A late-summer bounty of wild salmon, tomatoes, peaches and more

Grilled fresh wild sockeye salmon from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro ($9.99 a pound), in a thick sauce of Salsa Roja from Whole Foods Market, Costco's organic diced tomatoes and fresh lime juice. A 2.3-pound fillet fed four with leftovers at a cost of less than $6 a person.

Using spray oil on a grill pan that straddles two burners on the top of our stove, I cooked seven serving pieces of the wild salmon over medium-high heat for 6 minutes to 8 minutes,  turning them once.

I plated all of the salmon, added the sauce and ate mine with leftover organic quinoa prepared in an electric cooker with cherry tomatoes from our garden, organic black beans and peeled garlic cloves.

We pick the cherry tomatoes when they are still green and let them ripen on the kitchen counter.

A box of large mangoes from Brazil was $8.99 last Sunday at H Mart in Little Ferry.

This morning, I made a simple 10-inch frittata with egg whites, plenty of grated cheese, cherry tomatoes, store-bought Romana Tomatoes, red-pepper flakes, Costco's Organic No-Salt Seasoning and dried mint.

Large South Jersey peaches from Costco (6 pounds for $7.99) started rotting on the kitchen counter two days after my wife brought them home, so I refrigerated them overnight, then trimmed and grilled them on the stove top to eat with eggs or fish.

Red snappers weighing 3 pounds to 4 pounds were on sale for $6.99 a pound last Sunday at H Mart in Little Ferry. My wife seasoned the cleaned whole fish, stuffed it with fresh okra, wrapped it in aluminum foil and baked it in the oven at 375 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

A breakfast of Eggs in a Bowl, fried sweet plantains and a Spinach Empanada from Fusion Empanada, 838 Main St., Hackensack (1-201-880-9800).

For Eggs in a Bowl, my wife broke two whole organic eggs into an oven-proof bowl, seasoned them and added sweet pepper, onion and cherry tomatoes before baking them until the mixture browned on top.

My wife reheated two baked Shrimp Empanadas, one Lobster Empanada and one Spinach Empanada she picked up the day before ($3 for spinach, $3.50 for lobster or shrimp, including dipping sauces).

For a great side dish at any meal, I saute Earthbound Farm's Deep Green Blend of Organic Baby Kale, Chard and Spinach in olive and sesame oils, a little cheap sake and Costco's Organic No-Salt Seasoning, a blend of 21 spices and other ingredients. 

A 1.5-pound bag of the Deep Green Blend was $4.99 at the Costco Wholesale Business Center in Hackensack.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

Searching for bargain fruit at H Mart, snack bars at Costco Wholesale

Shoppers showed little interest in these overpriced Jaffa Clementines at the H Mart in Little Ferry on Sunday.

Seed to Table-brand seedless watermelons on sale for $4.99 were a much better deal. H Mart is at 260 Bergen Turnpike, Little Ferry. If you go, watch for large puddles in the parking lot.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I found good buys on fruit, fresh fish and greens on Sunday at H Mart in Little Ferry.

And free seafood samples -- which disappeared in late April -- just as suddenly reappeared, offering cooked crab meat, seafood pancake, broiled mussels topped with fish eggs and other items.

I grazed on those samples as I waited for a fish counter worker to clean three fresh, wild-caught red snappers I bought at $4.99 a pound or $2 less than usual.

A medium-size seedless watermelon was on sale for $4.99, and 1-pound packages of Driscoll Strawberries were two for $2.49.

Shanghai Green Tips, which resemble baby bok choy, were on sale for 88 cents a pound.

At the Costco Wholesale Business Center on South River Street in Hackensack, I compared Nature Valley Fruit & Nut Chewy Granola Trail Mix Bars, above, with KIND Fruit & Nut Bars, below. Nature Valley offers three times as many bars for a lower price, but only the KIND bar is non-GMO. 

The Nature Valley bar has fewer calories, less fat and less sugar than the KIND bar, but more sodium. The KIND bar has more fiber. I tried the Nature Valley bar, and liked the taste. But is doesn't have the long-lasting satisfaction of the KIND bar. 

Salad-bar spinach omelets, kimchi rice and fresh wild-caught fish

Fresh spinach from the cafe salad bar at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, where I volunteer one day a week, and reduced-fat Swiss Cheese from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack are terrific for stuffing egg-white omelets. Here, I served the omelet with sweet potatoes mashed with extra-virgin olive oil, cinnamon and other seasonings.

