Sweet potato parmigiano and other delights

Leftover bottled marinara sauce and shredded Kirkland Signature Parmigiano Reggiano from Costco Wholesale transform a baked sweet potato, which was split and reheated in a microwave after the sauce and imported cheese were added.

Sweet potato parmigiano served for breakfast with two organic brown eggs from Costco, above; and with an egg-white omelet and stewed tofu from H Mart, top photo.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss substitutes for bread and pizza that won't put on weight, and a ShopRite special on imported pasta sauce.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

I never quite understood why all those chicken and veal parmigiano dishes listed on restaurant menus carried the name of one of Italy's great cheeses, but were covered in gooey mozzarella.

I guessed that the dishes were made in the style of Parma, where mozzarella cheese reigns.

But when I chose to dress up a leftover baked sweet potato for breakfast one morning, I used a little marinara sauce and reduced-fat Parmigiano Reggiano from Costco Wholesale, not full-fat mozzarella.

Not bad.

See: Invite the 'King of Cheeses' into your home

Lifting the lid on healthy organic whole-wheat fusilli from Trader Joe's with organic diced tomatoes, sardines and plenty of baby spinach, which was added to the hot pasta water just before the spirals were drained.

Two organic brown eggs got pinches of Aleppo pepper and grated Pecorino Romano, a sheep milk's cheese that I also add to whole wheat pasta. The cheese and eggs come from Costco.

Kirkland Signature Egg Whites and two organic brown eggs were mixed for a simple all-Costco frittata with grated Pecorino Romano cheese, Camapari Tomatoes and Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto, which I add after the thick no-flip dish finishes browning under the broiler.

Bottled pasta sauce

I couldn't find many bargains among the bottled pasta sauces at the Rochelle Park ShopRite on Friday afternoon, and had to read a lot of labels to find one without added sugar.

One sauce from Two Guys Food Group, made with famed Jersey tomatoes, was a pricey $5.49 for a 25-ounce bottle.

But the oddly named Dress Italian sauces were not only imported from Italy and on sale, but also were free of added sugar.

I picked up 26.5-ounce bottles of Classica (Tomato Basil), Arrabiatta (Angry Chili) and Siciliana (Sun Dried Tomato) for only $1.99 each or half price.

Two of the sauces contain red or white wine, and they are made from 61% or more Italian crushed tomatoes.

15 humans land bountiful Feast of the Seven Fishes

Monkfish fillets plumping up in tomato puree with garlic, onion, green olives, capers, parsley and basil. In Italian, the dish is called Squadro alla Matalotta.

Editor's note: Chef Central closed in January 2017, but I really enjoyed this night of cooking and eating.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Under the guidance of three chefs on Monday night, a dozen food enthusiasts prepared and then stuffed themselves with the traditional Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes.

You don't have to be Italian to enjoy this seafood bounty, which included lobster, monkfish, crab, shrimp, mussels, squid and anchovies.

Festa dei Sette Pesci is associated with everything from the seven days it took to create the universe to the seven utterances that Christ made while on the cross to the seven hills of Rome.

We gathered at 6 p.m. in the kitchen at Chef Central in Paramus for a hands-on cooking demonstration and -- after measuring, chopping, marinating and cooking -- sat down more than two hours later to wolf down our food.

Apple-Smoked Prawns with Sauce Remoulade.

Monkfish with two other dishes, Steamed Mussels Marinara and Linguine with Crab in Tomato Tarragon Cream Sauce.

Teams of amateurs

The 12 people who paid $95 each for the hands-on workshop were split up into three teams, each assigned to a chef.

We'd get a recipe and work from the top down or the bottom up, measuring and assembling ingredients in plastic cups on a tray.

In the process, we learned valuable techniques from professionals, including the fundamental of washing our hands thoroughly before we handled uncooked food. 

Preparation and cooking of the seven dishes was timed beautifully, allowing us to dish from pots and pans, eat to our hearts' content and pack up leftovers.

I'll eat my leftovers for dinner tonight.

Calamari Piccanti or spicy squid marinated for about an hour in olive oil, salt and red-pepper flakes and was cooked briefly, yielding unusually tender rings and tentacles.

Sfincione, a style of pizza from Palermo, was covered in chopped anchovies, red onions, toasted bread crumbs, Pecorino Romano Cheese and pizza sauce.

