Toasting the king of inexpensive wines, oversized cantaloupes

This 1.5 liter bottle of 2012 California Cabernet Sauvignon from Costco Wholesale costs the equivalent of about $4 a bottle, but its smoothness and complexity set it apart from other inexpensive red wines.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss Kirkland Signature California Cabernet Sauvignon and peeled Christopher Ranch garlic, both from Costco Wholesale, and compare cantaloupes from ShopRite and the Teaneck Farmers' Market.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

"Black currant with broad, red fruit notes that linger on the palate and are surrounded by hints of spice and sweet smoke with a graceful finish of cherry and mocha."

I'll take your word for it, Costco Wholesale.

But I'd describe your Kirkland Signature 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon as one of the smoothest, most delicious red wines I have ever tasted.

And I've tasted a lot of cheap, red wine from around the world -- routinely ordering introductory cases from wine clubs that usually cost $5 to $7 a bottle, including shipping.

I buy your Cabernet in a 1.5 liter bottle for $7.99 -- or the equivalent of less than $4 a bottle -- at the Costco in Wayne.

This week, I opened a bottle I bought in March to eat with spicy fried fish and was bowled over again by the smoothness and complex, mouth-filling flavors. 

I'll drink to you, Costco.

I used a few fistfuls of peeled Christopher Ranch Monviso Garlic from California, a refrigerated product from Costco Wholesale, for this dish of store-bought bok choy (79 cents a pound at the Englewood H Mart) and string beans from our garden with sherry, salt, black pepper and other seasoning. I blanched the vegetables first in boiling water and sauteed the chopped garlic in extra-virgin olive oil.

Facing a garlic deadline

I'm using a lot of garlic in my cooking, especially in view of the "BEST BY" date of Sept. 6 on my latest 3-pound bag of peeled Christopher Ranch Monviso Garlic from Costco Wholesale.

On Thursday night, I chopped up a few fistfuls of garlic and sauteed them with extra-virgin olive oil for a side dish of bok choy and string beans.

This week, I also used lots of garlic in mashed sweet potatoes.

About 10 days ago, I threw three or four handfuls of whole peeled cloves into an electric cooker with organic chicken stock, brown rice, a trio of lentils and diced tomatoes, and the garlic cooked beautifully.

Now, I am again having a problem re-closing the bag of garlic I have in the refrigerator, and I'm using a rubber band to keep air out.

Some of the garlic in a previous bag got moldy before the "BEST BY" date.

A simple salad of red-leaf and romaine lettuces with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I bought the two large heads of lettuce for $1.99 each on Thursday at the Teaneck Farmers' Market.

The cantaloupe I bought for $4 at the Teaneck Farmers' Market, right, next to two others from ShopRite in Paramus, where they were 99 cents each on Tuesday.

Teaneck Farmers' Market, sweet potatoes with garlic and more

On my first visit to the Teaneck Farmers' Market this summer, I bought fruit and lettuce from Sunden's Stone Pointe Farm in Old Tappan.

Editor's note: I won't make a special trip to a farmers' market to shop for pricey fruits and vegetables, but will stop at one if I happen to be passing by. Today, I also discuss garlic mashed sweet potatoes, and how I've come to rely on Costco Wholesale's pure egg whites to make a quick open-face omelet. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

New Jersey farmers' markets are terrific, but their higher prices discourage me from making a special trip to one.

When I lived in Englewood, I loved the downtown farmers' market, and even Hackensack had one for the first couple of years I lived here.

Closter's market is one of the bigger and better ones, but I've been there only two or three times on Sundays, when I've driven up for a haircut at a Korean barber shop.

Now, the closest market to me is in Teaneck. Today, I stopped in on the way home from doing an errand in town.

Two farms set up stands at Garrison Avenue and Beverly Road in Teaneck on Thursdays, and Sunden's Stone Pointe Farm from Old Tappan seems to have better produce.

Two ears for $1

You know I haven't been to a farmers' market in years when I tell you I was shocked that $1 now buys only two ears of sweet Jersey corn.

Sunden's cantaloupes were much bigger than the other vendor's, and they were $4 each, compared to $4 each or two for $7.

I also picked up beautiful Jersey peaches with the fuzz still on them for $1.99 a pound, and big heads of romaine and red-leaf lettuce for $1.99 each.

One good thing about a farmers' market is that produce generally looks better and is bigger than what you find in a ShopRite or other supermarket.

More signs needed

One disadvantage is a lack of signs. Most items I saw at around 10:30 this morning were unlabeled -- no prices and nothing on where they were grown.

After I wrote this, I got a call informing me the hours of the market are noon to 6 p.m., but vendors will sell to you before the official opening.

I only want Jersey produce when I go to a farmers' market, yet I saw boxes of pineapples, bananas and other fruit that clearly aren't from the Garden State.

And all that other stuff they sell -- Amish pies, fresh mozzarella, empanadas and whatever -- why bother?

This year, the market's last day will be Oct. 30.

Don't spare peeled California garlic from Costco Wholesale when making mashed sweet potatoes, a terrific substitute for a bagel or bread at breakfast, below.

A simple, open-face omelet with a slice of reduced-fat Swiss cheese takes only minutes when you use Kirkland Signature Egg Whites from Costco Wholesale.

Sweet potatoes and garlic

I stopped at the Paramus ShopRite looking for sweet potatoes on Tuesday, and saw only loose yams, which are starchier and probably have more calories.

In the week since my last visit, some produce department fixtures were moved.

Then, on a low shelf, I saw net bags of Southern's 10 in 1 Sweet Potatoes, a reference to 10 ways they can be prepared as shown on the label (3 pounds for $2.99).

They are triple washed, and all about the same size.

When I opened the bag the next day, one of the sweet potatoes was rotten and inedible, but I cut up the rest -- skin and all -- and boiled them with fistfuls of peeled Christopher Ranch Monviso Garlic from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

They take about 45 minutes to soften. 

After I drained them and returned them to the pot, I added liberal amounts of extra-virgin olive oil, a little salt and just about any other seasoning I had around:

Black pepper, red-pepper flakes, cinnamon, dried onion and no-salt seasoning.

Then, I mashed and served them. There were plenty of leftovers.

An egg-white omelet with sliced reduced-fat cheese, Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon from Costco Wholesale and Aleppo pepper.

An egg white-smoked wild salmon omelet with leftover organic whole wheat spaghetti in bottled pasta sauce with added anchovies, sardines, red wine and organic diced tomatoes, below.

My wife used more peeled garlic from Costco when she made escoveitched fish on Wednesday, frying fresh whole porgy she bought at H Mart in Englewood for $2.49 a pound. Onions, sweet pepper, garlic and whole peppercorns are stewed separately in vinegar, then spooned over the plated fish.

Teaneck Farmers' Market.