Jersey peaches, mystery EVOO, H Mart specials and more

At the ShopRite in Paramus last week, I found two kinds of peaches in a box under a sign for Jersey grown fruit, above and below. The peach on top was labeled "Jersey Fruit," but the one underneath said, "Yellow Peach," "Sunny Slope" and "USA."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Will the real Jersey Fresh peach please stand up?

New Jersey peaches, labeled "Jersey Fruit," finally arrived at the ShopRite in Paramus last week, but they didn't look that good, and they were mixed with other peaches whose origin was unclear.

I passed.

New Jersey blueberries I bought at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack also carried the "Jersey Fruit" designation on the label, supplementing the traditional phrase, "Jersey Fresh." 

The label on a 3-liter Al Defah bottle doesn't say where the extra-virgin olive oil comes from, at least not in English. I plan to call importer Mediterranean Expo LLC to find out.

Is this a stylized flag of the country where the oil was produced?

Mystery EVOO

Fattal's in Paterson has always been a reliable source for extra-virgin olive oils from Lebanon, Syria and other countries at good prices.

On Friday, I found a 3-liter bottle of Al Defah Extra Virgin Olive Oil for only $13.99 -- or about $4.66 a liter -- compared to $20 or more for 3 liters of EVOO from other sources.

The cashier said the price had recently gone up from $12.99.

The label describes it as "aromatic and extra smooth, first cold pressed."

The store, at 975-77 Main St. in Paterson, is open 7 days, and parking is free in its own lot.

The retail price of a 15-pound bag of California-grown  Kokuho Yellow Label Rice is $16.99, according to the sign I saw on Saturday at the H Mart in Fort Lee.

Retail price of rice is moving target

Depending on which H Mart you shop in, the retail price of Kokuho Yellow Label Rice from California is $14.99 to $16.99.

Why does that matter when this rice is always on sale at most of the Bergen County stores in the Korean supermarket chain?

The sales price has gone up a couple of dollars, attributed to a drought in California, and now the savings claimed is greater or smaller, depending on whether you buy the rice in Englewood, Little Ferry or Fort Lee.

Dinner leftovers for breakfast: Grilled wild sockeye salmon and whole-wheat pappardelle, both with pesto from Costco Wholesale, and Chinese broccoli from H Mart in Little Ferry.

I cooked the wild salmon from Costco Wholesale on a stove-top grill pan for 10 minutes, and it came out medium ($9.99 a pound). It only needs 2 minutes of reheating in a microwave.

Cooking ahead is the way to go

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but if you are in a rush, it's great to have plenty of leftovers in the refrigerator that can be plated and reheated quickly.

I cook large quantities for just this reason: 

Six pieces of grilled wild sockeye salmon, a pound of organic whole-wheat spaghetti, and a pound of greens, quickly blanched in boiling water and seasoned.

Another filling breakfast: An egg-white frittata with salted fish, sweet peppers and chopped garlic; whole-wheat spaghetti in a sauce made with garlic, diced tomatoes, salad greens, tomato sauce, red wine and chicken stock; and Chinese broccoli.

A 10-inch frittata made with egg whites, whole eggs, Campari tomatoes, two kinds of reduced-fat cheese and pesto. Most of the ingredients come from Costco Wholesale.

Dining in and dining out: A welcome return to the familiar

One of the first dishes I prepared at home after returning from a vacation in Montreal was a gooey frittata with egg whites, sliced Swiss cheese, shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, plum tomatoes and pesto, all from Costco Wholesale.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I've been having fun looking in our refrigerator and kitchen cabinets, and preparing meals at home after eight days of eating out in Montreal restaurants.

Some of the wonderfully rich food we ate on vacation undoubtedly contained butter and cream, two things I never cook with.

Now, I'm back to organic quinoa, brown rice and whole-wheat pasta, wild salmon, a simple green salad with every dinner, lots of fruit, reduced-fat cheeses and cooking with extra-virgin olive oil.

Organic whole-wheat capellini with organic diced tomatoes, chopped fresh garlic, capers and anchovies. For a pound of pasta, you need a lot of liquid so I also used a 32-ounce bottle of Classico pasta sauce, red wine, extra-virgin olive oil, red-pepper flakes and dried herbs. I also rinsed the capers and anchovies to reduce sodium in the dish.

Use a big pot if you want to, but you'll need only a few inches of water to boil a pound of capellini, also known as angel-hair pasta, and never salt the water. There is plenty of sodium in your other ingredients, especially if you use bottled pasta sauce.