In Italy, Linguine con Grachi in Salsa Speciale or Linguine with Crab in Tomato Tarragon Cream Sauce would be eaten covered with bread crumbs, not shredded cheese, but that's how I wanted my portion.

Lobster is tops

My favorite dishes were Arragosta Arrosto con la Senape e l'Origano or Baked Lobster with Mustard and Oregano, a dish with an assertive flavor; the spicy calamari and the wonderful monkfish fillets. 

The unusual pizza was tasty, but much too filling.

The baked lobster tails were covered with fresh parsley and oregano, and dressed in a sauce of extra-virgin olive oil, butter and Dijon mustard, above and below.

Minor complaints

I would have been very happy without the butter and cream used in a few of the recipes, as well as the remoulade sauce, and was disappointed in the bland conventional linguine.

A better choice would have been organic whole-wheat linguine from Whole Foods Market, which sponsored the workshop and gave each participant a reusable bag for seafood and a coupon.

Another minor annoyance were the flimsy plastic plates and plastic implements we were given to eat with.

Update

My wife enjoyed the leftover pizza, pasta and a couple of smoked shrimp.

I gently reheated the calamari, mussels and monkfish with its green-olive sauce, and they made a delicious dinner that ended with an organic spring mix salad, which I missed at the workshop the night before. 

Chef Jim Edwards in Chef Central's professional kitchen.

A tray of sauces, fresh herbs and other ingredients.

We had to wear an anti-cut glove when using a knife.

The crab sauce for the linguine contained heavy cream.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes workshop is being given again at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Chef Central, 240 Route 17 north, Paramus; 201-576-0100. Reservations are necessary. Cost: $95.

Stocking up on Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee

A 1-pound bag of Starbucks Christmas Blend of whole coffee beans is $14.95, left, but you get a $5 gift card through Wednesday.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss good buys in Starbucks coffee beans, red wine and sweet potatoes; Japanese beef for $109.99 a pound, and the search for an item that has been discontinued at Costco Wholesale.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Holiday promotions have made stocking up on Starbucks Christmas Blend affordable, reducing the price for a pound of the whole coffee beans to $9.95 from $14.95.

I picked up 2 pounds at a Starbucks on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, where the beans were 30% off.

And on Monday, I bought a third bag at the Starbucks on Essex Street in Hackensack, where I got a $5 gift card with my purchase.

I asked for a Turkish grind for use in my drip coffee maker at home.

The Christmas Blend is described as "spice and sweetness" on the red bags, which I have stored in the freezer.

Wine at Whole Foods

I've been trying some of the $3.99 bottles of red wine from Whole Foods Market in Paramus, and like the Don Simon Shiraz from Spain best.

Today, my wife picked up a case of 12 bottles for $47.88, with an additional discount of $9.58 or 20%. That works out to about $3.19 a bottle.

The bottles have a screw top, which is a lot better than a cork or stopper for storing the wine between meals.

Clementines

I haven't been too happy with the clementines I've bought at ShopRite, H Mart and Costco Wholesale, especially the ones from Morocco.

On Sunday, I picked up a 5-pound box of Bagu Clementines from Spain on sale for $4.99 at the H Mart in Little Ferry.

They are perfect: sweet and easy to peel. 

At Costco on Monday, I saw clementines for $6.99, and kept on walking.

I roast sweet potatoes in a 375-degree oven until they begin oozing their sugar, and ignore recipes on the bag that call for adding butter to them. They are perfect just as they are, skin and all.

Sweet potatoes

I did buy a 10-pound bag of sweet potatoes for only $4.99 at my Hackensack Costco, and roasted five of them on Monday.

The big packages at Costco don't seem to cut down on the number of trips I make to the warehouse store, because there are simply too many great food items available there.

When I tire of schlepping them into the house, I just say to myself that it's good exercise.

$109-a-pound beef

Costco.com is selling an 11-pound piece of "authentic Japanese Wagyu Kobe Beef" for $109.99 a pound or $1,199.99 after a $300 discount.

Costco.com says the ribeye is the top grade of Japanese beef available. 

The price includes overnight shipping of the fresh meat.

We haven't been able to find Clorox Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner at Costco Wholesale for weeks. They are too expensive online, but I found them at Target in Hackensack, where they are on sale until Dec. 28.

Bowling for dollars

Even on sale, Clorox Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaner is no bargain.

