Chinese New Year food delivery, taking comfort in sweet potatoes

On Sunday night, as snow fell, we belatedly celebrated the Year of the Sheep, which began Feb. 19, with delivery from Lotus Cafe in Hackensack, including a special Chinese New Year Dinner of fresh fish and snow pea leaves.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Another snowstorm put a damper on our Sunday night plans to celebrate the Chinese New Year at Lotus Cafe in Hackensack.

Luckily, we live within the restaurant's delivery zone, and I picked up the phone and placed our order.

We ordered one Year of the Sheep Special (hold the lamb), a four-course meal for $29.95, and supplemented that with three other dishes.

A second helping of Lotus Cafe fish and vegetables, without brown rice, included snow pea leaves, Chinese broccoli and crunchy snow peas and water chestnuts.

Our Chinese New Year Special, a fixed-priced four-course meal, included a Lobster Spring Roll and Chinese mustard.

Fish, vegetables, brown rice

For the Chinese New Year Special, I chose Hot and Sour Seafood Soup and Flounder with Snow Pea Leaves.

Other entree choices were filet mignon, duck either of two ways or jumbo shrimp.

For an appetizer, we got a Lobster Spring Roll and Grilled Chicken Skewers. Dessert was ice cream.

We also ordered Beef with Mustard Greens and Chili Pepper ($14.95), Prawns with crunchy Snow Peas ($16.95) and Chinese Broccoli with fresh garlic ($9.95).

All of the food was delicious, and I washed it down with the bottle of Yuengling Original Black & Tan beer I was planning to take to the Hackensack Avenue BYO.

And we have leftovers for breakfast and dinner today.

Lotus Cafe, 450 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack, in the Home Depot Shopping Center; 201-488-7070. BYO.

I boiled three large sweet potatoes from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack (a 6.5-pound bag was $5.79), and fistfuls of peeled Christopher Ranch Monviso Garlic (a 3-pound bag was $6.39) to mash with extra-virgin olive oil and a multitude of seasoning, including sea salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, red-pepper flakes and curry powder.

Sweet potatoes are less starchy

Sweet potatoes, baked or mashed, are a cornerstone of the no-bread, no pizza, no meat diet I've been following for five years.

They're less starchy than yams or conventional potatoes, and widely available at ShopRite, Trader Joe's and Costco Wholesale.

The first two offer both conventional and organic sweet potatoes, and Trader Joe's has the best deals.

I often eat sweet potatoes for breakfast to supplement prepared food from Korean supermarkets and homemade dishes.

A baked sweet potato accented with Mexican-style salsa is a filling side dish at breakfast. The whole egg omelet is stuffed with reduced-fat Swiss cheese and grated Pecorino Romano, a sheep's milk cheese from Italy.

Another bread substitute is a steaming portion of organic whole-wheat linguine dressed in bottled Victoria Marinara with skinless-and-boneless sardines, part of a satisfying homemade dinner of pasta, salad and red wine.

Earthbound Organic Spring Mix and Sunset-brand Romana Tomatoes dressed in organic extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Comfort food from the Jamaican kitchen includes fried sweet plantains and boiled green banana as foils for the hot peppers in a breakfast of ackee (a bland fruit) and salted Alaskan pollock.

Plating leftovers from the Korean, Jamaican, Chinese and American kitchens for breakfast (clockwise from the top), stewed tofu from H Mart in Little Ferry, homemade ackee and salt fish; crunchy snow peas and water chestnuts from Lotus Cafe; and sweet potatoes and garlic mashed with extra-virgin olive oil. Other breakfasts have included Korean mung-bean pancakes and batter-dipped squid, both from H&Y Marketplace in Ridgefield.

Another day, another Feast of the Seven Fishes

I had my first two fishes at breakfast on Christmas Day with a steaming portion of Jamaican ackee and salted codfish, accented with Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce and served with Korean seaweed-and-fish-cake roll, above.

I'm never without Valentina Salsa Picante (Black Label).

BY VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The traditional Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes is usually served on Christmas Eve, but why should I limit myself?

