At H Mart, fish dinner for four can cost under $10, free seafood samples

On Sunday, my wife baked five fresh wild-caught whole porgy with olive oil, fresh lime juice, onions, tomatoes, sweet peppers and fresh garlic.

Our side dish was cabbage sauteed with sweet peppers.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss food shopping at H Mart in Little Ferry, ShopRite in Paramus and Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, and the meals you can assemble with ingredients from them.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I never know what I'll find when I shop for fresh fish on the weekends at the H Mart in Little Ferry or how low the price will be.

On Sunday, I found whole porgy nestled in ice for only $1.79 a pound, and five of them rang up at $8.40.

While I waited for the fish to be cleaned and scaled, I chatted with other customers and went over to tables offering free seafood samples.

I also picked up nearly 2 pounds of Gaichoy or Baby Mustard Greens on sale for only 78 cents a pound with a store card.

Today, my wife prepared them for dinner with olive oil, chopped fresh garlic, sea salt and Organic No-Salt Seasoning, all from Costco Wholesale.

At H Mart in Little Ferry, free weekend seafood samples are conveniently placed near the fresh-fish counter to give customers something to do while their catch is being cleaned. Samples include seafood pancakes, foreground; boiled octopus, smoked farmed salmon and broiled eel.

The Korean supermarket at 260 Bergen Turnpike in Little Ferry also sells a wide array of dried seafood, above and below, and I expect many of them are for use in soups or stews.

Customers can only hope H Mart management will decide to renovate what is the shabbiest store in the chain.

ShopRite in Paramus

At ShopRite in Paramus on Tuesday, I bought a large Golden Pineapple for $2.99, and two 15-ounce containers of Smart Balance Light Spread made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil on sale for $2.99 each, a discount of 60 cents.

Smart Balance has gone on sale for as little as $1.89 with a store card, but I haven't seen that repeated in many months.

At ShopRite in Paramus, 26-ounce bottles of Colonna Pasta Sauce are on sale for 69 cents each, but the Garlic & Onion and Meat-Flavored contain high fructose corn syrup. Vodka Sauce lists heavy cream as the second largest ingredient. I'll pass on all three.

The 40-ounce bottle of Victoria Marinara is $8.49 at the Paramus ShopRite, 224 Route 4 east, but you can get two 40-ounce jars of the same sauce for $8.99 at Costco Wholesale on South River Street in Hackensack.

I continue to perfect 10-inch egg-white omelets, cooking fresh spinach in a little oil in a separate pan before transferring it to the omelet and folding it. Other ingredients include smoked wild salmon and reduced-fat sliced Swiss cheese from Costco, which also sells 100% egg whites.

A big breakfast omelet stuffed with smoked salmon and spinach, served with leftover organic brown rice and broccoli, allows me to skip lunch.

This morning, I prepared an organic whole-egg omelet with salted fish, fresh spinach and Mateo's Gourmet Salsa, the last from Costco Wholesale, above and below.

The omelet is ready to be folded.

A world of flavors in N.J.-N.Y.C.: Italian, Korean, Chinese, Jewish

A wood-burning oven at A Mano, 24 Franklin Ave., Ridgewood, gives its deliciously smoky flavor to more than the authentic Neapolitan pizzas.

Editor's note: I had hoped to bring you more photos with this post, but a bug in my iPhone continues to prevent me from uploading images to my computer via Google+.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When a friend suggested lunch at a Neapolitan-style pizzeria in Ridgewood, I figured I could order a nice salad instead of a pie.

I've been on a successful no-bread, no-pizza diet for years, and didn't want to break it.

On Friday, A Mano in Ridgewood came through with a salad of one of my favorite greens, peppery arugula, topped with a little cheese, and fresh artichokes imported from Italy and wood grilled in the restaurant ($11.99).

Delicious.

My friend had a Garlic and Shrimp Pizza ($18.99) washed down with a large bottle of San Pellegrino sparkling mineral water ($4.99).

Ridgewood probably has more restaurants than any other town in North Jersey, and we walked by several that were empty or had only a few customers at lunchtime Friday.

That was the case at A Mano, where the staff outnumbered the customers. 