We have been buying large packages of the product at Costco Wholesale for a few years, but haven't seen it on the shelves for many weeks.

At Target on Monday, two-tablet packages of Bleach and Bleach & Blue were on sale for $4.49, a discount of 80 cents.

I got another 5% off by using my Target credit card.

Clorox Bleach & Blue "cleans up to 4 months," according to the package, but nowhere does it tell you whether that is for two tablets or one.

Favorite things, pasta with greens and Wondee's

The perfect forkful of handmade egg tagliatelle from Italy with Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto, both from Costco Wholesale. I used two generous tablespoons of the refrigerated pesto for 4 ounces of the noodles, which cook in just 4 minutes.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

Editor

One of my favorite things is a bowl of handmade egg tagliatelle dressed in Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto.

Just 4 ounces of the imported noodles yield a dozen or more perfect forkfuls dressed in one of the best pasta sauces on earth.

For an advocate of eating lower-carb, whole-wheat pasta as part of a no-bread, no-pizza diet, these Filotea-brand pasta ribbons are a guilty pleasure that show up now and again at my Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

The basil in the Kirkland Signature pesto is imported from Italy.

A Super Spice Mixture -- a combination of every spice in my cupboard and refrigerator -- is perfect for breading chicken, pork, beef and fish fillets, such as wild haddock from Costco Wholesale, above. The mixture, which I refrigerate between uses, starts out with several packages of Wick Fowler's 2-Alarm Chili Kit (omit the masa flour), available in supermarkets.

Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto and Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon are two of my favorite items from Costco Wholesale. Here, I used them in a frittata with egg whites and whole organic eggs, also from Costco, served with leftover Chinese takeout shrimp and vegetables, and brown rice.

Addictive kimbap -- Korean seaweed, vegetable, fish and rice rolls -- from Jinga, a food company in Queens, are half-price after 4 p.m. at the H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave., in Englewood. Last week, I paid $3.24 for a 1-pound tray of kimbap with Korean pickles and wickedly hot sliced jalapenos instead of $6.49.

Two other favorites from H Mart are stewed wild-caught Alaskan pollock ($6.99), front, and stewed tofu ($3.99), served here with mustard greens and a baked sweet potato. The pollock and tofu, which can be eaten hot or cold, are prepared with soy, red-pepper powder, garlic, scallion and other ingredients.

Under the category of fish and greens, we often prepare wild sea bass from H Mart stuffed with okra and callaloo, a canned, spinach-like green from Jamaica, and showered with fresh lime juice.

The pesto-smoked salmon frittata is made with reduced-fat sliced Jarslberg Lite Swiss Cheese from Costco that melts beautifully, above.

Organic whole-wheat spaghetti from Whole Foods Market in Trader Joe's canned Marinara Sauce with sardines, anchovies and fresh dandelion leaves.

Pasta with greens

I prepared organic whole wheat pasta with greens again, but couldn't find the baby kale I used the last time.

Instead, I bought 1.8 pounds of dandelion, a foot-long leafy green the Greeks call "horta," for 89 cents a pound at the International Food Warehouse in Lodi.

At home, I washed them and chopped them into 3-inch sections, adding them to the hot water in which the pasta was boiling in the last minute of cooking time.

I then drained pasta and greens, and transferred them to anther pan containing the bubbling sauce, which included three cans of sardines and a can of anchovies (drained of oil and rinsed).

The last time, I folded the baby kale into the sauce along with whole wheat shells.

I didn't find any difference in color retention when I added the greens to the pasta water, but next time, I'll chop the leaves smaller to avoid clumping.

For breakfast, a fried organic egg with a pinch of Aleppo pepper makes a nice topping for leftover whole wheat spaghetti.

A three-tomato, three-cheese frittata gets added flavor from leftover marinara sauce and Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto. It also includes fresh and sun-dried tomatoes; shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, Jarlsberg Lite Swiss Cheese and Pecorino Romano Cheese in the pesto, all from Costco. 

Flavors of Wondee's

The snow was falling and the wind blowing, but we got a warm welcome during a late Saturday afternoon visit to Wondee's at 296 Main St. in Hackensack.

As I ate spicy shrimp soup, salad with crispy tofu and fruit, and jumbo shrimp in wine sauce, I marveled at all the wonderful Thai flavors that give this food such vibrancy.