On Christmas Day, when the meat eaters in the family prepared a big meal of goat, oxtail and rice and peas with coconut milk, I improvised a Feast of the Seven Fishes from leftovers and what I had on hand.

I ate dishes with salted codfish, fresh Atlantic cod, yellowfin tuna, pink salmon, smoked wild salmon, wild jumbo shrimp, sardines and anchovies.

My first dish was at breakfast and my last was at dinner, and for a snack I had a forkful of canned fish salad with crunchy celery (yellowfin tuna, pink salmon and sardines dressed with Dijon mustard, lime juice and ground cumin).

For lunch, I had an appetizer portion of leftover wild shrimp cooked in spicy green salsa, both from Mexico.

A second lunch appetizer was leftover fresh Atlantic cod that I prepared Tuesday night with basil-and-tomato pasta sauce and added extra-virgin olive oil, onions, garlic, capers and olives. I used a recipe for a monkfish dish I helped prepared on Dec. 16 at a Chef Central workshop in Paramus, where I was among a dozen customers preparing a Feast of the Seven Fishes under the guidance of three chefs.

After lunch, I had roasted salt-free almonds dusted with cinnamon and Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, and drank a glass of Nebbiola D'Alba, a red wine from Italy.

Eventually, I got to the salad course, adding more Parmigiano Reggiano and smoked wild salmon from Costco Wholesale to organic spring mix, and dressing them simply in extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

A few hours later, I used leftover sauce with a couple of small pieces of Atlantic cod to prepare organic whole-wheat pasta shells from Whole Foods Market with a can of drained and rinsed anchovies, another of Moroccan sardines and a half-bottle of leftover Dress Italian tomato-and-basil pasta sauce in the refrigerator.

On Tuesday, the snowy fresh cod fillets from Iceland needed nothing more than fresh lime juice before I put them in the bubbling sauce, covered the pan, turned up the heat and cooked them for about 10 minutes. The fish was firm and flaky.

My Italian pasta boat comes in at Whole Foods

Organic Italian whole wheat pasta shells from Whole Foods Market in bottled marinara sauce with sardines, anchovies and organic kale.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

My Italian pasta boat finally came in, and today, I once again found those wonderful imported organic shells at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

A bargain at $1.39 for a 16-ounce box, they are sold under the store's 365 Everyday Value label.

I turned them into a quick dinner with bottled Victoria Marinara Sauce (40 ounces), canned sardines and anchovies, and Earthbound Farm Organic Kale.

I added a few ounces of extra-virgin olive oil, red-pepper flakes and dried Italian seasoning to the sauce, in addition to the canned fish.

The store didn't have the shells in stock on Nov. 29, the day after Thanksgiving.

When I cooked the entire pound in boiling water tonight, I drained the pot after about 12 minutes, not the 14 to 15 minutes listed in the directions on the box.

I added another dimension to the dish with grated Pecorino Romano, a reduced-fat sheep's milk cheese from Costco Wholesale.

I transferred the drained shells to the bubbling sauce in another pot, and they continued to cook as I folded in about 6 ounces of the triple-washed baby kale leaves.

After two small portions of the pasta, I had a salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, organic baby kale, Campari tomato and cucumbers.

I drank Don Simon Shiraz from Spain, a smooth red wine with a screw top sold at Whole Foods for $3.99 a bottle.

New package doesn't stop salad rotting

This delicious Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix comes in a new package, below, but the dark leaves can still rot days before the use-by date on the front label.

The new package eliminates a flexible plastic sealing strip.

Editor's note: Today, I take a second look at the new Earthbound Farm salad package and discuss food shopping in South Paterson.

The new Earthbound Farm organic salad package is more environmentally responsible, eliminating a flexible plastic sealing strip I'd cut with a scissor and recycle with plastic bags. 

But I'm still finding that the dark leaves in the Organic Spring Mix or Organic Half & Half salad can rot days before the use-by date.

I buy my 1-pound package of Earthbound Farm salad at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, where the price of $4.99 or less beats all competitors. 

The way Costco stores the salad, and the temperature it is stored at, may be the problem. 

