A trip to the turkey farm, deals on wild shrimp and wine at Whole Foods

The Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff calls itself the only live market in Bergen County.

The market, established in 1948, sells naturally raised capons up to 12 pounds and turkeys up to 40 pounds.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

There is something special about getting your Thanksgiving turkey at the only live market in Bergen County.

Today, on a beautiful fall afternoon, we drove the 10 miles out to the farm on Goffle Road in Wyckoff, even though I no longer eat turkey, and my wife and other members of the family prefer drumsticks, thighs and other parts.

Two weeks before Thanksgiving, the small farm store was crowded with workers taking phone orders or waiting on a steady stream of customers.

Turkeys are free range, fresh killed and raised without antibiotics -- or "approximately one level down from organic," according to the farm's website.

We called ahead for large turkey drumsticks ($1.69 a pound), large turkey thighs ($2.69 a pound) and turkey necks ($1.99 a pound).

At the store, we also picked up 3 pounds of cleaned chicken feet ($1.99 a pound).

A flier in the store advertises a 3-course Thanksgiving Dinner at Chakra Restaurant in Paramus on Nov. 24, when one of the entrees will be Brandy-Maple Brined Goffle Farm Turkey with cornbread stuffing ($49 per person).

Besides turkeys (stuffed and unstuffed) and chickens, Goffle Road Poultry Farm sells fresh-killed quail, rabbit, goose, and duck, plus chicken and duck eggs (the latter are $1.25 each). 

The retail store stocks Uncle Dougie's barbecue and wing sauces from Chicago ($5.95 for an 18-ounce bottle). The Sweet Luv'n Small Batch Barbecue Sauce we bought is made with honey and dark-brown sugar, not high fructose corn syrup.

The poultry houses and live processing shed appear to have more solar panels than I saw in previous years.

Details

Goffle Road Poultry Farm, 549 Goffle Road, Wyckoff; 201-444-3238. Closed Sundays. 

Website: Live Poultry Market

On Tuesday, wild-caught Gulf Shrimp were on sale for $12.99 a pound at Whole Foods Market in Paramus. Thanks to a tip from a reader, I found a coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase on the store's app, which I downloaded to my smartphone. That worked out to about $10.80 a pound on a purchase of 2.05 pounds.

The shrimp are previously frozen, but that doesn't affect the taste. At 16 to 20 per pound, 2 pounds of shrimp provide generous servings for three people with leftovers. A fish-counter employee gladly deveined them for me.

Shrimp with pasta

Wild shrimp deserve a great pasta and sauce, so when I brought home more than 2 pounds of them on Tuesday, I went into the cupboard for a package of Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Capellini from ShopRite and a bottle of Trader Giotto's robust Puttanesca Sauce. 

I usually use bottled marinara, adding red wine, extra-virgin olive oil, anchovies, dried herbs and seasonings, including garlic powder, black pepper and red-pepper flakes.

But Trader Joe's mildly spicy Puttanesca can stand on its own. Ingredients include anchovy paste, capers, black and kalamata olives; garlic and red-wine vinegar.

I used about 12 ounces of the 16 ounces of whole-wheat capellini, which take only 3 minutes to cook, so I prepared the shrimp first as I brought the unsalted pasta water to a boil.

I sliced unpeeled garlic, sauteed the slices in olive oil until they were fragrant, and added a few ounces of leftover Victoria Marinara to the non-stick pan.

The 2 pounds of deveined shrimp, marinated in fresh lime juice and a little sea salt, filled the 12-inch pan in one layer, and after a few minutes in the simmering sauce, I flipped them over and cooked them until they curled up and turned pink. 

I drained the pasta, added it to the bubbling sauce, and dinner was served.

At Whole Foods in Paramus, inexpensive bottles of red wine have been moved out of the main wine section and now are displayed inside the Bergen Town Center mall entrance, above and below.

I bought six bottles of cabernet, tempranillo, shiraz and carmenere priced from $3.99 to $6.99, and got a 10% discount at the register. Whole Foods gives you a 20% discount on the purchase of 12 bottles.

