No-recipe home cooking in photos

Breakfast salad: Organic spring mix with beefsteak tomato, za'atar thyme mixture, and reduced fat cheese; cabbage kimchi, olives and canned-fish salad (yellowfin tuna, pink salmon and sardines).

Small mustard greens with a bottle of Mexican green salsa.

Mustard greens plated with half of a mahi-mahi fillet cooked in spicy green salsa or salsa verde and a sweet potato made in 6 minutes in a microwave (speed-cook setting).

An egg-white omelet with reduced-fat cheese, white anchovies and coarsely ground Aleppo pepper plated with leftover sugar pea shoots.

Fresh greens


I cook greens, fresh broccoli and French green beans the same way, and they are ready in under 5 minutes.


First, cut and wash your greens, then blanch in a covered pot with boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes.


Using the cover, drain the pot and put it back on the stove with no flame under it.


You can drizzle the greens with extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle on a little salt and add seasonings such as powdered garlic and black pepper.


Or, you can add a little soy sauce and sesame oil, and no-salt organic seasoning. You're done.


Fish in green sauce


Pour half of a bottle of spicy Mexican salsa verde into a large, non-stick pot and warm it up. Add any kind of wild-caught fish fillets, including frozen mahi-mahi or Alaskan salmon.


Pour the rest of the sauce over the fish and squeeze the juice of one or two limes into the pot. Cover and cook for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on whether the fish is fresh of frozen.


You also can cook a whole fish this way. Slash each side in three places with a sharp knife to help you judge when the fish is done.


You can serve fish in green sauce with a sweet potato, organic brown rice with lentils, made in an electric rice cooker; or whole-wheat pasta with bottled sauce.


I reserve the green sauce for use with omelets or eggs fried sunny side up.


Canned fish salad


Empty canned fish and oil or water into a plastic container, add chopped celery or sweet pepper and then flavor with Dijon mustard, fresh lime or lemon juice and powdered cumin to taste.


Cover and refrigerate.


Sources


H Mart or other Asian supermarkets are great sources for a wide variety of fresh greens, including spinach, collard, mustard, bok choy and Chinese broccoli.


Costco Wholesale usually has fresh wild-caught haddock, flounder and Pacific cod, but when it doesn't, I buy frozen mahi-mahi or salmon in the freezer section.


Costco also sells Kirkland Signature Organic No Salt Seasoning, a blend of 21 spices and other ingredients.


ShopRite and Hackensack Market carry Mexican green salsa from Goya and La Costena. A 16-ounce bottle is enough to prepare as much as 2 pounds of fish.

Related article

• Costco's food and prices are the best revenge

A subterranean food obstacle course in Manhattan

This Whole Foods Market in Manhattan is packed with produce displays.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Whole Food Market on Columbus Circle in Manhattan has no street entrance and no windows.

You can take an escalator or elevator down to the store in the basement or concourse level of the glittering Time Warner Center, which is between 58th and 60th streets, opposite Central Park.

I've attended Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts in the multilevel building a few times, but didn't visit the store until this past Tuesday.

Part of the seafood counter at the Columbus Circle store.

I immediately started making comparisons to the Whole Foods Market in Paramus, and one of the first things I noticed is how many fixtures, displays and carts are crammed into the Manhattan store.

It's something of an obstacle course, and on Tuesday night, the store was packed with food shoppers, making for slow going in the narrow aisles.

The Columbus Circle store has a pub that serves "local" beer, wine and food, and a happy hour (Monday-Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.).

The salad bar is $8.99 a pound, compared to $7.99 a pound in New Jersey, but wild-caught shrimp and flounder were on sale for the same price in both stores.

I also discovered Whole Foods is the least expensive place to eat in the Time Warner Center, which has some of the city's most expensive restaurants.

A 9-course tasting menu at Per Se is $295 per person (gratuity included), and you can blow $500 on a meal at a Japanese restaurant called Masa.

Olives and other antipasti are $8.99 a pound.

Even Bouchon Bakery -- with its counter service and scramble for a table -- is pricey.

I ordered tomato soup, which is displayed in a beautiful white bowl, and it was served in a plastic takeout container with a plastic spoon ($8.98).

A small coffee was $2.45, compared to $1.65 at Whole Foods, and the market's many soups are available in three sizes (8 ounces cost $3.49 in Paramus and Manhattan). 

The Manhattan store also has a hot-food bar, and serves Asian-Indian food and sushi, with tables and chairs inside and outside the pub.