This morning, I used the last of the salad-bar spinach for another egg-white omelet, this one made with grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese from Costco Wholesale, za'atar thyme mixture and Aleppo red pepper, the last two from Fattal's, 975 Main St., Paterson.

An easy snack uses leftover organic brown rice, which I prepared in an electric cooker with organic diced tomatoes, and Arirang Kimchi, made and sold in a storefront at the H&Y Marketplace, 1 Remsen Place, Ridgefield.

My wife seasoned and pan-fried fresh whole croaker she bought on Sunday for $2.99 a pound at the H Mart, 28 Lafayette Ave., Englewood. Whole papaya, Kabocha squash, mustard greens and scallions also were on sale.

She also purchased two large wild-caught red snappers for $5.99 a pound at H Mart. She seasoned the fish and prepared it in a covered pot with fresh thyme, sweet peppers, onion and garlic. The light, flavorful sauce included extra-virgin olive oil, fresh lime juice and the liquid the fish gives up during cooking.

My wife cut up, seeded and boiled the Kabocha squash, including the dark-green skin, then mashed it with extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings. This morning, the mashed squash was a great bread substitute with two organic eggs from Costco with shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese and Aleppo red pepper.

--VICTOR E. SASSON

From a communist country to a Costco near you

Costco Wholesale's Kirkland Signature Ground Saigon Cinnamon label is superimposed on a map of Vietnam, a communist country. A run-on sentence with a typo describes the cinnamon trees and the "unmatched" sweet-hot flavor of the cinnamon.

 

I've been using Costco Wholesale's Ground Saigon Cinnamon for years, and love the special flavor it gives to homemade lattes, hot cereal and salt-free roasted almonds.

I also buy Costco's farmed Black Tiger Shrimp from Vietnam, a communist country, and I know that schools of farmed, catfish-like basa fillet land on U.S. shores every year.

I don't really have a problem with Costco selling food from a communist country.

But I wish Costco and other U.S. retailers would sell products from another communist government, the one on the island of Cuba.

The trade embargo imposed on Cuba in the Kennedy administration means any U.S. company that tries to sell island products faces big financial penalties.

And customs officials likely would confiscate and destroy any Cuban products brought home by American tourists returning from the Caribbean's biggest island.

Cuba is known for its wonderful rum, but also produces excellent coffee, and it's the only place I know where you can find 100% mango juice in grocery stores.

Americans buy fresh, wild-caught red snapper from South America, but are denied Cuban pargo, lobster and other seafood.   

Enjoying a great meal in a familiar setting

Steamed Whole Fish with chili pepper at Wondee's in  Hackensack.

Fresh Green Papaya Salad.

"Where do you want to eat tonight? Jamaican? Cuban ...?"

My teenage son surprised me by picking not Jamaican, his favorite, but Wondee's Fine Thai Food & Noodles in Hackensack.

OK. It was no surprise. We've loved Wondee's for years, and often, we go there when we can't reach a consensus on our weekly meal out.

I grabbed a bottle of Dos Equis Mexican dark beer from home and drove to Wondee's on Main Street, parking in a rear lot and entering through the back door.

Wonton Soup with roast pork.

Often, we see Chef Wandee Suwangbutra eating her dinner at a table between the register and kitchen doors, but we arrived about an hour later than usual on Saturday night.

I ordered salad and a whole fish to share with my son, and for him, soup and dessert.

I almost always have Som Thum, the Fresh Green Papaya Salad, which to me is the essence of Thai cuisine -- sweet, sour and spicy with an emphasis on vegetables ($8.50).

I asked Wandee about the dressing, and she listed lime juice, fish sauce and palm sugar from the coconut tree.

The salad is crunchy with strands of green papaya,  green beans and ground peanuts, and it's so good, it elevates the iceberg lettuce leaves that embrace it on the plate.

My son had Geuw Nam, Wonton Soup with roast pork and vegetables ($3.50), but I skipped my usual spicy shrimp-and-mushroom soup, Thome Yum Koong.

My son drank coconut juice ($3).

Whole red snapper

We ordered and shared a second favorite dish, Pla Ma Now or Steamed Whole Fish with chili pepper, garlic and lemon juice ($18).

We chose red snapper -- one of three kinds of fish available -- and found it perfectly cooked with firm pieces that easily separated from the bones.