Lemongrass, wilted leaves of fresh basil, chili paste, lemon juice, kaffir lime leaves, garlic, ginger and other accents are matched by an abundance of vegetables in nearly every dish.

At Wondees Fine Thai Food & Noodles in Hackensack, Talay Thai Shrimp ($17), front; Lamb with Panang Curry ($14) and Pad Kraprow Fried Rice with Pork ($10.50).

From the Vegetarian Menu at Wondees, Yum Rod Pedt, a salad of crispy tofu tossed with oranges, carrots and onion, and dressed with lime juice and chili paste ($10). Fresh cilantro and romaine lettuce that can be used for wrapping also are used.

Thome Yum Koong is shrimp soup with lemon juice, mushrooms, chili paste, lemongrass and other ingredients ($4 for small). Wondee's is closed on Mondays.

Seafood restaurant to unveil $35-plus lunch entree

The Oceanaire Seafood Room replaces McCormick & Schmick's at The Shops at Riverside, an upscale shopping center in Hackensack once known as Riverside Square.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The Oceanaire Seafood Room in Hackensack is open for happy hour and dinner, but won't serve lunch until early January.

Oceanaire replaces McCormick & Schmick's, a seafood restaurant with dark wood and leather booths, and food prices are among the highest in North Jersey.

A Hackensack lunch menu hasn't been posted online yet.

The Oceanaire Seafood Room in Washington, D.C., offers Chilean sea bass or Maryland rockfish at lunch for $37.95 each, and side dishes appear to be extra.

Parking is difficult in the crowded lot outside the Hackensack restaurant, in The Shops at Riverside, and the narrow spaces raise the potential of your car being dinged.

If the prices don't give you heartburn, damage to your car will.

Seafood Gourmet, a fish market and restaurant in Maywood, offers fresh fish, lobster and other fare at far more reasonable prices.

The opening of an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant has been delayed to at least next week.

At the Home Depot Shopping Center in Hackensack, the opening of the Port of Call American Fusion Buffet & Sushi has been delayed until at least next week.

The opening originally was scheduled for Dec. 7 -- the anniversary of the 1941 Japanese attack on the U.S. fleet in Pearl Harbor.

The Courthouse Cafe & Deli has opened at 10 Sussex St. in Hackensack, near the Bergen County Courthouse. John's Coffee Shop operated there for many years.

The new Courthouse Cafe & Diner in Hackensack won't stay open past 4 p.m., fearing few customers would venture out to eat dinner on the city's quiet Main Street.

Main Dish at 152 Main St. closes at 3:30 p.m. for the same reason.

The new-American restaurant opened in the space used for many years by Naturally Good.

Why is Trader Joe's trying to fatten me up?

If you're on a diet or watching your cholesterol, you might want to avoid Trader Joe's in Paramus until after the holidays. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Not just egg nog, but Egg Nog Ice Cream.

And Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe's (sandwich cream cookies); Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels, Dark Chocolate Collection and Pound Plus Extravaganza.

You'll find all of this high-calorie, high-cholesterol food lovingly described in Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer, the guide to holiday foods the chain mails to customers, and in stores.

I stopped at Trader Joe's in Paramus this afternoon for Applegate Naturals Sliced Smoked Turkey, Sliced Ham and Sliced Roast Beef, as well two bottles of 100% juice blends.

The naturally raised, preservative-free cold cuts were $3.99 for 7 ounces or about $2 less than what ShopRite and other supermarkets charge.

Sixty-four ounce bottles of Carrot Tropical Blend and Dynamo Plus Calcium were $3.49 and $3.99, respectively.

It's a good thing I don't have a sweet tooth and that my step quickens when I see one of Trader Joe's displays of chocolates, cookies or other unhealthy food in the store at 404 Route 17 north.

Trader Joe's promotional flier also is filled with lots of prepared food I shy away from, including Camembert Cheese & Cranberry Sauce Fillo Bites, Scallops Wrapped in Uncured Bacon with Brown Sugar Glaze, Beef Tenderloin Bites and Chicken Parmesan Lollipops.

I'll stick with Trader Joe's organic and conventional sweet potatoes, organic whole wheat pasta, uncured hot dogs and bacon; 100% juices, frozen grass-fed beef from New Zealand and a few other items.

The dessert case at the Suburban Diner on Route 17 north in Paramus is one of the first things customer see as they walk in.