Try mixing and matching flavors from kitchens around the world

Medium-spicy Roasted Salsa Verde from Whole Foods Market in Paramus puts a Mexican accent on Jun's Tofu, made fresh at H & Y Marketplace, a Korean supermarket (1 Remsen Place, Ridgefield).

Jun's Tofu is made from non-GMO soybeans. A 1-pound, 13-ounce package, with or without black sesame seeds, is $5.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When preparing meals at home, I love mixing and matching ethnic favors from around the world.

Aleppo pepper and Mexican salsas are versatile, and can be used with fish or egg dishes.

When you poach fresh fish, the salsa serves as both the cooking medium and as a sauce for the rice, quinoa or pasta you serve on the side.

Then, you can use leftover salsa in egg-white omelets stuffed with fresh spinach, smoked wild salmon and za'atar thyme mixture.

From the Middle East, za'atar and crushed red Aleppo pepper are available at Fattal's, 975-977 Main St., Paterson. 

Cabbage or cucumber kimchi is a great side dish with almost any meal.

Bland tofu is a foil for spicy cabbage kimchi made next door to H & Y, the Korean supermarket in Ridgefield, at Arirang Kimchi. A 64-ounce jar is $9.99.

Ras el Hanout, a Moroccan spice mixture I found at a butcher shop in Montreal, includes cumin, ginger and allspice. Here, I added a pinch or two to serving portions of fresh wild sockeye salmon I grilled on the stove top, below. I seasoned the fresh fish with sea salt and fresh lime juice before putting them on the grill.

Fresh wild sockeye salmon was $9.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. I cooked them on a preheated grill that straddles two burners for 6 minutes over medium to medium-high heat.

Grilled white peaces lend sweetness to wild salmon poached in Roasted Salsa Verde and accented with Aleppo pepper, below.

If you add the salmon to boiling salsa and cover the pan, the fish will be ready in about 7 minutes.

I stuffed an egg-white omelet, from top, with za'atar thyme mixture, salsa, smoked wild salmon from Costco Wholesale, fresh spinach I cooked earlier in the same pan and shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, also from Costco.

I finished the folded omelet with Aleppo pepper and chopped herbs from the garden, including mint, parsley and rosemary.

Fresh wild Alaskan salmon with roasted green salsa and garden herbs

Fresh Wild Copper River Sockeye Salmon with Roasted Salsa Verde and chopped herbs from the garden.

Editor's note: Cooking at home gives you the most control over what you're eating, and pricey ingredients like fresh wild salmon can be put on the table for surprisingly little when compared to a restaurant.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If you have the makings of a salad and a leftover side dish, such as organic brown rice, you can put a wild-salmon dinner on the table in 10 minutes for about $5 a person.

That's what I did on Tuesday night after my wife came home with a 1.5-pound fillet of Fresh Wild Copper River Sockeye Salmon from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack ($13.99 a pound).

Costco's price for this wonderful Alaskan salmon dropped $1 a pound since it first appeared at the end of May.

I cut the fillet into five serving pieces, and added a little sea salt from a grinder. Then, they went on a pre-heated grill pan for 10 minutes.

I could have poached the fillets in Whole Foods Market's 365 Everyday Value Roasted Salsa Verde, but decided to heat up the contents of a 16-ounce jar separately and spoon it over the salmon, when I plated it, and over the side dish of organic brown rice.

A fresh 1.5 pound skin-on fillet of wild salmon was $13.99 a pound on Tuesday at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, a drop of $1 per pound.

While the salmon was grilling, I warmed up MSG-free Roasted Salsa Verde with fresh lime juice. Whole Foods Market in Paramus sells the medium-spicy green salsa in 16- and 24-ounce jars.

The serving pieces of salmon spend 8 minutes to 10 minutes on a pre-heated grill pan sprayed with oil. My All-Clad grill pan straddles two burners and I turn the heat on both of them to medium.

Another home-cooked dish is Cabbage and Salt Fish with a side of okra and Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce (Black Label).

More home cooking

Want to know what you're eating?

Buy the ingredients yourself and prepare them at home.

Two Costco Wholesale organic eggs -- fried in olive oil sunny side up -- with leftover organic brown rice, a great bread substitute. I seasoned them with Aleppo pepper, a spicier form of paprika; and chopped parsley, oregano and mint from the garden.

The chewy Armenian lavash I brought home from a new Hackensack restaurant, Lavash City Grill & Bakery, makes a wonderful snack spread with no-fat Greek yogurt and za'atar thyme mixture. I store the flat, unleavened, preservative-free bread in the refrigerator.

For breakfast, I supplemented a simple egg-white omelet I made at home with leftover falafel, tahini, muhammara and hummus from restaurants.