The fish, swimming in a spicy broth, is served in a metal, fish-shaped dish heated from below.

I spooned the wonderful broth over brown rice, but when the bill came, I was surprised to see a charge of $2.50. A bowl of white rice is free.

Still, Wandee recognizes that her food is meant to be shared, and provides serving spoons and, with the whole fish, a serrated knife.

It's maddening how few restaurants do likewise. 

Fried Bananas with Vanilla Ice Cream ($6).

Go for the great food, not the dated interior.

At home, watching a movie on TV, I had a full, satisfied feeling from our meal at Wondee's until I went to sleep.

Wondee's Fine Thai Food & Noodles, 296 Main St., Hackensack; 201-883-1700.

BYO. Parking in rear. Closed Mondays. No delivery.

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A bountiful seafood meal at a discount

Image by fritzmb via Flickr
At Nisi Estiatorio in Englewood, every server is a fish salesman.


Before dinner service begins, the servers meet with the chef to taste and discuss the texture and flavor of the fresh fish sold by the pound, as well as the special available that evening, so they can brief customers. 


The fresh seafood -- turbot, red snapper, European sea bass, Scottish langoustines and more -- are buried in ice in a beautiful dining-room display set against a soothing waterfall, and the servers encourage customers to look over the choices before ordering.


The motto of this expensive Greek fish house is written at the bottom of every check: "Eat Fish Live Longer." You might think the phrase needs punctuation, but you can't argue with the sentiment.


On Friday, I had my first dinner at Nisi -- using a Groupon for $50 worth of food and drink I bought online for only $25.


I ordered dishes and a glass of wine that added up to $50 exactly, then used my credit card to cover the tax and tip, a total of $11. My $36 bought a four-course seafood meal with a total cost of $61.


I concentrated on small plates, an octopus salad ($18) and two appetizers,  Portuguese sardines and wild-caught Shrimp Saganaki ($12 each), plus a glass of Greek retsina or resin wine ($8).


After taking my order and heading for the kitchen, the waiter returned and said the restaurant was out of octopus, which seemed odd for a Greek place. 


And before I left, I heard another waiter taking a grilled octopus order from another customer, though I didn't actually see the dish delivered to the table.


So, I took another look at the menu and substituted Fasolada ($8), a white-bean-and-vegetable soup, and a salad called Roca Nisi ($10) for the octopus salad.
Image by Getty Images via @daylife


The soup, served in a large bowl, was thick and delicious, and the salad was wonderful, with a winning combination of micro greens, diced beets, cheese, fresh orange pieces and crispy, spiced walnuts.


I got five fresh sardines, simply grilled, and really enjoyed them, even though it took a little work to remove the bones of these mighty little fish.


I was full, and would have been happy to end the meal there, but then the waiter brought me a small ramekin filled with savory, saffron-flavored tomato sauce and melted feta cheese that hid four large, unusually tender shrimp.


I ate it all with a spoon. That meal was what I call a "belly buster." Two could have shared it as a light supper.


At home a couple of hours later, I had dessert: Greek-style non-fat yogurt with honey.


Nisi Estiatorio, 90 Grand Ave., Englewood; 201-567-4700.
Valet and street parking.


Web site: Eat fish, live longer

Spicy Syrian food -- and all that jazz

Image via Wikipedia

The Christian Quarter in Aleppo, Syria.

I haven't been to Aleppo Restaurant in Paterson's bustling Middle Eastern bazaar for several months, but our meal late Saturday afternoon couldn't have been better.

We started with pureed lentil soup scented with cumin, served with a lemon wedge and crunchy bits of toasted pocket bread; and muhammara, a dip of sweet red peppers and walnuts, made spicy with dried and ground Aleppo red peppers the owner gets from Syria.

Another appetizer is my son's favorite, meat arayes or seasoned beef inside toasted pocket bread, served in wedges.

Our whole, grilled red snapper was rubbed with more Aleppo red pepper and hot sauce. My son chose the Aleppo kebab, four skewers of ground meat. Both entrees were served with rice.

We cooled down the fire of the muhammara and fish with a refreshing dish of yogurt and cucumbers, and I finished the meal with a cup of thick Arabic coffee. My son couldn't finish his food.

This meal was both delicious and reasonably priced: $2 for a bowl of soup, $4 for the muhammara or yogurt, $6 for the arayes, $10 for the kebabs and $14 for the whole fish.