You can salsa with wild shrimp at Whole Foods Market, Rosa Mexicano

Wild-caught shrimp from Whole Foods Market in Paramus cook in minutes in Whole Foods' 365 Everyday Value Thick & Chunky Salsa, below.

Editor's note: Amid a flood of low-quality farmed shrimp from Vietnam and other countries, two reliable sources for wild-caught shrimp are Whole Foods Market in Paramus and Rosa Mexicano, a fine-dining restaurant in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When you feel like treating yourself to jumbo wild shrimp for Sunday dinner, they may not always be on sale.

We buy wild-caught Gulf Shrimp (16 to 20 per pound) from Whole Foods Market in Paramus, only a few miles from our home.

When on sale, they usually are $14.99, but on Sunday, I had to pay full price, $19.99 a pound.

They were worth it, though. For one thing, the fish counter workers will devein the shrimp for you.

About 1.5 pounds of shelled and deveined shrimp -- turned once -- cooked in minutes in Whole Foods' Thick & Chunky Salsa ($2.69 for a 16-ounce jar).

There were enough crunchy shrimp to feed three with leftovers (for about $10 a person). 

The medium-spicy salsa also served as a sauce for our side dish, yellow rice prepared with organic mixed vegetables.

Behind the biggest fresh seafood counter in North Jersey, a Whole Foods employee deveined my wild-caught shrimp.

Another worker said she adds fresh ice to the display every 30 minutes to replace melted ice. Whole Foods Market is in Bergen Town Center off of Forest Avenue in Paramus (201-226-1244).

At Rosa Mexicano in Hackensack, Veracruz-style Alambre de Camarones are grilled wild jumbo shrimp, marinated in garlic vinaigrette, with grilled onions and serrano chiles served with achiote rice and salsa verde picante ($22).

Wild shrimp at Rosa Mexicano

I immediately said yes when a friend invited me to lunch at Rosa Mexicano, the Hackensack restaurant where authentic dishes are made from scratch.

The kitchen turns out its own salsas and mole sauces, and wonderful, thick corn tortillas are made in one of the nicest dining rooms in Bergen County, decorated with Mexican pottery, textiles, sconces and other items.

The first Rosa Mexicano opened in Manhattan in 1984, and today, the menu in Hackensack offers a $23 lunch to celebrate the restaurant's 30-plus years at that location.

The fixed-price lunch includes sharing one of three starters, including Rosa Mexicano's signature guacamole, prepared at your table; a choice of any entree (normally $16 to $23), and a shared dessert, Churros or a cake called Tres Leches.

Neither of us had room for dessert.

Warm corn tortillas are perfect for wrapping guacamole, refried beans and other food. Extras are available for the asking.

Guacamole en Molcajete (avocado, jalapeno, tomato, onion and cilantro) is served with warm tortilla chips and salsa ($14.50).

I had the Alambre de Camarones, and my friend ordered Chicken Enchiladas smothered in a rich Mole Poblano ($17).

Side dishes included achiote rice, above, and refried black beans, below.

Rosa Mexicano is in the Shops at Riverside, 390 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack (201-489-0151).

Costco is struggling to supply fresh wild sockeye salmon to N.J. stores

Last August, I cooked fresh wild sockeye salmon from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack on a stove-top grill, topped the serving pieces with a reduction of organic diced tomatoes and red wine, and accented them with chopped fresh herbs, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Fresh wild sockeye salmon from the Copper River in Alaska usually arrives at Costco Wholesale's New Jersey warehouses in late May or in the first week of June.

But not this year, and the bad news came Friday in a call from Costco Wholesale headquarters in Washington State.

"Yeah, it's been a real challenging season. Supplies [of fresh wild sockeye salmon] have been hand to mouth," said Lyle French, the fresh-seafood buyer at Costco headquarters in Issaqua, Wash.

"The fishery is about 68% below last year's catch, and the 5-year average," French said.

He said Costco was able to supply "a little bit" of fresh wild sockeye salmon to East Coast warehouses, but not enough "to sustain a full day's business."

