Healthy meals at home -- no cooking required

Two organic eggs from Costco Wholesale with leftovers -- wild-caught Icelandic haddock in Mexican Green Salsa and organic brown rice made in an electric cooker.

A frittata with pesto and sun-dried tomato served with leftover fish and green salsa.

I like to eat healthy, but I don't think of preparing meals at home as cooking.

I try to have good ingredients on hand -- such as bottled sauces and organic diced tomatoes -- so I can "assemble" a main dish and salad with a minimum of fuss.

And I try to do it as quickly as possible without recipes, butter, cream, bread, meat or poultry.

Canned fish, organic chicken stock and extra-virgin olive oil from Tuscany are some of the quality ingredients I always have on hand to help me make healthy meals at home.

On Friday, I came home around mid-afternoon and just couldn't get my mind off whole-wheat pasta spirals with sardines in tomato sauce.

This comfort food is one of my favorites, and luckily, I had everything on hand:  

A 1-pound package of Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli, two cans of Moroccan sardines, a bottle of Silver Palate pasta sauce and a can of Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes.

It was ready in 15 minutes.
 

No need for gallons of water. Use just enough water to cover the pasta. Don't salt the water. There is plenty of salt in the pasta sauce, diced tomatoes and grated cheese.

The finished dish with grated Pecorino Romano cheese from the freezer.

This morning, breakfast was leftover fusilli and pan-fried cod.

  


How to assemble the dish:

Boil water in one covered pot, and pour the pasta sauce, diced tomatoes, a few ounces of extra-virgin olive oil, herbs and red-pepper flakes in a non-stick pan and heat them up with the cover on.

Meanwhile, open 2 cans of sardines, drain in a plastic collander and rinse under running water to reduce sodium. Add to pan with sauce and chop up the sardines.

Trader Joe's whole-wheat fusilli cooks up al dente in about 9 minutes. Drain, add to other pan, mix to cover all of the pasta with sardine sauce and serve.

I drank a glass of Chianti, and followed with a wooden bowl of pre-washed Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, dressed simply in oil and vinegar.


 

Pan-fried cod bought fresh at Costco Wholesale. The side dish is mashed sweet potatoes and Kabocha squash with extra-virgin olive oil, all of which we had, below.

Kirkland Signature Organic No-Salt Seasoning is great for fish and mashed potatoes.

When we make fresh fish fillets with green salsa or organic diced tomatoes, all we do is heat up the sauce in a covered, non-stick pan; season the fish, place the fillets into the pan and cook them covered for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how thick they are.

We usually have fresh limes or lemons, and a bottle of Kirkland Signature Organic No-Salt Seasoning for the fish. That's 21 different spices and herbs.

Kirkland Signature egg whites can be used by themselves in open-face omelets or mixed with whole eggs and shredded cheese for frittatas, which are finished under the broiler.

For a quick frittata, mix liquid egg whites with whole eggs, a little low-fat milk and shredded or grated part skim milk cheese -- such as Pecorino Romano or Reggiano Parmigiano -- and pour into a heated non-stick, 10-inch pan with a little oil.

As the bottom firms up, place sun-dried tomatoes and refrigerated pesto on the surface. 

Place frittata under the broiler for 5 minutes or until the surface starts to brown, then remove from oven, cut into wedges and serve with leftover fish, rice or mashed sweet potatoes.

Simple accents brighten any meal

Coarsely ground Aleppo pepper and chopped fresh garden herbs are two of the simple accents that give extra eye and taste appeal to fresh wild salmon and organic eggs.

Editor's note: Summer brings fresh wild salmon, garden herbs, Jersey blueberries and other tastes of the season. Today, I discuss simple accents for home-cooked meals and present further adventures in food shopping.

I have mint and oregano growing in my garden, and a container of coarsely ground Aleppo pepper in my refrigerator, and I use them with a free hand.

The fresh herbs and the mildly spicy pepper work best with fish and egg dishes.

Wild-caught whiting need little more than seasoning and flour before frying, below.

I found the large whiting at H Mart in Little Ferry.

The run of fresh wild sockeye salmon from the Copper River in Alaska has ended at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, and now the packages just say, "Product of  U.S.A."

We bought another fillet on Monday for $10.99 a pound, and I prepared it using a simple recipe from Mark Bittman, whose New York Times column is called "The Minimalist."

Wild salmon with sliced tomatoes, capers, Aleppo pepper, olive oil and lime juice before I placed the pan in a preheated 400-degree oven set on roast/convection.

The leftovers went into the refrigerator.

For breakfast, I plated wild salmon with a cheese-and-smoked-wild-salmon omelet.

Bittman tells you to season the wild salmon portions, place the tomato slices and capers over and around them, and drizzle on some extra-virgin olive oil.

The recipe also calls for chopped red onion, but I didn't have that on hand.

I added the Aleppo pepper and chopped oregano from my garden, and roasted the fish for 10 to 12 minutes in a 400-degree oven.

I buy my Aleppo pepper at Fattal's Bakery, 975-77 Main St., Paterson. It is open 7 days.

Other simple accents are sun-dried tomatoes and bottled Mexican green salsa, shown here on an egg-white omelet with leftover brown rice from Lotus Cafe in Hackensack.

At Whole Foods Market in Paramus on Tuesday, I saw fresh wild sockeye salmon fillets for $16.99 a pound, compared to $10.99 a pound at Costco.

Wild Alaskan Sockeye Smoked Salmon was $5.99 for 4 ounces or about $24 a pound. At Costco, a 1-pound package of the same smoked sockeye salmon is $15.39.