Image via Wikipedia

Baron Hotel in Aleppo.

During our meal, a group of nine men and women sat at a table, discussing and debating the meaning of the Koran, as Arabic music played in the background. 

I noticed that a Turkish place called Hummus, just across Main Street, had gone out of business. 

We could have gone food shopping at Fattal's Syrian Bakery, on the next block, or at Brothers Produce in the Paterson Farmers' Market near the Clifton border.

But we had tickets to a concert in The Jazz Room of William Paterson University in neighboring Wayne.

Drummer Roy Haynes, who is 86 years young, led a quartet in a half-dozen standards, bouncing around the stage, attacking his drums and playing just about everything in sight, including the mike stand and the edge of his cymbals. 

Aleppo Restaurant, 939 Main St., Paterson; 973-977-2244. No liquor allowed. 

Restaurant-quality meals -- no need to tip

Image by Topdog1 via Flickr

I was surprised to see an unusual assortment of Jerry's Meals To Go around noon Friday, when I walked into the Italian specialty food store in Englewood.


I had stopped at Jerry's Gourmet & More around lunchtime a couple of days earlier, just for free food samples, and there were only three of the $6.99, restaurant-quality dinners available: grouper, stuffed flank steak and barbecue chicken. But on Friday, there were three fish entrees in the case: red snapper and tilapia, in addition to grouper.

At home that evening, I made a small organic spring-mix salad, plated the food from the plastic container and heated it up in the microwave. 

My entree was breaded grouper oreganato with side dishes of cavatelli and broccoli, eggplant caponata and grilled eggplant and zucchini.The pasta needed a little grated cheese from my freezer.


My wife and son shared their dinners: entrees of red snapper in a roasted pepper sauce and roast pork with grilled shrimp. Their side dishes were meat lasagna, eggplant rollatini, grilled vegetables, rigatoni pasta salad, cauliflower and stuffed mushrooms with sausage and cheese.

I love these dinners for their sensible portions (a total of 12 ounces), their quality and their low price. You have to go early for the best selection.


After choosing my dinners from among about a dozen or more in the case Friday, I sampled about 10 cheeses and, waiting on the check-out line, a pinot noir wine from Argentina.


Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St., Englewood; 201-871-7108.

Getting more fish in your diet

Image via Wikipedia

Here is something my friend Sue brought to my attention from The New York Times. We've been eating fish and seafood non-stop since taking a meatless pledge weeks ago. 

Tonight, we had excellent lobster ravioli from Costco and the last of the fried fish my wife brought back from Jamaica, and Sunday night, I prepared spinach egg noodles from Corrado's with a homemade tomato sauce filled with anchovies and leftover red snapper and sardines (as in sardines with steamed rice).

Click on the following link for a sardine-and-Swiss chard recipe and other advice: Getting more fish in your diet

A healthy, filling seafood meal

In one visit to H Mart in Little Ferry yesterday, I picked up fresh red snapper and blue crabs and two prepared fish dishes to make a bountiful meal for my family.

The seafood meal helped us to avoid beef  for another day. Both my wife and son say they want to eat less meat, including goat, oxtail and pork.

I had the fishmonger clean and cut up the wild-caught red snapper into small steaks, with the head and tail, and cooked them in a soup of cheap sake, soy and fish sauces, rice wine and vinegar. I poured the excess sauce over Hong Kong-style spinach noodles I boiled. The crabs, which snapped at my tongs in the store, were boiled separately in seasoned water with hot pepper. I also blanched and sauteed fresh collard greens left over from Thanksgiving.

Our appetizers were prepared whiting two ways: Korean-style pancakes and chunks of the small fish stewed with hot and sweet peppers. It was a great meal.

H Mart, 260 Bergen Turnpike, Little Ferry; 201-814-0400;
open seven days.

Greek Island Grill in Hackensack

Extra-virgin olive oil.

We lived in Englewood when the first It's Greek To Me chain restaurant opened, and it soon became one of our favorites. 

But as the years passed, its popularity grew, and so did the prices. After we moved to Hackensack, we no longer made the restaurant part of our dining-out routine.

So, last night, we finally tried Greek Island Grill, a BYO on one of Hackensack's quietest stretches of Main Street, a vivid contrast to Englewood's congested Palisade Avenue and the noisy families that flocked to Greek To Me. 

We were the first customers to arrive for the evening, but soon two more of the dozen or so tables were occupied and there were no screaming little kids.

