Putting a delicious summer meal on the table for less than $7 a person

Fresh whole wild-caught whiting were $1.99 a pound on Sunday at H Mart, 260 Bergen Turnpike in Little Ferry. Six of them, enough to feed four, were only $7.72.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Why whiting?

If you love whole fish, pan-fried whiting are among the easiest to eat, because of a single center bone surrounded by flaky morsels of sweet flesh.

A Sunday dinner with whiting, sauteed greens, a salad and fruit for dessert costs under $7 a person.

That's a guesstimate for a meal that included lettuce and fruit I had on hand, and leftover organic brown rice as a side dish for other family members.

After washing, cutting up and spin drying, Chinese Broccoli is easy to saute with olive and sesame oils, a little red wine, and such seasonings as garlic powder, red-pepper flakes and sea salt.

  

AT H Mart in Little Ferry, I bought almost 2 pounds of Chinese Broccoli, which was on sale for 98 cents a pound.

I also had a salad of Romaine Lettuce with grape tomatoes from my garden, dressed with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

$29.99 rice cooker is better than one that costs three times the price

CHEAPER AND BETTER: The Aroma Professional Rice Cooker, Slow Cooker and Steamer, left, was $29.99 last week at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, compared to the Panasonic 10-cup Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooker, which I bought in April 2013, when it listed for $89.99.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In 2013, I ordered a new Panasonic rice cooker with lots of bells and whistles from Amazon.com, and my wife refused to use it.

She remained loyal to my first electric rice cooker, also from Panasonic, even though it was more than a dozen years old and the inner pot often burned the bottom of white rice.

On top of that, the inner pot was cracked, and Panasonic no longer stocked a new one.

She felt the new Panasonic cooker was slow, and didn't like all the condensation that accumulated in the U-shaped channel under the lid.

The new cooker also took nearly two hours to cook organic brown rice, which is all I prepare at home. 

I smell a bargain

Last week, I walked into Costco Wholesale in Teterboro and an Aroma Rice Cooker, Slow Cooker and Steamer immediately caught my eye, especially the low price, only $29.99.

The Panasonic cooker I got from Amazon.com cost $67.99, but listed for $89.99.

The Aroma 3000SB cooker is nearly 30 minutes faster than the newer Panasonic cooker when preparing brown rice, and it has a neat feature to catch and drain condensation.

My wife used it to make white rice on the regular setting; it also has a "quick rice" setting that does the job in 10 minutes.

FASTER BROWN RICE: The Aroma cooker is faster when it comes to brown rice. Here, I added grated Pecorino Romano Cheese before I reheated leftover organic brown rice, prepared with red kidney beans, organic diced tomatoes, and peeled garlic cloves, for breakfast with two cage-free organic eggs.

MORE CHOICES: The 20-cup Aroma 3000SB rice cooker, above, has more functions than the more expensive Panasonic cooker, below.

OOPS: The Panasonic rice cooker is the first I've ever seen with a spatula server that doesn't fit inside.

LONGER WARRANTY: The Aroma rice cooker has a 5-year warranty, compared to 1-year warranty for the Panasonic cooker.

FOR CONDENSATION: This plastic collector, which catches condensation from inside the Aroma rice cooker, can be removed to throw the water into the sink.

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.

For heart-healthy meals at home, add color and flavor -- not butter

Organic brown rice prepared in an electric cooker -- fragrant with chopped fresh garlic, organic chicken stock and extra-virgin olive oil -- gets a bit of color from a can of organic diced tomatoes. The ingredients, from Costco Wholesale and other stores, go into the cooker at the same time along with a little sea salt.

An egg-white omelet fried in olive oil is stuffed with fresh spinach and Mateo's Gourmet Salsa from Costco (32 ounces for $6.39) , which also adds flavor to a square of fresh sesame-seed tofu, left.

Salted Alaskan pollock goes into this colorful breakfast of cabbage and salt fish sauteed in olive oil, made with red, orange and green sweet peppers from Costco and ShopRite.