Whole whiting is an inexpensive wild-caught fish with a center spine and a minimum of other bones, making it ideal for picking up and eating like fried chicken. Here, I served the fried fish with leftover organic quinoa prepared in an electric rice cooker with a can of organic diced tomatoes, salt, and olive and sesame oils. My wife bought the fish for $3.99 a pound at the H Mart in Englewood.

I had three bottles of Archer Farms Roasted Salsa Verde from Target in my kitchen cabinet. The mild salsa, made with tomatillos, jalapeno pepppers and green chiles, is ideal as a sauce for leftover organic quinoa, added before you reheat it in a microwave, above, or spooned onto a simple egg-white omelet with reduced-fat cheese in the last minutes of cooking, below.

Unlike bottled green salsas made in Mexico, Archer Farms Roasted Salsa Verde contains sugar.

Fresh wild sockeye salmon, cut into serving pieces, poaching in Roasted Salsa Verde, which serves as both a cooking medium and a sauce for rice, quinoa, pasta or other side dish. I added salt and optional Aleppo pepper to the fish before I put them into the boiling salsa and covered the pan, cooking them for about 8 minutes. Also optional is fresh lime juice added to the salsa before heating it up. 

When I plated the fish with reheated leftover quinoa, I added chopped oregano and mint from our garden, above and below.

My wife bought the wild sockeye salmon at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack on Tuesday for $10.99 a pound. The label didn't specify where in the United States or which river the fish comes from. Tonight, I ate cold leftover salmon and salsa with ripe peach slices.

This morning, I enjoyed one of my favorite breakfasts, pasta and eggs, in this case leftover whole-wheat capellini and two organic brown eggs, sunny side up, from Costco Wholesale with shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, Aleppo pepper and chopped oregano, mint and basil from outdoor and indoor plants.

Six 12-ounce pints of sweet Jersey Fresh Blueberries -- called a "flat" -- are on sale for $6.99 through Saturday at the ShopRite in Paramus. One of the produce guys said the blueberries can be frozen in a Ziploc bag, and thawed out on the counter overnight. I'm trying that. Golden pineapples are two for $5 and a half-gallon of ShopRite Lactose Free Milk is on sale for $3.29, a savings of 20 cents.

Complete dinner for $10

The first restaurant meal my wife wanted after we returned from Montreal was Korean soft tofu, with a fresh egg, four side dishes and steamed rice.

At So Gong Dong in Palisades Park, the place-mat menu lists the complete meal for $9.99. On the check, it is rounded up to $10 and includes the tax.

Soft tofu is addictive, and you can order it as spicy or as mild as you want.

The stew is brought to the table with your choice of meat, seafood, kimchi or soybeans, bubbling furiously, and a fresh egg is provided for poaching in the steaming broth.

My Rich Soybean Soft Tofu contained whole soybeans.

Rich Soybean Soft Tofu at So Gong Dong in Palisades Park.

Cabbage kimchi is one of the four side dishes that come with the meal, and you can ask for as much as you can eat. Hot or cold tea also is included.

Pickled radish and jalapeno pepper.

Besides soft tofu, we also ordered a seafood pancake ($12), but took most of it home. The simple dining room has tables to accommodate multigenerational Korean families.

The expanded place-mat menu also offers pork and beef barbecue, dumplings, ramyun, bibimbap and other traditional Korean dishes.

So Gong Dong, 118 Broad Ave., 2nd Floor, Palisades Park; 1-201-313-5550. Open 7 days. Free parking on side streets. 

Other So Gong Dongs are in Manhattan and Hartsdale, N.Y.

Cooking fresh fish couldn't be easier

Fresh wild-salmon took only 8 minutes to cook through in bottled green salsa.

The salsa moistened organic brown rice, which we made in an electric cooker.

The price of fresh wild sockeye salmon has eased by $1 to $9.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, where we picked up a 1.49-pound skin-on fillet for dinner on Friday.

My wife prepared the organic brown rice in an electric cooker, and I didn't start the fish until it was ready.

First, I sprinkled the salmon portions with a little salt and a lot of Aleppo red pepper. 

Then, I emptied a bottle of La Costena Mexican Salsa Verde from Hackensack Market into a large non-stick pan, covered it and brought the sauce to a boil.

I removed the cover, put in the salmon portions and covered the pan. I uncovered the pan twice more -- to poke the fish and determine whether it had cooked through by how firm it was.

It took only 8 minutes.

