Do you know how to do 'The Frittata'?

A homemade tomato-pesto frittata with leftover brown rice and Korean-style stewed tofu for breakfast includes ingredients from Costco Wholesale and H Mart.

Editor's note: Today's buffet includes simple steps for making a frittata, a walk through an exotic produce aisle and restaurant-quality takeout for only $5.99 a person.

Slices of a Sunset-brand Beefsteak Tomato from Costco Wholesale, above, are placed in an egg-and-cheese mixture that was poured into a hot, 10-inch pan with extra-virgin olive oil, below.

As the bottom of the frittata continues to set over a medium flame, I add spoonfuls of Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto, slices of sun-dried tomato and Kirkland Signature Organic No-Salt Seasoning, below.

I used three whole organic brown eggs and several ounces of liquid egg whites, plus grated Pecorino Romano Cheese and a little-low-fat milk to give the frittata a fluffy interior. I finished it under a low broiler setting for 7 minutes.

You don't have to know how to dance to do "The Frittata" -- which is nothing more than a thick, open-face omelet that you start on the stove and finish under the broiler until the top is golden brown.

This morning, I had a big wedge for breakfast with organic brown rice and stewed tofu from H Mart, a Korean supermarket.

Leftovers are great for a light lunch or dinner with a big salad.

Costco Wholesale's refrigerated Basil Pesto is wonderful in a tomato-and-cheese frittata, and adding Costco's smoked wild salmon takes it over the top.

The name and the price of this exotic fruit stopped me on Thursday in the produce aisle of H Mart in Little Ferry, and it wasn't the only fruit at the Korean supermarket I wasn't familiar with.

I looked over H Mart's large selection of greens, and bought about 2 pounds of Gaichoy or Chinese Mustard Greens for 99 cents a pound. At home, I cut the stems and leaves into smaller pieces, blanched them in boiling water and then transferred them to a hot wok with sesame oil, sliced fresh garlic and a little soy sauce, stir-frying them until they were heated through, above.

I had the greens with leftover escoveitch of croaker, a Jamaican-style fish that was pan-fried and doused with hot vinegar, pimento, sweet peppers and onions.The croaker was $3.99 a pound at H Mart.

On Wednesday, I stopped at Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood for three Meals To Go. The complete dinners included Squid Balsamico, above, with seafood pasta, vegetables and a frittata.

Shrimp Francese dinners also came with seafood pasta, above, or vegetables, below.

After 4 p.m., the price of Jerry's Meals To Go drops to $5.99, and the discount is usually given at the register.

On Wednesday afternoon, I managed to get three Meals To Go at Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood -- only moments before a woman walked up to the open refrigerated case and grabbed the last one.

After all the rubbery squid I've had you would think I would have passed on Jerry's Squid Balsamico, but its one of my favorite dinners.

Even after plating and reheating the squid in the microwave, the rings remain tender and delicious. 

Chinatown near the turnpike

Live tilapia were going for only $3.68 a pound on Friday at Hong Kong Supermarket, but there was no information on the origin of the fish .

Don't look for Hong Kong Supermarket and a cluster of other Chinese-owned businesses in lower Manhattan's Chinatown.


Instead, the bustling market is in a small shopping center less than a mile from Exit 9 of the New Jersey Turnpike.


You can have your hair cut or styled; get a massage or acupuncture treatment for a sore elbow; and pick up sushi, a live fish and fresh greens for dinner.

A salon, left, and a massage center are outside the entrance to the supermarket. Nearby, a small sushi restaurant offers prepared items and table service.

I drove past the supermarket a few times on the way to another part of East Brunswick and finally stopped in Friday afternoon, joining other Good Friday shoppers.


Hong Kong Supermarket is bigger than New King Fung Supermarket in River Edge, but only marginally cleaner.

A large variety of Asian greens are packaged for shoppers.

First, I picked up five small avocados from Chile for $1.98.


Then, I stopped to look over fresh greens, selecting sugar pea shoots for $1.98 a pound (photo above) and small mustard greens for $1.29 a pound.


The price for live fish is the lowest I have ever seen, but the store's fish counter doesn't have the signs it is required to, telling shoppers two things: the origin of seafood and whether it is farmed or wild.

Shrimp come in all sizes.

I wouldn't buy live fish from China, which has a poor food-safety record. I've seen wild-caught tilapia on ice at H Mart, and would prefer them over their farmed cousins.


I made only two other purchases, a 22-ounce bottle of Kadoya Sesame Oil from Japan (on sale for $5.98) and a package of Brown Rice Vermicelli ($1.69).


When I got home, I prepared half of the vermicelli and mixed it with blanched sugar pea shoots, flavoring them with sesame oil, soy sauce and Sriracha hot sauce.

Barbecued ducks.

Hong Kong Supermarket is part of an East Coast chain based in Flushing, Queens.

Chicken feet for $1.28 a pound.

Dragon fruit.

Hong Kong Supermarket, 275 Route 18 south, East Brunswick; 1-732-651-8288.


Web site: Chinese shopping hub


Directions: After paying the toll at Exit 9 of the New Jersey Turnpike (New Brunswick), follow signs to Route 18 south. Shopping center will be on your right.


East Brunswick is about 40 miles south of Hackensack.