The first time I brought home the new plastic tub, I tore off a strip of plastic and thought it wasn't much of an improvement over the old, which was sealed with a flexible strip of plastic.

The next time, I saw the word "HOLD" on the tub and "LIFT HERE" on the cover, and easily separated the two without tearing away anything.  

Starbucks Hot Cocoa mix at Costco Wholesale.

Starbucks Hot Cocoa Classic mix, another item I found at Costco, makes a rich cocoa drink when you use the recommended two heaping tablespoons and 8 ounces of milk.

One of Paterson's most popular produce stores is in the Farmers' Market.

I made a special trip to Paterson this morning to get good deals on salted cod fish at Corrado's Family Affair and on Moroccan sardines at Brothers Produce.

I also bought yogurt drink, yogurt, Syrian cheese and extra-virgin olive oil at Fattal's Bakery.

Corrado's, which is on the Paterson-Clifton border, has raised the price of a 1-pound package of salted cod fish to $7.99 from $6.99.

This salted cod fish is a product of Canada.

 

I bought 7 packages of the salted cod, which freezes beautifully.

I also picked up a half-liter bottle of Corrado's Balsamic Vinegar, which contains no artificial color ($2); some red and yellow sweet peppers and a few mangoes.

I wanted to buy a liter bottle of Corrado's Extra Virgin Olive Oil, but the label said only it was imported from Italy and packed in Italy, not that it was made from Italian olives.

Is this oil made from 100% Italian olives?

At Fattal's, on Main Street in Paterson, I found a 3-liter bottle of Laziza Extra Virgin Olive Oil for $17.59 that is labeled "Product of Tunisia."

I also bought Romi's Syrian Cheese ($6.99 a pound), which is made in Paterson; Romi's Plain Lowfat Yogurt ($2.99 for 32 ounces), and a gallon of Merve Ayran Yogurt Drink ($7.79).

At Fattal's, not all of the large bottles of extra-virgin olive oil are a full 3 liters.

At Brothers Produce on East Railway Avenue, I bought 18 cans of Al Shark Moroccan Sardines for $1 each.

I noticed the can holding Al Shark Morroccan Sardines in Spicy Oil is now slightly smaller than the regular sardine can. 

Many of the extra-virgin olive oils at Brothers are blends from several countries, even one 3-liter can that says, "From Kalamata" (Greece).

Many Corrado's shoppers fill their tanks before their shopping carts.

Corrado's Family Affair, 1578 Main Ave., Clifton; 973-340-0628.

Fattal's Bakery, 975-77 Main St., Paterson; 973-742-7125.

Brothers Produce, 327 E. Railway Ave., Paterson; 973-684-4461.   

Do smart shoppers have to use coupons?

Image by Hotcouponworld.com via Flickr

I keep on reading newspaper stories about all the money I could save if I just clipped coupons and took them to the supermarket with me. Morning TV shows report on Web sites where I can print out coupons for even greater savings.

Sure, I've looked over the coupons delivered with my newspaper, but I usually can't find any for the food my family eats. 

Hey, there's Chef Guy Fieri selling his soul for Ritz Crackers. To save $1, all I have to do is buy two boxes of a cracker that isn't part of my diet.

Here are coupons for Pillsbury Crescent Dinner Rolls (Pizza) or Savorings (whatever they are), Chex Mix, Snickers Ice Cream Cake, Pagoda Express Egg Rolls and Wontons, Tyson mystery Crispy Chicken Strips and Tostito Chips and Dip.

I have never tried any of this highly processed food, and I'm not about to start now, just to save money. 

I also found coupons for two fast-food places I don't patronize: Blimpie, which offers sandwiches stuffed with preservative-laden cold cuts, and Boston Market, which serves mystery chicken dinners and side dishes.

Image by HA! Designs - Artbyheather via Flickr

Now, here are two coupons I'll take to the store: $2 off Method, a 50-load, plant-based, ultra-concentrated detergent that promises to deliver the same beautifully clean clothes as the petroleum-based stuff in those big plastic jugs; and 40 cents off any size package of Wacky Mac pasta, which is made from beets, tomatoes, spinach and other vegetables.