$35 a pound

The shortages might explain why, about 10 days ago, Whole Foods Market in Paramus was selling fresh sockeye salmon for about $35 a pound.

The first Copper River sockeye usually sells for about $15 a pound at Costco.

My wife went to the Teterboro Costco on Friday morning, and found only fillets of troll-caught wild king salmon.

A week to 10 days ago, the Teterboro warehouse also had some wild king salmon from Canada, but no sockeye, which has a deeper red-orange color and a bolder taste.

French said he expects Costco's New Jersey members will start seeing more fresh sockeye on or before the Fourth of July.

Here's a post I wrote two years ago about the ascendancy of the Copper River:

Costco celebrates wild sockeye salmon

Exploring organic food: Pasta and eggs, wild-caught fish and quinoa

Accents of pesto take this breakfast of organic eggs and organic pasta over the top.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Poaching fish fillets or eggs in a covered pan allows you to serve breakfast or dinner in minutes.

For one thing, bottled pasta sauce or Mexican-style salsa serve as both a cooking medium and a dressing for your side dish of organic whole-wheat pasta, quinoa or brown rice.

If you make several servings of the side dish ahead, as I often do, that saves you even more time. 

At dinner, a salad of pre-washed greens, such as Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, and a glass of wine completes your meal.

Pesto eggs and pasta

I started with about 6 ounces of leftover bottled vodka sauce, one made without heavy cream; emptied it into a pan, added a little olive oil and covered it to heat it up.

When it was simmering, I cracked two organic eggs into the pan, turned the heat to medium and put on the cover again (a glass cover works best).

Meanwhile, I added 1 cup of 365 Everyday Value Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli from Whole Foods Market to a small pot of boiling water ($1.49 for 1-pound box).

The eggs were ready before the pasta, which took 8 minutes for al dente. (Ignore longer cooking times listed on the box.)

I removed the eggs to a plate, added Aleppo red pepper, drained the pasta, mixed it with the sauce in the pan and plated it next to the eggs.

I added a little refrigerated Basil Pesto from Costco Wholesale, which is also where the brown eggs came from.

What a great breakfast, especially eating the broken yolk over the pasta spirals.

Wild-caught haddock from Iceland, which poaches in minutes in Mexican-style salsa, is paired with an organic red quinoa and kale blend with citrus and black pepper, above and below.

Haddock, quinoa and kale

At Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, fresh, wild-caught fish fillets -- haddock, flounder and cod -- are inexpensive, and easy to cook in bottled Mexican-style salsas from Whole Foods Market.

I started with a 16-ounce jar of 365 Everyday Value Roasted Chipotle Salsa from Whole Foods ($2.69), emptying about two-thirds of it into a pan and adding the juice of a big, plump Meyer Lemon from Costco ($5.99 for a 4-pound bag).

I heated the sauce up under a cover; and cut up and seasoned the thin haddock fillets with a little sea salt ($8.99 a pound).

Meanwhile, in a non-stick pan with cooking spray, I heated up a frozen 10-ounce bag of Organic Quinoa & Kale Blend from Costco I found in the freezer (cooking time is 6 minutes).

When the sauce was simmering, I added the fish, and put the cover back on, setting the heat to medium high.

The fish was translucent in 5 minutes, but you can cook it longer, say 7 minutes.

365 Everyday Value Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli in Organic Italian Herb Pasta Sauce, both from Whole Foods Market, with chopped organic kale and organic arugula.

Fusilli with kale and arugula 

I liked the fusilli with sunny side up eggs so much I decided to cook the rest of the 1-pound box with a 25-ounce jar of 365 Every Day Value Organic Italian Herb Pasta Sauce ($2.99) I bought in January at Whole Foods in Paramus.

I also had 5-ounce packages of Earthbound Farm Organic Arugula and Organic Kale (99 cents each at the International Food Warehouse in Lodi) that had a use-by date of Thursday, when I made the rest of the pasta spirals.

To the herb sauce, I added a drained can of Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings, including some red-pepper flakes.