Soft Tofu with Pork, prepared Medium Spicy, at So Gong Dong, 118 Broad Ave., Second Floor, in Palisades Park. The stew is bubbling and steaming when it comes to the table, hot enough to poach a fresh egg that is included with your complete meal. You also get rice and side dishes ($9.99)

Seafood pancake and side dishes

What's not to like about a complete meal centered around a healthy soft tofu stew with vegetable side dishes, steamed rice and a fresh egg, all for just $9.99?

For a change of pace on Saturday night at So Gong Dong, I ordered a Pajun, a non-spicy grilled seafood-and-scallion rice-flour pancake with side dishes, including seaweed in gochujang, a spicy red-pepper sauce ($11.99).

The pancake is made with tender squid and shrimp, and served with a dipping sauce.

My wife and mother-in-law each had tofu stew -- one Medium Spicy and the other Little Spicy -- and shared an order of Steamed Dumplings, which contain pork ($8.99).

In the years we've been patronizing So Gong Dong, the food and service have been great, the menu has been expanded and the prices have stayed reasonable.

But on Saturday, when we ordered a tofu stew to take home, we discovered the restaurant has switched to a cheap, flimsy plastic container for the hot stew that can easily open, if the bag tips over in your car.

We narrowly averted that mess; others may not be so lucky.

Crunchy cabbage kimchi, above, and non-spicy bean sprouts, below, are two of the five side dishes at So Gong Dong, and second and third helpings are served willingly, if you have the room. You also get a stone bowl filled with steamed white rice.

Originally called So Gong Dong, the popular tofu house also is known as So Gong Dong Tofu & BBQ and SGD Dubu, with branches in East Hanover, Cherry Hill, Hartsdale, N.Y.; and Glenview, Ill.

On the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Grand Street, between Eldridge and Allen streets, above and below, once was part of a district of dry goods stores selling sheets, curtains, bedspreads and lace tablecloths. Today, the neighborhood is part of a widely expanded Chinatown.

This afternoon, at the Chinese-owned Great Bakery, 303 Grand St., I purchased two Macau-style Egg Tarts for $1.10 each. They were topped with a little burnt sugar in contrast to plain Egg Tarts.

Nearby Sara Delano Roosevelt Park is a magnet for the homeless.

At Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery, 137 E. Houston St., you can get a Sweet Potato, Spinach or Vegetable Knish, in addition to the traditional Potato and Kasah knishes. But at $3.75 each, you're in for sticker shock. Cash only. Outside, the big sign over the doors spells "Schimmel" without the "c," so maybe it should be Yonah Schlemiel Knish Bakery.

Take a number at Russ & Daughters, a popular appetizer shop at 179 E. Houston St. I saw a young couple sitting on a bench outside and working their way through a bagel stuffed with an inch-thick layer of cream cheese and a little smoked salmon. Hold the bagel and revolting amount of cream cheese, and give me the salmon, but I'll bet this famous shop doesn't offer the wild-caught variety that is available at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. 

At home, I keep it simple and rely on great ingredients from Costco, including 100% Egg Whites and Mateo's Gourmet Salsa for this omelet stuffed with fresh spinach.  

Home cooking with Costco

I've really gotten to like the 32-ounce jar of Mateo's Gourmet Salsa ($4.97) I buy at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack as a garnish for omelets, baked sweet potatoes and organic brown rice, and to mix with guacamole.

Another great Costco ingredient for egg and pasta dishes is Kirkland Signature Parmigiano Reggiano, an aged cheese made with part skim milk that is sold shredded in 16-ounce plastic containers ($8.49, that's $3 off, until May 3).

Om Wednesday, my wife also picked up our usual 1-pound package of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, and it rang up at $4.29, the lowest price I've seen in a couple of years.

A 'sale' on pasta sauce, pricey Passover ingredient, wild sea bass

On Tuesday, I found 24-ounce jars of Victoria Vodka Sauce, one of the few that doesn't contain heavy cream, on sale for $2.99 each with a store card at ShopRite, 224 Route 4 east, Paramus. The store also had a rare sale on ShopRite Lactose Free Milk for $2.99 a half-gallon, a discount of 50 cents.

A 40-ounce jar of the same vodka sauce was on sale in late January for $3.99, but on Tuesday, the price was $8.49.

You probably couldn't get one of the dozen tables at Rao's, the Italian-American restaurant in the East Harlem section of Manhattan, so why pay an outrageous $8.49 for a 32-ounce jar of the joint's marinara sauce at the Paramus ShopRite?