But I found frozen Coleman Organic Ox Tails for $6.99 a pound -- an item I've seen in no other store.

Whole Foods Market is the only store I know that pledges its farmed salmon is raised without pesticides, antibiotics or growth hormones. Farmed salmon is artificially colored.

Whole Catch is a store brand at Whole Foods Market.

I didn't see this sign the last time I visited Whole Foods in Paramus.

$5 bowl of soup

Lunch at Panera Bread in Woodcliff Lake.

I stopped for lunch on Monday at a Panera Bread in the Tice's Corner Marketplace in Woodcliff Lake, and spent nearly $8 on soup and a medium coffee.

After I ordered a bowl of the Garden Vegetable Soup, the counter worker asked me whether I wanted chips, bread or an apple on the side.

I chose an apple, thinking how terrific it is that Panera Bread offers customers a healthy choice, then looked at my receipt: The soup was $4.99.

Tastes of summer

H Mart in Little Ferry had a 32-ounce bottle of Best Mango Juice Drink from Egypt for $2.99. This is the first mango drink I've seen in the U.S. that contains 50% juice.

New Jersey blueberries are one of the great tastes of summer.

Jersey Fresh Blueberries were $1.99 a pint on July 1 at ShopRite supermarkets, and 2 pints for $5 at Whole Foods in Paramus on Monday, where they are on sale through today (regularly $4.99 a pint).

At H Mart in Little Ferry, I picked up a 32-ounce bottle of thick, sweet 50% mango juice from Egypt for $2.99, and a box of 16 Champagne mangoes from Mexico for $9.99 with a store card.

A 15-pound bag of California-grown Kokuho Yellow Label rice was $8.99 -- a discount of $6. 

Speaking of mangoes, my wife used a couple of ounces of Grace-brand Fish & Meat Sauce from Hackensack Market on Passaic Street to make a gravy filled with vegetables, which we ate over rice and peas (kidney beans) as a side dish to fried whiting.

The sauce is made of tomato paste, mango, sugar and a few other ingredients.

Above, a gravy filled with vegetables goes well with rice and peas, below.

Sweet, seedless watermelons up to 22 pounds were $3.88 each at ShopRite on July 1 -- a discount of $2.11 per melon.

Costco is still charging $5.99 per watermelon. 

Also on July 1, my wife found a rare sale on Readington Farms chicken -- ShopRite's antibiotic-free poultry brand.

She saved 66 cents to 92 cents on packages of thighs and drumsticks.

Missing the target

The fresh produce section at Target in Paramus.

With no scale in sight, shoppers may wonder how much bananas are by the pound.

Refrigerated cases light up when you approach them.

On Tuesday, I saw half-gallons of lactose-free milk at Target for $3.34, compared to $3.39 at ShopRite. 

I saw fat-free and 2% lactose-free milk, but not the 1% milk I prefer.

No-recipe home cooking in photos

Breakfast salad: Organic spring mix with beefsteak tomato, za'atar thyme mixture, and reduced fat cheese; cabbage kimchi, olives and canned-fish salad (yellowfin tuna, pink salmon and sardines).

Small mustard greens with a bottle of Mexican green salsa.

Mustard greens plated with half of a mahi-mahi fillet cooked in spicy green salsa or salsa verde and a sweet potato made in 6 minutes in a microwave (speed-cook setting).

An egg-white omelet with reduced-fat cheese, white anchovies and coarsely ground Aleppo pepper plated with leftover sugar pea shoots.

Fresh greens


I cook greens, fresh broccoli and French green beans the same way, and they are ready in under 5 minutes.


First, cut and wash your greens, then blanch in a covered pot with boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes.


Using the cover, drain the pot and put it back on the stove with no flame under it.


You can drizzle the greens with extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle on a little salt and add seasonings such as powdered garlic and black pepper.


Or, you can add a little soy sauce and sesame oil, and no-salt organic seasoning. You're done.


Fish in green sauce


Pour half of a bottle of spicy Mexican salsa verde into a large, non-stick pot and warm it up. Add any kind of wild-caught fish fillets, including frozen mahi-mahi or Alaskan salmon.


Pour the rest of the sauce over the fish and squeeze the juice of one or two limes into the pot. Cover and cook for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on whether the fish is fresh of frozen.


You also can cook a whole fish this way. Slash each side in three places with a sharp knife to help you judge when the fish is done.


You can serve fish in green sauce with a sweet potato, organic brown rice with lentils, made in an electric rice cooker; or whole-wheat pasta with bottled sauce.


I reserve the green sauce for use with omelets or eggs fried sunny side up.


Canned fish salad


Empty canned fish and oil or water into a plastic container, add chopped celery or sweet pepper and then flavor with Dijon mustard, fresh lime or lemon juice and powdered cumin to taste.


Cover and refrigerate.


Sources


H Mart or other Asian supermarkets are great sources for a wide variety of fresh greens, including spinach, collard, mustard, bok choy and Chinese broccoli.


Costco Wholesale usually has fresh wild-caught haddock, flounder and Pacific cod, but when it doesn't, I buy frozen mahi-mahi or salmon in the freezer section.


Costco also sells Kirkland Signature Organic No Salt Seasoning, a blend of 21 spices and other ingredients.


ShopRite and Hackensack Market carry Mexican green salsa from Goya and La Costena. A 16-ounce bottle is enough to prepare as much as 2 pounds of fish.

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