But where are the coupons for such high quality food as smoked wild-caught salmon, 100% whole grain bread, organic or antibiotic-free chicken, organic ground beef, fresh fish, organic spring mix, herbicide-free tomatoes and on and on (all of which I buy at Costco).

Do I have to settle for processed or conventionally raised food to save money with coupons? 

Or do the low prices and high quality at Costco -- and the cash rebate that more than covers the membership fee -- make more sense? Costco doesn't accept store coupons, but issues its own coupons about five times a year.

ShopRite has its Can Can Sale for stocking up on canned and other goods, and offers drug-free chicken, beef and lamb, too. Often, you can buy free-range, grass-fed beef from Australia for $5.99 a pound or less, and all you need is a store card, not a coupon.

At Whole Foods, I try to buy items when they are on sale, including organic pasta from Italy and vegetarian meat loafs made from whole grain. I've also found bottles of red wine there for about $5. This week, extra-virgin olive oil sold under the Fairway Market label in Paramus is on sale for $4.99 a liter, an excellent price, and you don't need a coupon. 

And there are plenty of deals at H Mart, the chain of Korean supermarkets in Bergen County that doesn't accept store coupons. The fresh fish selection is tremendous.

We eat a lot of sardines -- in salads, mixed with other canned fish, and with rice and pasta -- and I have never found a lower price -- with or without a coupon -- than the 99-cent beauties from Morocco at Fattal's Bakery in Paterson, where I buy two dozen cans at a time (not skinless and boneless). Sahara Fine Foods, a Middle Eastern grocery in Hackensack, also stocks them.

I've also found coupons on the Web sites of the products I buy, including Organic Valley. Earthbound Farm and other companies will send you a cash card or coupons if you write them an e-mail about their product.

For example, when the organic spring mix I bought at Costco rotted before its use-by date, Earthbound Farm sent me a $10 Costco gift card. The product costs under $5.

But when I e-mailed Finlandia cheese about inconsistent slices in thin-sliced Swiss I bought at Costco, I received store coupons that essentially didn't make economic sense to use, because ShopRite and other supermarkets charge about twice as much per pound of sliced cheese than the warehouse store.

Since I stopped eating meat nearly a year ago, I have been spending more and more of my food dollars at Costco, where I can find such gourmet items as lobster ravioli and smoked wild salmon; lobster bisque and king crab soup; a wide array of fresh and frozen seafood; cheeses from around the world; and organic or herbicide-free produce. 

Plus, the two credit cards I use provide me with hundreds of dollars in rebates every year on food, gasoline and other purchases. 

Image by Bramus! via Flickr

I'm going to take a look at some of the coupon Web sites and see if they have anything to offer.

One thing I will not do is compromise my standards for the ingredients that go into our home-cooked meals or start eating a lot of processed foods just to save money.

We live to eat -- and we eat well. That won't change.

Whose supermarket guru?

Image via Wikipedia

All of us want to save money when we shop for food, but we also want to avoid poultry and meat from factory farms, some farmed seafood and produce treated with a lot of pesticides.

However, none of this is discussed in "Save at the Supermarket," an article in the January & February 2010 issue of AARP The Magazine. The author is Phil Lempert, identified as the Supermarket Guru, who appears regularly on the Today Show and The View.

Lempert doesn't mention the antibiotics, hormones or animal by-products used to rush the growth of chickens, cattle, pigs and other animals; he doesn't discuss the merits of wild v. farmed seafood, which could be artificially colored or carry contaminants; and he doesn't recommend Australian beef and lamb, free-range, grass-fed products that are usually cheaper than their conventionally raised U.S. cousins

So whose Supermarket Guru is he?

I wrote a letter pointing out some of these omissions, and AARP The Magazine informed me it did not have room to publish it.

This is the same issue with an article on fish that omits the benefits of sardines.

Whole Foods Market discusses the use of antibiotics in animals on its blog: No antibiotics -- ever

Passing along a guide to some healthy foods

After reading my previous post on sardines, a  friend sent me a link to a New York Times blog on those mighty little fish and 10 other "best foods you aren't eating." Here is the link:

11 best foods you aren't eating

Image via CrunchBase