A 2-pound jar of kosher for Passover Tamarind was $17.99 at the Paramus ShopRite. The concentrated sweet-and-sour fruit , from Thailand, is used in many Sephardic Jewish dishes, including stuffed vegetables.

The $3-plus price spike for Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon at Costco Wholesale didn't stop me from buying this wonderful fish, but the price has settled back to $15.99 for two half-pound portions. Here, I used a few slices to stuff a whole egg and egg-white omelet with fresh spinach, a slice of reduced-fat Swiss cheese and Mateo's Gourmet Salsa, all from Costco.

On Sunday, Fresh wild-caught black sea bass were $5.99 a pound at H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave., Englewood. My wife pan-fried them and dressed them in sweet and hot peppers, and onions cooked in vinegar. At the Little Ferry H Mart, 260 Bergen Turnpike, a box of 14 Ataulfo Mangoes was $9.99 with a store card.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

For heart-healthy meals at home, add color and flavor -- not butter

Organic brown rice prepared in an electric cooker -- fragrant with chopped fresh garlic, organic chicken stock and extra-virgin olive oil -- gets a bit of color from a can of organic diced tomatoes. The ingredients, from Costco Wholesale and other stores, go into the cooker at the same time along with a little sea salt.

An egg-white omelet fried in olive oil is stuffed with fresh spinach and Mateo's Gourmet Salsa from Costco (32 ounces for $6.39) , which also adds flavor to a square of fresh sesame-seed tofu, left.

Salted Alaskan pollock goes into this colorful breakfast of cabbage and salt fish sauteed in olive oil, made with red, orange and green sweet peppers from Costco and ShopRite.

Leftover seafood frittata and mustard greens make a hearty breakfast when served over organic brown rice and Mateo's salsa.

Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal takes 10 minutes to prepare on the stove top with added dried figs and dates, hemp hearts and chia seeds, pignoli nuts and organic agave sweetener. I added a little 2% lactose-free milk at the table.

At home last Wednesday, I plated and reheated a restaurant-quality Meals To Go from Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St. in Englewood, including tender Calamari and Shrimp Fra Diavolo, Stuffed Portobello Mushroom with Vegetable and Cheese Ravioli Al Pomodoro. I gave a third component, Roasted Potatoes and Sausage, to a meat eater in the family ($5.99 after 4 p.m.)

Bones in my seafood frittata, fresh spinach and salsa in my omelet

A homemade seafood frittata uses leftover pan-fried red snapper and smoked wild salmon, plus whole eggs and whites, reduced-fat cheese, tomatoes and prepared pesto. The baked sweet potato with it is flavored with Mateo's Gourmet Salsa from Costco Wholesale.

Editor's note: With great ingredients available at Costco Wholesale, H Mart and Whole Foods Market, preparing meals at home is a snap, and a big money saver over takeout or dinner out at a restaurant.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

We had leftovers from three large red snappers my wife seasoned and pan fried, a few slices of smoked wild salmon, egg whites and three whole eggs.

I could make a seafood frittata, I thought, adding plum tomato slices, sun-dried tomatoes, reduced-fat Swiss cheese and prepared pesto.

But I wasn't careful when stripping the red snapper head and part of the body, and ended up with bones in my frittata.

The tail end of a seasoned and pan-fried whole red snapper ($6.99 a pound at H Mart in Englewood), served for dinner with steamed carrots and baby bok choy.

I spooned on Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto from Costco Wholesale after removing the 10-inch seafood frittata from the oven, where it browned under the broiler. The thick egg mixture I started with contained red snapper, grated cheese and a little reduced-fat lactose-free milk, all poured into a hot, oiled non-stick pan on the stove. When the bottom set, I moved the frittata to the oven.

I used two whole organic eggs and a little reduced-fat lactose-free milk, both from Costco Wholesale, for an omelet stuffed with reduced-fat Swiss cheese, fresh spinach and Mateo's mild salsa. I served it with leftover organic quinoa prepared in an electric rice cooker with organic diced tomatoes, organic chicken broth and whole peeled garlic cloves, and a baked sweet potato.

Organic quinoa also was the foundation for a dinner of fresh wild Icelandic Haddock Fillets from Costco Wholesale ($8.99 a pound), poached in thick Roasted Poblano Salsa from Whole Foods Market, diluted with a little red wine and fresh lime juice.