Fresh Wild Salmon with Organic Diced Tomatoes is a snap to prepare.

I rely on Costco Wholesale for wild-caught fillets of sockeye salmon caught in the U.S.A., as well as for limes and cans of Organic Diced Tomatoes.

The herbs come from my garden. 

I cut a 1.5-pound fillet ($10.99 a pound) into 5 pieces, squeezed fresh lime juice over them and sprinkled them with chopped mint and oregano, and ground Aleppo red pepper (optional).

Then, I spooned Organic Diced Tomatoes over the salmon pieces and placed them into a pre-heated 375-degree oven.

I line the pan with parchment paper from Costco, and don't have to use spray oil.

 

The thickest part of the fillet was cooked rare after 10 minutes. Add 3 minutes to cook through.

I served the salmon with leftover Lundberg Wild Blend Rice, a GMO-free mixture of wild, brown and black rices available from Costco.

The sockeye salmon was $10.99 a pound this week, up a dollar from the week before.

I also picked up a 2.5-pound bag of frozen wild-caught Hake Loins, a meaty, white fish that makes for excellent eating ($13.99).

As with other frozen fish, I will probably steam the hake or bake the fillets in parchment-paper pouches.

A package of Michigan Blueberries, the equivalent of 3 pints, was $4.99. And 2 pounds of those incomparable Campari Tomatoes were $4.49. 

A 'pan pizza' without the fattening dough.

A gooey frittata

A frittata with tomato sauce, pesto and gooey cheese can fool you into thinking your eating a pizza, but you won't have to worry about fattening dough.

I used slices of reduce-fat Jarlsberg Swiss Cheese,  fresh Beefsteak Tomato slices and Organic Tomato Sauce -- all from Costco -- and my own homemade pesto sauce.

A wedge of frittata with Wild Blend Rice.

A mixture of 4 whole organic brown eggs, 8 ounces of Kirkland Signature Egg Whites, a little low-fat milk, grated cheese and Organic No-Salt Seasoning go into a preheated 10-inch pan with extra-virgin olive oil. After the bottom is set and the other ingredients are added, the frittata is finished under the broiler until the cheese oozes and the top browns (low setting).

Bagels are boring: Just go wild at breakfast

A delicious blend of brown, black and wild rices served with Chana Masala, chickpeas with Asian Indian spices, both available at Costco Wholesale.

Looking into an open 4-pound bag of Lundberg Wild Rice Blend reveals a colorful mixture: Long Grain Brown Rice, Sweet Brown Rice, Wild Rice, Whole Grain Wehani Rice and Whole Grain Black Japonica Rice. It's non-GMO, too, and the re-closable bag uses Velcro.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss two new-to-me items from Costco Wholesale, and my attempt to add body to Kirkland Signature's thin, watery Egg Whites.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Once, I was a big fan of those enormous North Jersey bagels, which I bought by the dozen, sliced and stored in the freezer.

Every morning, I'd toast my favorite Pumpernickle-Rye bagel, spread it with pesto and build a multi-layered sandwich with smoked wild salmon, cheese, spring mix and whatever else would fit.

The bagels -- from my favorite shop on Englewood's Palisade Avenue -- were twice the size and about half the price of the mediocre H&H bagel from Manhattan.

No-bread diet

If the bagels were big, I was bigger, and I soon downsized to a sliced health loaf from Zabar's that I found at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

Bagels and other forms of bread are no longer part of my diet, but brown rice is, and 100% whole grain Lundberg Wild Blend Rice is the ultimate brown rice and a great bread substitute.

Last week, I prepared 2 cups of the brown, black and wild rice blend in an electric cooker with a 15-ounce can of Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes and chicken broth.

I tried it for dinner first, then for breakfast the next day, and I can't think of a more flavorful rice.

Lundberg Wild Blend Rice reminds me of Korean 7 Grains without the beans and without the need to soak it for hours before you cook it.

Although the rice blend isn't organic, it is certified non-GMO. 

Click on the following link to the Organic Authority Web site for a discussion of GMOs:

 8 reasons GMOs are bad for you

Wild Blend Rice with wild salmon, peaches and tomatoes.

A refrigerated Sweet Potato Salad from Costco Wholesale can be eaten cold or hot.

A four-fish salad: Homemade canned-fish salad (yellowfin tuna, pink salmon and sardines); smoked wild salmon and Menino Brothers Sweet Potato Salad over Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, all from Costco.

 
Potato salad

A refrigerated Sweet Potato Salad I found at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack last week tastes like a keeper.

The ingredients: Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Crunchy Jicama, Fresh Kale and Red Quinoa in a dressing of Rice Vinegar, Canola Oil, Sugar, Dijon Mustard and spices.

It is produced by Menino Bros. in Massachusetts, and carries a sell-by date.

I tried the salad right out of the fridge with my homemade canned-fish salad for breakfast over Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix.

It also tasted good plated and warmed briefly in a microwave.

Ideally, I'd tone down the taste of rice vinegar and let the sweetness of the diced potatoes come through.

The price is $6.99 for 1 pound 12 ounces.

A 3-Tomato Frittata with Pesto sounded like a good idea, but my attempt to add body and color to Kirkland Signature's thin, watery 100% Egg Whites failed.

A heavy hand

I thought I could add body and color to Kirkland Signature's watery Egg Whites by using another Kirkland Signature item, Organic Tomato Sauce.

So I combined half of a 15-ounce can of the thick sauce with about 8 ounces of Egg Whites, 3 whole brown organic eggs and a few ounces of grated Italian cheese.

I poured the mixture into a preheated 10-inch non-stick pan with oil, and added sun-dried and sliced beefsteak tomatoes, and homemade pesto.

When the mixture set, I moved the pan to the oven and continued cooking it under the broiler for about 10 minutes (low setting).

Right out of the oven, it fell apart: I used much too much tomato sauce. 

A 3-Tomato Frittata with Pesto tasted good, but had no body. Next time, I'll use 1 or 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce in the egg mixture or simply spoon it on top.