Leftover seafood frittata and mustard greens make a hearty breakfast when served over organic brown rice and Mateo's salsa.

Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Hot Cereal takes 10 minutes to prepare on the stove top with added dried figs and dates, hemp hearts and chia seeds, pignoli nuts and organic agave sweetener. I added a little 2% lactose-free milk at the table.

At home last Wednesday, I plated and reheated a restaurant-quality Meals To Go from Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St. in Englewood, including tender Calamari and Shrimp Fra Diavolo, Stuffed Portobello Mushroom with Vegetable and Cheese Ravioli Al Pomodoro. I gave a third component, Roasted Potatoes and Sausage, to a meat eater in the family ($5.99 after 4 p.m.)

'Never on Monday' is my rule at Hackensack Costco

On Friday at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, some of the free samples contained poultry, such as the mini tacos, above. The samples are prepared and offered by employees of a company called CDS, and I don't know whether it is affiliated with Costco.

 Editor's note: Today's buffet includes a warning about free samples at Costco Wholesale, the simple pleasures of preparing meals at home, a visit to my favorite Korean tofu house and shopping at H Mart in Englewood.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Don't shop for food when you're hungry, especially on Mondays at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, where you'll have a hard time finding any free samples.

Last Monday, the only samples that didn't contain chicken, which I don't eat, were tiny cups of aloe drink.

Two CDS employees confirmed that the fewest samples are provided on the first day of the workweek.

At the Hackensack warehouse store on Friday, I tried a little salad with queso fresco and sweet-and-sour pickles, which gave me gas and a bloated feeling.

Two other free samples I saw, ravioli and mini tacos, contained chicken and cheese.

One CDS employee said fewer samples are offered on Mondays, because they are "slow."

Simple food, simple pleasures

Two Kirkland Signature organic brown eggs served over leftover organic brown rice prepared in an electric cooker with Costco's organic diced tomatoes. One yolk is covered with za'atar thyme mixture, left, and the other has shredded Asiago Cheese and Aleppo pepper. The price for two dozen organic eggs hasn't changed ($6.99), but Costco has reduced the size of the paper label by two-thirds.

Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix and Sunset-brand cucumbers and Campari Tomatoes make a great salad, especially with sodium-free almonds I roast at home and dust with ground cinnamon from Vietnam -- all available at Costco Wholesale. The dressing is extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. A 3-pound bag of the almonds went up recently by about $3 to $14.99, likely as the result of the drought in California.

Kirkland Signature 100% Egg Whites and reduced-fat Swiss cheese slices from Costco make a great omelet, especially with bottled Mexican green salsa or salsa verde, above, available at Hackensack Market, ShopRite and other stores.

In the last few weeks, Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix has exploded with the peppery flavor of arugula, above and below. Spring mix over warm organic brown rice adds up to a simple, delicious dinner.

Cinnamon-dusted almonds and a little Kirkland Signature Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese from Italy are a couple of welcome additions to a salad of pre-washed organic spring mix. The Italian cheese, made from part-skimmed cow's milk and aged more than 24 months, is $11.49 a pound at Costco.

What's for breakfast? A wedge of sweet potato frittata with organic brown rice and Mexican green salsa.

I picked up a 6.5-pound bag of sweet potatoes at Costco on Friday ($5.99), baked five of them until the natural sugar bubbled out and sliced two uncooked ones for a sweet-and-savory frittata of whole eggs, whites, shredded cheese, no-salt seasoning and chopped garlic, all topped with bottled La Costena Mexican green salsa.

Holier guacamole

I have enjoyed the preservative-free Wholly Guacamole I've been buying at Costco for the past few years, and it's now organic.

You still get three 16-ounce portions, which freeze beautifully, and the price is $10.99, compared to $9.49 for the non-organic version.

Hass Avocados are used, along with garlic and other ingredients, and the result is a deliciously smooth, thick guacamole perfect for eating on its own, mixing with bottled salsa or spreading on a sandwich.