For residents of condos in towers atop the Time Warner Center, "running out for milk" isn't necessary. They never have to leave the building to reach the market.

Whole Foods Market, 10 Columbus Circle (Time Warner Center concourse level), New York, N.Y.; 1-212-823-9600. Open 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.

Costco Wholesale's food and prices are the best revenge

This omelet uses Kirkland Signature Real Egg Product, which is 99% pure egg whites. I served it with leftover whole-wheat pasta for a rib-sticking breakfast.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The phrase, "Eating well is the best revenge," often echoes in my head when I'm enjoying a good meal or find another surprisingly delicious item at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

On Friday, I came across wonderful marinated white anchovies from Italy, and I haven't been able to stop eating them.

On Saturday, my 14-year-old son wanted to have dinner at T.G.I. Friday's, a chain restaurant in Hackensack. 

My wife had coupons I had given her, so I urged her to take our son and his best friend to dinner there, and leave me to my white anchovies.

Grazing for dinner

I started with a plate of the chewy, vinegary little fillets; grainy slices of Grana Padano cheese, also from Italy; and plenty of crunchy Arirang cabbage kimchi from Englewood.

Later, I had melon and a leftover sweet potato, plus tea.

I enjoyed the plate's contrasting textures and flavors, but realized, too late, I could have added Kirkland Signature U.S. No. 1 Supreme Whole almonds to the plate.

For $9.89, I buy a 3-pound bag of the salt-free raw almonds at Costco, then roast them in the oven for 1 hour at 275 degrees until they crack between my teeth.

Anchovy omelet

For a Sunday morning breakfast, I made an open-face omelet with three organic brown eggs from Costco, along with reduced fat Swiss cheese, smoked wild salmon (also from Costco), white anchovies, Aleppo red pepper and Mexican green salsa or salsa verde.

I make omelets in an 8-inch, non-stick pan and never fold them -- allowing me to add more filling. It cooks through from the bottom, which is beautifully browned.

Kirkland Signature Organic Brown Eggs are a relatively new item. Two dozen eggs in a single container are $6.99 or about $3.50 a dozen.

I saw organic eggs at ShopRite for $3.99 to $4.99 a dozen.

White anchovies circle smoked wild salmon.

The Seagarden white anchovy fillets are wild caught, and come in two trays sealed with clear plastic. They are marinated in vegetable oil, wine vinegar, parsley, garlic and salt.

Far less sodium

The fish and marinade weigh 14 ounces and cost $8.99, but the white anchovies are far more delicious and far less salty than the usual canned anchovies.

For example, half of a 2-ounce can of Season-brand Flat Fillets of Anchovies provides 36% of the recommended daily intake of sodium, compared to 34% sodium for 7 ounces of the white anchovies, drained.

Beefsteak tomato with za'atar thyme mixture, and Arirang cabbage kimchi are tasty side dishes for breakfast or any other meal.

Comparing nut bars

Another new item at the Hackensack warehouse store are Kirkland Signature Variety Nut Bars (Kirkland Signature is Costco's house brand).

You get 20 1.4-ounce bars for $10.99, compared to 30  1.2-ounce bars in Kashi Trail Mix Chewy Granola Bars for $11.79. But those are not the only differences.

The Kirkland bars have more calories, more fat, more sugar and less protein than the Kashi bars. Neither has high-fructose corn syrup. 

The Kirkland bars -- Nut & Fruit and  Nut & Seed -- have more calcium, Vitamin C and iron than the Kashi bars.

I tried a Kirkland Nut & Fruit bar, finding it pleasantly chewy and sweet, and I could taste an unusual ingredient, orange peel. It also contains pistachios.

Most of the ingredients for a canned-fish salad come from Costco Wholesale, including limes (not shown). I also add powdered cumin to taste.

Smart Balance spread

I also picked up two 32-ounce tubs of Smart Balance, the faux-butter spread we have been using for years, for $6.69 or about 10 cents an ounce. 

At ShopRite, I saw 15 ounces of Smart Balance on sale for $3 or 20 cents an ounce.

Apples at DiPeiro's in Montvale were $1.89 a pound.

$15+ liter of EVOO

After a meeting in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y., I stopped at DiPiero's Country Farm at 300 W. Grand Ave. in Montvale to pick up apples, but thought the price per pound was too high.