The last piece of wild salmon, right out of the fridge, made a great light dinner with a pile of organic greens dressed in Spanish extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

An organic-egg omelet using ingredients from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, including reduced-fat Swiss cheese and Mexican salsa. I had it for breakfast with leftover organic brown rice, fresh chopped callaloo, bottom left; and leftover Chinese broccoli with fresh garlic from Lotus Cafe in Hackensack.

Roasted Salsa Verde is a tasty accent with fish, eggs and more

Wild-caught fillets of Atlantic cod from Iceland poach in Roasted Salsa Verde from Whole Foods Market in under 10 minutes. Here, they are served with leftover mashed sweet potatoes for a hearty dinner. Pour yourself a glass of red wine and end the meal with a salad.

The boneless, skinless fillets of fresh cod are available at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack for only $7.99 a pound.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss the versatility of MSG-free Roasted Salsa Verde from Whole Foods Market, and a meatless soup-and-salad combination at the Suburban Diner in Paramus.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A 24-ounce bottle of Roasted Salsa Verde is plenty to prepare a dinner of wild cod fillets and an anytime frittata with sweet potatoes and smoked wild salmon.

And you can add the sauce left over from poaching the fish to mashed sweet potatoes or organic brown rice.

The Roasted Salsa Verde from Whole Foods Market is medium spicy and MSG free. A 24-ounce jar is $3.99.

The green salsa from Whole Foods is more expensive then the Mexican versions available at Hackensack Market, but I stopped using them when I saw that La Costena had added monsodium glutamate as a flavor enhancer to its salsa verde.

A 10-inch frittata with boiled sweet potato slices and smoked wild Alaskan sockeye salmon from Costco Wholesale. The mixture of egg whites and whole eggs includes grated Italian cheese, and I used slices of reduced-fat Swiss just under the layer of potatoes and sliced salmon.

At breakfast, leftover mashed sweet potatoes, above, and organic whole wheat pasta, below, are great bread substitutes.

At the Suburban Diner, 172 Route 17 north in Paramus, a large baby kale salad with chick peas and diced cucumbers and tomatoes can be served with tuna fish instead of the chicken listed on the lunch menu.

With a small bowl of meatless mushroom-barley soup, the lunch combo is $12.95.

Whole Foods: 10 ways to think outside of bottled pasta sauce

Whole Foods Market suggests poaching two eggs in bottled pasta sauce. I served them over leftover organic quinoa for breakfast, and found using a soup spoon the easiest way to eat the comforting dish.

Instead of grated cheese, I used a vegetable peeler to add shaved Grana Padano from Costco Wholesale. I also used a little extra-virgin olive oil and Italian dried herbs, in addition to the black pepper recommended by Whole Foods.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I stopped at Whole Foods Market in Paramus to pick up naturally raised oxtails for the meat eaters in the family, and grabbed a copy of "The Whole Deal," a store publication with coupons, recipes and other advice.

As I was leafing through it at home, I got a kick out of "10 things to do with pasta sauce (beyond pasta)."

I have lots of bottled sauce around -- 40-ounce bruisers from Victoria and Paesana -- and smaller jars from The Silver Palate and ShopRite.

So on Saturday morning, I tried the first non-pasta suggestion -- Eggs in Purgatory.

I simmered 1 cup of Silver Palate Tomato Basil sauce and a little olive oil in a small pan, cracked open two organic eggs and topped them with shaved Grana Padano Cheese, black pepper and dried Italian herbs.

I found a glass cover for the pan that helped cut the cooking time.

One cup of pasta sauce for two eggs seemed like a lot, but I used an 8-inch, non-stick pan and followed the recipe.

On Saturday morning, I used The Silver Palate Tomato Basil sauce.

Chili, Spanish rice

The next two suggestions are chili -- just add beans and chili powder to pasta sauce -- and Spanish rice.

For the rice dish, Whole Foods suggests cooking 1 cup of rice and substituting 1 cup of pasta sauce for 1 cup of water.

Then, you stir in capers, green olives and chopped green onions.

I might try this with 2 or 3 cups of organic brown rice. I have capers, pitted black olives and scallions in the refrigerator. 

Fish in pasta sauce

Another suggestion I like is poaching fish fillets in pasta sauce, a variation on my own recipe of poaching cod, haddock or wild salmon in Mexican green salsa with added fresh lime juice.

On Thursday, I bought a 24-ounce jar of Whole Foods Roasted Salsa Verde for $3.99, and a 16-ounce jar of Roasted Chipotle Salsa for $2.69.

Both are free of the MSG that is now being added to a onetime favorite, La Costena Mexican Green Salsa.

The frozen Coleman Oxtails were $7.99 a pound, and each of the two packages I bought weighed more than 2 pounds.