The staff turned on a Greek music soundtrack, but did not  turn off the wall-mounted TV, which showed Spanish-language movies where so many people were shot to death or blown up, I soon lost count.

It was apparently a movie festival called "Kiss of Death."

We liked everything we ordered, but the service was a bit slow and clumsy. 

Why do restaurants bring you a salad or an entree to share without serving utensils? It's an enduring mystery. Still, we'll definitely return.

We ordered a terrific salad ($7.50) -- beets, potatoes, chick peas and red onions -- to share, but it could have used a serving spoon and a lot more dressing.

There was plenty of Greek pita to soak up olive oil and lemon juice.

Our entrees were jumbo shrimp with orzo in tomato sauce ($16) for my wife and a simply grilled, whole fish with rice ($24.95) for me and my 12-year-old son. 

My wife liked her dish, which she had often at Greek To Me, noting the shrimp were crunchy and not overcooked. 

And the fish was great, too, though I don't think it was the red snapper we ordered. The waiter forgot to bring the Greek fries my son asked for, but I caught the error on the bill.

Greek Island Grill, 77 Main St., Hackensack; (201) 489-4733‎.

Peruvian fish story

We tried a new restaurant close to home last night -- Uncle Paulie's Puro Sabor in Maywood, a Peruvian rotisserie chicken place with a full menu of beef, fish, rice, beans and root vegetables.

What Uncle Paulie's lacks is wild fish. When I learned the ceviche de pescado was made with farmed tilapia, I ordered another appetizer, boiled potatoes with cheese sauce. Other dishes were made with fillets; no whole fish, such as red snapper, was offered. Portions are generous and prices reasonable.

Don't miss the milky Peruvian hot sauce for the chicken or the homemade chicha morada, a traditional purple-corn punch, garnished here with finely diced apple ($2).

My wife and son both ordered chicken soup ($4) and couldn't finish the two pieces of chicken in the broth. Entrees also were too large to finish. We had the marinated one-quarter rotisserie chicken (dark meat) with rice and beans ($3); lomo saltado, pepper steak strips served over french fries with rice ($12); and tallarin verde con apanado, linguine with pesto and topped with "breaded top brasciole" ($11.50). I have had this dish in other restaurants and it was invariably served with fried fish. It would be great without the beef and topped with a fried egg "a la pobre."

Before we left, I spoke to the owner about the farmed fish. He said he wanted to keep prices low, but if I called ahead, he would get red snapper from the fish market down the street (Seafood Gourmet), make a ceviche for me and charge me accordingly.

My favorite Peruvian restaurants -- Pollos El Chevere in Passaic and Jaimito's in Clifton -- are a lot further from home. So if I get a hankering for an Asian- or Italian-inspired Peruvian dish, Uncle Paulie's is just a few minutes away. Though Uncle Paulie's is good, it can't replace those two winners. (Revised.)

My own seafood festival

I enjoyed fish at every meal on Thursday and I plan to attend an all-you-can-eat crayfish party tonight at Ikea in Paramus. Seafood is often the wisest choice when eating out because there is usually so little information about the origin of poultry and meat on menus.

My breakfast at home Thursday was another fat sandwich of preservative-free smoked wild sockeye salmon from Costco ($13.99 a pound), with hummus, tomato, romaine lettuce and shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano. This morning, I had the same sandwich, adding homemade pesto and substituting fresh mozzarella.

I was in Morristown on Thursday afternoon and stopped at The Grand Cafe, an elegant place for lunch: moist, flaky baked cod atop garlic mashed potatoes and wild mushrooms, all floating in a broth made from fresh peas ($12.95). Delicious. I soaked up every bit of the broth with crusty rolls. This legendary fish, often salted, feeds many ethnic groups: Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Jamaicans and more.

Back in Hackensack, I visited one of my all-time favorites, Wondee's, for another great Thai dinner: steamed shrimp-and-pork dumplings and steamed whole red snapper, topped with minced red chilies and garlic and swimming in a reddish broth ($16.95). This dish positively glows.

I ate all this wonderful food on a day when the media reported a federal study of mercury pollution in fish taken from nearly 300 streams across the country, but I'm not worried because the wild-caught fish I ate contained little mercury and came from the ocean or in the salmon's case, a river. I looked at the Web site of the U.S. Geological Survey, which released the study, but couldn't find a list of the streams or fish. The link is below.

http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/081909.html