I walked through the store and saw a 5-liter tin of 100% Italian extra-virgin olive oil from Italy for $78. Pasta from Italy was $7.89 for 500 grams or 17.6 ounces.

At the Off The Hook seafood counter, which is independently owned, fresh hake fillets were $11.99 a pound, compared to $7.99 a pound on sale at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

King salmon fillets were an outrageous $21 a pound.

These prices seem to be aimed at the wealthy executives who work in the headquarters of BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Free 5-cheese lasagna

I stopped at the Hackensack ShopRite on Saturday after having my car washed across the street, and walked away with a free Stouffer's 5-Cheese Lasagna as part of a holiday promotion (96 ounces, normally $13.99).

A half-gallon of Smart Balance Fat-Free Lactose-Free Milk was on sale for $2.99 ($1 off), but with a doubled 75-cent coupon, I got it for only $1.49.

Unfortunately, I had only one coupon and had to buy a half-gallon of ShopRite 1% Lactose-Free Milk for $3.29 (a discount of 10 cents).

Sources

A reliable source for cumin, ground Aleppo red pepper and za'atar thyme mixture is Fattal's Syrian Bakery at 975-77 Main Street in Paterson.

Arirang Kimchi is available at the source, 191 W. Englewood Ave. in Englewood.

Chinatown near the turnpike

Live tilapia were going for only $3.68 a pound on Friday at Hong Kong Supermarket, but there was no information on the origin of the fish .

Don't look for Hong Kong Supermarket and a cluster of other Chinese-owned businesses in lower Manhattan's Chinatown.


Instead, the bustling market is in a small shopping center less than a mile from Exit 9 of the New Jersey Turnpike.


You can have your hair cut or styled; get a massage or acupuncture treatment for a sore elbow; and pick up sushi, a live fish and fresh greens for dinner.

A salon, left, and a massage center are outside the entrance to the supermarket. Nearby, a small sushi restaurant offers prepared items and table service.

I drove past the supermarket a few times on the way to another part of East Brunswick and finally stopped in Friday afternoon, joining other Good Friday shoppers.


Hong Kong Supermarket is bigger than New King Fung Supermarket in River Edge, but only marginally cleaner.

A large variety of Asian greens are packaged for shoppers.

First, I picked up five small avocados from Chile for $1.98.


Then, I stopped to look over fresh greens, selecting sugar pea shoots for $1.98 a pound (photo above) and small mustard greens for $1.29 a pound.


The price for live fish is the lowest I have ever seen, but the store's fish counter doesn't have the signs it is required to, telling shoppers two things: the origin of seafood and whether it is farmed or wild.

Shrimp come in all sizes.

I wouldn't buy live fish from China, which has a poor food-safety record. I've seen wild-caught tilapia on ice at H Mart, and would prefer them over their farmed cousins.


I made only two other purchases, a 22-ounce bottle of Kadoya Sesame Oil from Japan (on sale for $5.98) and a package of Brown Rice Vermicelli ($1.69).


When I got home, I prepared half of the vermicelli and mixed it with blanched sugar pea shoots, flavoring them with sesame oil, soy sauce and Sriracha hot sauce.

Barbecued ducks.

Hong Kong Supermarket is part of an East Coast chain based in Flushing, Queens.

Chicken feet for $1.28 a pound.

Dragon fruit.

Hong Kong Supermarket, 275 Route 18 south, East Brunswick; 1-732-651-8288.


Web site: Chinese shopping hub


Directions: After paying the toll at Exit 9 of the New Jersey Turnpike (New Brunswick), follow signs to Route 18 south. Shopping center will be on your right.


East Brunswick is about 40 miles south of Hackensack.

The fattiest fish is the best fish

Whole sea bass, okra and other vegetables, cooked with sake and lime juice.

We need Omega-3 fatty acids to make our bodies work properly, and there is no more delicious source than wild-caught fish, including salmon and cod.


But you don't have to buy the most expensive fish to get the heart-healthy benefits of Omega-3s, according to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.


A seafood nutrition chart shows a 3.5-ounce portion of fresh or smoked black cod, also called sable fish, contains 1,800 milligrams of Omega-3s, but they are among the priciest selections on a menu or in the market.


You can get 500 milligrams of Omega-3s from the same portion of sole, 470 mg from Alaska pollock  and 450 mg from rockfish.


Pacific oysters


Among shellfish, a 3.5-ounce portion of Pacific oysters contains 1,400 mg of Omega-3s.


