A bunch of organic cilantro from Whole Foods Market goes a long way

A wedge of a cilantro lover's frittata served over organic brown rice. I folded chopped fresh organic cilantro and grated cheese into a mixture of eight whole eggs and a couple of ounces of low-fat milk, and showered the finished frittata with more cilantro.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In the dead of winter, fresh herbs bring homemade dishes alive.

Last Saturday, I drove up to the new Whole Foods Market in Closter to see if I could use a coupon for $30 off on a purchase of $150 that expired that day.

As I walked around the store, I picked up a few things, including a generous bunch of organic cilantro ($1.99), one of my favorite herbs.

Cilantro is also known as Chinese parsley, and the dried seed is ground and sold as coriander.

The Closter Whole Foods doesn't sell wine, and I didn't think I could use a dozen cooked Dungeness Crabs, which were on sale for $9.99 a pound at the fish counter.

So, I ended up giving the coupon to a woman with a full shopping cart after the cashier estimated she had purchased more than $150.

We chatted briefly, and the woman said she knocks herself out buying organic food for her family, but her teenage son can't wait to go to a fast-food restaurant.

I've been using the chopped cilantro all week long, and finished it tonight, when I added it to plate of organic quinoa.

Fish from Iceland

I rely on Costco Wholesale in Teterboro for fresh wild-caught fish fillets from Iceland.

But rough winter weather has kept boats in port and disrupted the supply to retailers big and small, including The Fish Dock, a fresh-fish market in downtown Closter owned by Icelanders.

On Tuesday, the flounder I bought at Costco came from Canada, and there was no Icelandic cod or haddock in the refrigerated case.

On Wednesday night, I showered boneless-and-skinless flounder fillets with fresh chopped cilantro after poaching the fish in Roasted Salsa Verde, from Whole Foods Market; fresh lemon juice and crushed Aleppo pepper, below.

I usually use the salsa and lemon juice by themselves, but I had chopped garlic, sweet pepper and onion left over from another recipe, so I sauteed them in olive oil first. After the mixture started boiling in a covered pan, I add the translucent fillets, which turned white and plumped up in about 5 minutes after I covered the pot again, indicating they were ready.

A 16-ounce bottle of 365 Everyday Value Roasted Salsa Verde, which is free of MSG and added sugar you find in other brands, is $2.69 at Whole Foods Market. I used only half the bottle, and refrigerated the rest for adding to omelets or as a sauce over quinoa or brown rice.

On Tuesday, after I purchased 2.2 pounds of the flounder from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro ($7.99 a pound), I coated most of the fillets in Asian Indian spices and prepared a Fish & Vegetable Medley with fresh spinach, tomato slices, chopped black olives, grated cheese and fresh lemon juice, above and below.

I showered the fish and other ingredients with fresh chopped cilantro before putting the pan into a preheated 400-degree oven. The flounder was ready in 15 minutes.

I used about a half-pound of organic spinach from Costco, drizzled with olive oil, in a large rectangular pan lined with parchment paper, then added the fish and other ingredients 

Fresh cilantro accenting a plate of leftover organic quinoa, which I prepared in an electric rice cooker with chicken broth, organic diced tomatoes and chopped fresh garlic.

For the frittata, pour the mixture of eggs, low-fat milk, grated cheese and cilantro into a 10-inch non-stick pan with olive oil over a medium flame. Add slices of plum tomatoes and more grated cheese.

When the crust sets, move the pan into the oven, using a low broiler setting, above.

After about 25 minutes, the frittata was ready. Remove from oven and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Looking for bargains at Whole Foods

Image by Matt Stratton via Flickr

Before I picked up a rotisserie chicken at Whole Foods Market in Paramus on Friday, I walked through the store looking for sale items. (See earlier post, "A beautiful rotisserie chicken").

There are some incredibly high-priced items, such as one liter of extra-virgin olive oil from Sicily for $27.99. sold under the label of a restaurant, Frankies 457 in Brooklyn. I asked a couple of employees how much of that goes to organized crime. A 32-ounce bottle of Rao's marinara sauce was on sale for $7.99 -- you save $3. I passed on both.

Did you know artisinal pasta is made in New Jersey? Two pounds of dried pasta from Westmont, N.J., was on sale for $6. Whole Foods' wonderful dried organic pasta from Italy wasn't on sale, unfortunately. It was $1.99 a pound.

I needed cilantro (photo) for tacos (my wife found none at ShopRite in Englewood). An organic bunch was $1.69, which seemed reasonable. When I got home, I chopped it up immediately and put it it a container with chopped white onion -- the classic taco garnish used in Mexico. I have found cilantro lasts far longer when combined with onion. (See earlier post, "Lamb tacos in 45 seconds").