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.

Summer delights: Grilled Jersey peaches, salad with ripe figs

This morning, I finally found decent looking Jersey peaches at the ShopRite in Paramus, where they were $1.49 a pound, 50 cents more than when they first appeared and didn't look good enough to buy. The labels on the peaches themselves matched the box, which is not always the case.

Start with a spray can of canola or olive oil, heat up a grill pan, add peach halves and listen for the sizzle ...

Turn the peaches, grill some more and then add a little Ground Saigon Cinnamon from Costco Wholesale. Grilled ripe peaches go perfectly with wild sockeye salmon, also available at Costco.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The hard Jersey peaches I bought this morning are ripening on my kitchen counter until they are ready for my stove-top grill.

When I brought them home, I still had a few South Carolina peaches I got last week instead of the misshapen Jersey fruit I saw at the ShopRite in Paramus.

So, I grilled them on the stove top, and dusted them with cinnamon.

They'll go great with leftover wild sockeye salmon I have in the refrigerator -- making a sweet and savory dinner.

Don't you just love summer fruit?

I sliced ripe, sugary Black Mission Figs from California for this salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, salt-free almonds I roast at home and dust with cinnamon, and small plum tomatoes from my garden. The dressing is extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.