Also on Friday, we picked up more Coleman Organic Chicken, which is labeled "hatched, raised and harvested in USA."

Drumsticks were $1.99 a pound, but skinless-and-boneless thighs were $4.79 a pound, a very un-Costco-like price.

No tofu tonight

Feeling gassy and bloated from free food samples at Costco on Friday, I stuck with a simple Korean seafood pancake and side dishes that night at our favorite tofu house, So Gong Dong in Palisades Park.

But the meat eaters in the family went to town, ordering Pork Soft Tofu "more spicy" with rice ($9.99) and Beef Barbecue ($15.99).

So Gong Dong serves four free side dishes, including cucumber kimchi, above, and cabbage kimchi, below, and when you finish them, they are replenished without any need to prompt the servers.

Side dishes of seasoned bean sprouts, above, and radish and raw squid, below, the spiciest of the four.

A Korean pancake or pajun with seafood serves four and comes with a dipping sauce, below ($11.99).

A scissor is supplied to cut the beef barbecue.

Part of the place-mat menu.

The second-floor entrance of So Gong Dong, 118 Broad Ave., Palisades Park (201-313-5550). Open seven days.

Wild shrimp from Mexico

At H Mart in Englewood on Saturday, I asked to use the public restroom upstairs, and discovered it wasn't renovated when the store got a welcome makeover.

Still, the food downstairs looked as good as always, and I picked up large, wild shrimp from Mexico ($14.49 a pound), collard greens (99 cents a pound) and from the wide selection of prepared food, Stewed Tofu ($3.99), Stewed Pollock ($6.99) and an Assortment of Pan-Fried Seafood Pancakes ($6.49), all from Jinga, a food company in Queens.

One-pound packages of sweet Driscoll's Strawberries from California were two for $3.99.

At H Mart in Englewood, clockwise from the top, seafood pancakes, seaweed-and-rice rolls called kimbap and spicy fried chicken.

The selection of panchan or side dishes is extensive.

Cooking with a fistful of peeled California garlic

A pound of organic baby spinach, a couple of fistfuls of peeled Christopher Ranch California Garlic, avocado and sesame oils and a few drops of soy sauce made a great side dish for spice-covered haddock fillets, below.

The leftover organic brown rice I served with the spinach and fish also was prepared with a couple of fistfuls of chopped peeled garlic that went into the electric cooker with organic diced tomatoes, water and uncooked rice. Spinach, fish, garlic and avocado oil were from Costco Wholesale.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor


Costco Wholesale's 3-pound bag of peeled Christopher Ranch California Garlic encourages you to use a free hand with the pungent flavoring in home-cooked dishes.

Just don't make the mistake I did of chopping up a handful of raw cloves and mixing them into a salad made from canned tuna, pink salmon and sardines.

Cooking mellows the Monviso heirloom variety of garlic from California, and I've been adding it to sauteed baby spinach, bottled pasta sauce, organic brown rice and the egg mixture that goes into a frittata.

A 3-pound bag of the refrigerated garlic was $5.99 at my Hackensack warehouse store. 

I squeezed lime juice over Icelandic haddock fillets ($8.99 a pound at Costco), breaded them in a Super Spice Mixture I keep in a tub in the refrigerator and baked them at 375 degrees for about 14 minutes.

The baby spinach with garlic re-appeared at breakfast the next day with an organic brown egg, store-bought tofu, a leftover wedge of yam-and-pesto frittata, and brown rice with garlic.

I chopped up a couple of fistfuls of peeled garlic and threw them into bottled pasta sauce with sardines I heated up while 1 pound of Whole Foods Market Organic Whole Wheat Linguine cooked. When making organic whole wheat shells with pesto, I've thrown chopped garlic into the pasta water. Whole Foods Market organic whole wheat pasta from Italy cooks up al dente in less time than listed on the package.

Nothing could be more convenient for garlic lovers than a big bag of peeled California garlic at a reasonable price.