In January, I ordered black cod at Maritime Parc, an expensive seafood restaurant in Jersey City, but we enjoy Alaska pollock at home at least once a week.


This past Sunday, I found Pacific rockfish on sale at Whole Foods in Paramus for $8.99 a pound (40% off) and bought it to add variety to the wild-caught fillets I usually buy at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack -- Pacific True Cod, haddock and sole.


Pearly white rockfish


We fried some of the rockfish, and coated the rest in a mixture of bread crumbs and chili spices. 


The fillets on ice were reddish, but they turned pearly white in the oven and broke into big flakes when we ate them.


For breakfast this morning, I enjoyed leftover rockfish and  brown rice with cabbage and saltfish (salted pollock) my wife made for dinner last night.

This fatty sashimi comes from a farmed fish and costs $79.99 a pound.

Alaska King or Chinook salmon -- usually the most expensive kind -- provides 1,700 mg of Omega-3s, but you can get 1,200 mg from the same portion of Sockeye and 1,100 from Coho salmon.


A 3.5-ounce portion of Alaska Pink salmon provides 1,300 mg of Omega-3s, but I've never seen fresh or frozen fillets of this fish in New Jersey.


A can of Pink salmon provides 1,100 mg of Omega-3s, compared to 1,400 from a can of much more expensive Sockeye or Red salmon.


Sustainable seafood


Alaska says it is a major source of sustainable seafood -- seafood that is managed and fished using practices that ensure there will always be more to catch in the future.


It's a commitment that dates to 1959, "when Alaskans wrote sustainability into their [state] Constitution," according to the marketing institute.


Canned-fish salad


I buy canned Pink salmon at Costco in Hackensack, and mix it with canned yellow-fin tuna and sardines, plus diced celery, sweet pepper or onion, for a fish salad flavored with Dijon mustard, fresh lime juice and powdered cumin.


Costco also sells frozen Alaska Sockeye salmon fillets, smoked and sliced Sockeye salmon, and salted pollock fillets, which usually are boiled to reduce the salt content before the fish is used in cooking.


Boycott bluefin tuna


Last Saturday, during a visit to Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater, I stopped at the refrigerated fish case and stared at the veins of fat in a small piece of raw oh-toro -- the prized belly meat from the endangered giant bluefin tuna.


The price: $79.99 a pound. And this piece came from a farmed bluefin raised in Spain. 


I'm boycotting bluefin tuna, which is high in harmful mercury and which has been driven to the brink of extinction by the Japanese.


I'd rather get my Omega-3s elsewhere.


More information about Alaska seafood is available at the following link: Wild, Natural & Sustainable


Everything you want to know about Omega-3s is at the following WebMD link: The ABCs of Omega-3s

Guess how much salt is in your ramen?

Tonkotsu ramen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I stopped at the Japanese supermarket in Edgewater on Saturday to sample several kinds of ramen, but was shocked to see how much sodium was listed on the ingredients labels.


Three Japanese companies -- Myojo, Sun Noodle and Yamachan -- set up stands near Mitsuwa's food court and handed out small cups of the ramen they make in the United States.


There were nine varieties of fresh noodles and condensed soup available for purchase at small discounts, but one of the servings contained close to 100% of the daily recommended sodium intake and two others ranged from about 120% to more than 140%.


I have never seen that much salt in a processed food product.


I bought two 2-serving packages of the refrigerated ramen, one from Myojo with 48% sodium and another from Sun Noodle with 65% ($3.69 each).


Those packages had the lowest sodium of the nine varieties of ramen for sale.


My son's favorite spicy Korean soup -- Shin Ramyun Gourmet Spicy Noodle Soup -- contains dried noodles, but only 43% sodium.


He usually asks for it at breakfast, eats all the noodles and dumps most of the red broth -- and the salt -- down the drain.


In related news, a second new Japanese restaurant will be opening soon in Fort Lee, according to a sign I saw in a Main Street storefront.


Ramen Setagaya, a branch of a Manhattan restaurant of the same name, will open around the corner from Batten Ramen, an inexpensive, cash-only BYO on Center Avenue that has served ramen and other Japanese dishes for many years.


The new restaurant will join Yamagata, a high-end Japanese sushi spot in a strip mall on Palisade Avenue.


In recent years, restaurants opening in Fort Lee have been almost exclusively Korean.


Mitsuwa Marketplace, 595 River Road, Edgewater; 
201-941-9133. American Express cards not accepted.