After draining the pasta and adding it to the sauce, I placed the chopped greens on top, and folded all of it together with a large cooking spoon.

This morning, I reheated some of the fusilli to enjoy with a freshly made egg-white omelet and sauteed spinach.

Almost everything I used for the three dishes was organic and contained no genetically modified ingredients (GMOs).

Shop Whole Foods Market's frequent sales, rely on great return policy

Whole Foods Market's 365 Everyday Value Mexican-style salsas, shown at the Paramus store, can be used to poach fish fillets or in omelets.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Whole Foods Market's 365 Everyday Value products aren't always organic, but their price and quality give other supermarkets a run for their money.

I've come to rely on two 365 Everyday Value products, a line of non-organic salsas and organic whole-wheat pastas from Italy in several shapes.

Last Saturday, I drove over to the Paramus Whole Foods to get a refund for frozen turkey parts, and discovered the store was knocking 10% off all 365 Everyday Value items.

I picked up 1-pound boxes of Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli and Shells for $1.49 each, and a 25-ounce jar of 365 Everyday Value Organic Italian Herb Pasta Sauce with no sugar added for $2.99, both before the discount.

ShopRite and Trader Joe's also sell organic whole wheat pasta, but you won't find any shells, which "catch" the sauce in which you prepare them.

Whole Foods' 365 Everyday Value salsas are terrific for poaching eggs or fish fillets -- they serve as both cooking medium and sauce for a side dish of rice or pasta.

A 24-ounce jar of Roasted Salsa Verde was $3.99, and 16-ounce jars of Roasted Poblano and Roasted Chipotle Salsas were $2.99 and $2.69, respectively, all before the 10% discount.

At $1.99 each, these 25-ounce jars of 365 Everyday Value Pasta Sauce, with no sugar added, are competitive with sauces you'd find at ShopRite and other supermarkets. The Whole Foods' pasta sauces have added value, because they are free of genetically modified ingredients (GMOs).

Great return policy

My wife likes the Whole Foods' case holding frozen meat, including antibiotic-free chicken backs, necks and feet for soup.

But she doesn't like the larger frozen turkey parts, as I discovered when I brought home turkey backs and giblets with a gift card I got for Christmas.

It was no problem returning them without a receipt, and the refund was put on a gift card that enabled me to buy 365 Everyday Value salsas, organic pasta sauce and organic whole wheat pastas that were on sale.

I had to pay only another 86 cents.

With organic food and produce widely available at ShopRite, Costco Wholesale and other stores, I'm able to shop only occasionally at Whole Foods, especially when the store is having a sale, including discounted wine and seafood.

They are a good deal for me and other consumers.

Whole Foods Market, 300 Bergen Town Center, Paramus; 201-266-1244.

Open 7 days from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., but less busy on weekdays.

After a simple but filling meal, our Christmas leftovers will go fast

Cooked Wild Red King Crab Salad, dressed with Dijon mustard and fresh lime juice, was the starter for our modest Christmas dinner. The crab legs were $19.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro.

My entree was seasoned Wild Gulf Shrimp sautéed with olive oil and chopped fresh garlic. The meat eaters in the family enjoyed Cuban-style roast pork moistened with mojito, a lemony garlic sauce. The shrimp were on sale for $14.99 a pound at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

There are plenty of leftovers from our simple Christmas dinner on Friday.

I didn't have much of an appetite after shelling 2.5 pounds of Wild Red King Crab legs and preparing a sinful salad, with diced celery, sweet peppers and fresh cilantro; sauteeing 3 pounds of Wild Gulf Shrimp, with olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes; and steaming a pound of kale in chicken stock and sake.

I enjoyed a heaping portion of crab salad on top of red-leaf and organic lettuces; and plenty of sauteed shrimp and kale, but didn't have room for Organic Quinoa, and mashed squash and carrots I also prepared this week.

My wife and son's entree was the Cuban-style roast pork, with a layer of fat under crispy skin, we brought home from La Pola Restaurant in West New York, along with yellow rice made at home, all in a lemony garlic sauce.

We toasted our good fortune with Bellinis, substituting a Spanish sparkling wine for prosecco.