I spooned salmon and sauce over brown rice, garnished them with fresh chopped mint and oregano, had a second piece of fish, and followed with a lettuce salad from the garden.

The fish was hot, juicy and delicious, and the sauce had a nice kick to it.

Goya bottles the same sauce, which can be used to cook any fresh or frozen fish fillet or chicken pieces.  Bottles of salsa verde also can be found at ShopRite.

How sweet it is

These California peaches give off an intoxicating fragrance.

I added a cut-up peach to Trader Joe's Raisin Bran and milk.

A lunch of Jersey blueberries, Champagne mango, apple and sliced cheese.

Also at Costco, my wife picked up a 6-pound box of ripe, fragrant Magenta Queen Peaches from California for $9.99 or about $1.67 a pound.

I sliced one and ate it beside a Georgia peach I bought for $1.99 a pound at Whole Foods Market in Paramus, and the California fruit was far sweeter and juicier.

Crossing borders 

Wild salmon with tomatoes and capers, and cabbage and saltfish.

A smoked wild-salmon omelet with guacamole and Italian olives.

An open-face omelet with stewed tofu, guacamole and radish kimchi.

What was so special about fatty bacon and eggs, the American breakfast that launched the day for decades and likely was responsible for more disease than any single meal?

For the most important meal of the day, fish, tofu and food drawn from other cultures make for a far healthier start.

One fish is good, but two are better -- as in fresh wild sockeye salmon paired with salted pollock in a Jamaica dish, cabbage and saltfish.

Instead of bread, add boiled Korean yam and green banana.

Stewed tofu from H Mart tastes great hot or cold, and goes well with eggs sunny side up or an open-face, egg-white omelet with smoked wild salmon.

Guacamole from Costco, mixed with bottled salsa; Italian olives from Jerry's Gourmet in Englewood, and radish kimchi make terrific breakfast side dishes.

Add a little sweetness to your fresh wild-caught sockeye salmon

Image by drurydrama (Len Radin) via Flickr

Wild-caught pollock  is a cheaper alternative to cod.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The culinary fireworks didn't go off in my kitchen until after the long July Fourth weekend was over.


On Tuesday, I made an early trip to Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, picking up boxes of peaches and beefsteak tomatoes, organic spring mix and another fillet of fresh, wild sockeye salmon ($7.99 a pound).


I can't get enough of this wonderfully oily fish. Except for a 10-day break, I've eaten a pound or more weekly since it first appeared at Costco in late May.


For dinner Tuesday, I went out to my garden for rosemary, oregano, mint and basil, and washed and chopped them coarsely. From the refrigerator, I took a lemon and a container of Aleppo red pepper.

Fish with peaches

The fillet weighed under 1.5 pounds, so I cut it into seven small portions, squeezing on some lemon juice and then adding ground Aleppo pepper and herbs.


The large peaches were on the counter, and a light went off. The peaches were ripe and had a nice aroma, so I sliced one and put the pieces here and there in the roasting pan with the salmon.


I cooked the fillets in a pre-heated, 350-degree oven for 15 minutes, longer than usual, because my wife likes her salmon cooked through. 


I took out one portion after 10 minutes for my dinner, along with two peach slices, which were hot and had softened further in the oven. I had a second portion, with more peach slices and a salad. Delicious.


The fruit and the fish -- sweet and savory -- are nice foils for each other.


For breakfast this morning, I had another portion of fish and two peach slices right out of the fridge, over red-leaf lettuce from my garden, tomato, cucumber and olives.

Kosher Costco

From the refrigerated case in Costco's kosher section, I bought Meal Mart Hungarian-style Beef Stuffed Cabbage for my wife. 

Four large rolls with beef and mashed potatoes in sweetened tomato sauce weigh 2.5 pounds.


They are fully cooked and not just kosher, but Glatt kosher. Don't ask. The price, $8.99, seems a lot, because there's nothing on the package about how the beef was raised. 


It probably was raised conventionally with antibiotics and growth hormones.

Salt fish

At Costco last week, I bought more salted, wild-caught pollock from Canada -- 2 pounds for $7.29, up from $6.39. That's still a couple of dollars less than a single pound of salted cod at ShopRite, Fairway Market in Paramus and other stores.


On Tuesday, I picked up more Pasta Prima lobster ravioli -- 30 ounces for $11.99 -- but couldn't find lobster bisque, corn-and-chicken chowder, and other  refrigerated soups.


I was told they've been discontinued for the summer.