Dining, food and shopping notes

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The upscale Greek fish house called Nisi Estiatorio in Englewood offers a $17 lunch that compares favorably with the three $24.07 lunches I enjoyed recently in Manhattan. Nisi's lunch is three courses, like its pricier competition, and the fish is just as fresh. The restaurant serves olives and bread drizzled with olive oil.

I started with house-cured salmon in ouzo (the menu didn't say if this was farmed or wild-caught fish). My entree was a red-snapper fillet grilled simply with the skin on and served with an emulsion of extra-virgin olive oil and lemon with capers, and a side dish of sauteed greens, including Swiss chard. Dessert was rich Greek yogurt with berries. A terrific lunch.

Nisi Estiatorio is at 90 Grand Ave., Englewood; 201-567-4700.

Organic spinach at Costco

I stopped at Costco in Hackensack this morning to see if I could find organic spinach. A one-pound package was $3.99, compared with $6.99 at ShopRite.

Summer salads

I made a couple of salads over the weekend to see me through the week. 

I took a half-pound of whole fava beans (photo) I bought frozen at Jerry's in Englewood, boiled them and dressed them in extra-virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice, adding salt and Middle Eastern spices to taste, including cumin and Aleppo red pepper from Fattal's in Paterson.

I did the same with a half-pound of gourmet fingerling potatoes from Costco. Both the fava beans and potatoes taste great stuffed into warm pocket bread.

Skate wing for dinner


After lunch at Nisi in Englewood, I stopped at the Korean supermarket called H Mart to look over the fresh fish. I found skate wing for $2.99 a pound and, although the fishmonger said I don't have to do anything to it before cooking, I suspect the one-pound-plus piece I bought contains a bone.


At the Greek restaurant Anthos in Manhattan, where I had skate wing as part of a three-course lunch for $24.07 last Friday, it is listed on the a la carte menu at $29.

Wild salmon at Costco

There was plenty of fresh, wild sockeye salmon at Costco this morning for $8.99 a pound, its color a vivid contrast with the farmed, artificially colored salmon at the other end of the case. Costco also sells previously frozen, wild sockeye that has been naturally smoked without preservatives for $14.99 a pound, a price that would be hard to match elsewhere. Unlike the fresh sockeye, the smoked version is available year-round.

I originally wrote the smoked salmon was $4.99 a pound. That was incorrect.

Cooking for one isn't easy

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My wife and son are away, meaning I do less food shopping and much less cooking. In fact, with the heat waves we've been having, I may cook a meal once a week, if that, and my meals are a lot less formal.


The other night, I used organic spinach leaves to cover a Napoletana pizza with fresh mozzarella and red sauce from Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood ($4.99), added a few cherry tomato halves from the garden, seasoned it and drizzled on extra-virgin olive oil. I popped it into a 375-degree oven for less than a half hour.


The chewy dough crisped up a bit and the spinach softened. Half of the 12-inch pizza, a big salad with cucumber from the garden, wine and seltzer made a fine dinner.


Last week, I boiled a half-pound of rigatoni and in a separate pan, heated up half of a 32-ounce bottle of marinara sauce with added seasonings and red-pepper flakes, plenty of fresh spinach and cherry tomato halves. I was out of anchovies, but would have added them to the sauce.




At the table, I was liberal with grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, poured myself a glass of red wine and used toasted baguette to sop up the remaining sauce. I also ate that with a big salad. The leftovers made a second meal. 


At Costco in Hackensack, I bought a 1.73-pound, skin-on fillet of fresh wild sockeye salmon ($8.99 a pound, product of USA) on Tuesday, cut it into six portions; added fresh lemon juice, salt, Aleppo pepper and chopped parsley and other herbs; and baked it at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes for medium. I gobbled down one portion down without salad or bread, and it was moist, fatty and delicious.


This morning, I made a sandwich on 100% whole grain toast for breakfast: half a portion of baked wild salmon, a slice of smoked wild sockeye, leftover spinach frittata, tomato from the garden, romaine lettuce and Dijon mustard. It was terrific, though too big to fit in my mouth.


The remaining baked wild salmon will be wonderful right out of the fridge with a big salad or on another sandwich, and should last me through the week.


For snacks, I have plenty of Washington State cherries, Jersey blueberries, roasted almonds and low-fat cheese on hand.