On Friday morning, I made a 10-inch frittata with wild smoked salmon, chopped garlic, organic diced and fresh tomatoes, black olives and grated Pecorino Romano Cheese, and plated it with sauteed baby spinach and baked sweet potatoes.

In the last five minutes the frittata was finishing under the broiler, I added Roasted Salsa Verde from Whole Foods Market left over from poaching fresh cod earlier in the week. I used about 3 cups of 100% egg whites, plus the other ingredients.

This morning, I plated Christmas leftovers for breakfast, clockwise from top, chopped kale, Organic Quinoa with Garlic, a wedge of Wild Salmon Frittata, and a combination of Kabocha Squash and Organic Carrots, mashed with extra-virgin olive oil.

We're adding Cuban roast pork, wild shrimp to our Christmas menu

Cuban Sandwich master Belarmino Rico, 76, at the plancha, the heated grill that transforms an ordinary ham, pork and cheese sandwich into a hot, crispy Cubano.

On Wednesday, Rico checked the pork he roasts for five hours in a pizza oven at La Pola Restaurant, 5400 Palisade Ave., West New York. Today, in an annual holiday ritual, he will be waiting on hundreds of customers who will flood into the small luncheonette to pick up Christmas orders -- including whole butterflied pigs, ribs and hams, plus all of the Cuban side dishes.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

On Wednesday morning, when we pulled into the tiny parking lot of La Pola Restaurant in West New York, we witnessed the calm before the storm.

Belarmino Rico, who justly deserves the title of "King of the Cuban Sandwich," was roasting pork and waiting on an occasional customer in preparation for today's onslaught.

As my wife enjoyed a hot, crispy Cuban Sandwich or Cubano and I sipped a cafe con leche, Rico explained that he had stopped taking orders for Christmas.

Today, three generations of his family and his loyal employees are greeting hundreds of customers who come in to pick up whole pigs, roast pork, ham and ribs, which will be displayed on racks and tables.

They'll also take home such Cuban dishes as congris, rice cooked with black beans; yuca with garlic, chicharrones or pork rinds, and a tortilla Espanola, a Spanish potato omelet. 

Rico named his Cuban sandwich shop for La Pola, the small town in Spain where he was born before he emigrated to Cuba.

We had a prior commitment today so on Wednesday, we picked up roast pork for our Christmas dinner on Friday.

On Wednesday, La Pola Restaurant was experiencing the quiet before the storm.

At La Pola, a Cuban Sandwich is made with a 12-inch section of water bread filled with roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard, moistened with a garlic sauce called a mojito and heated until crispy in a press.

La Pola's own Plaintain Strips are delicious and low in salt.

La Pola, on Palisade Avenue and 54th Street in West New York, is cash only.

Wild Gulf Shrimp are on sale today at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

Going wild for shrimp

The roast pork from La Pola Restaurant in West New York is for the meat eaters in the family.

This morning, I went to Whole Foods Market for another main dish, Wild Gulf Shrimp, which were on sale for $14.99 a pound.

That's about what Costco Wholesale charges for farmed Black Tiger shrimp from Vietnam. Customers are told nothing about how they are raised.

On Friday, we'll also have a wild Red King Crab Salad dressed with Dijon mustard, fresh lime juice, seasonings and fresh chopped cilantro.

Side dishes include mashed Kabocha Squash and Organic Carrots, Organic Quinoa with Garlic and a salad of Organic Spring Mix. 

Whole Foods Market in Paramus has the best fresh seafood counter in North Jersey. One of the employees, left, gladly deveined the 3 pounds of wild shrimp I asked for.

As I waited for the shrimp to be deveined, I munched on samples of cheese, nuts and dried olives.

These bunches of Organic Cilantro are about twice as big as the conventional cilantro sold at the nearby Paramus ShopRite for 99 cents.

$10, $20 and $30 bottles of red wine are no healthier than cheap stuff

On Saturday, I bought a dozen bottles of red wine during a one-day sale at Whole Foods Market in Paramus. My selections cost $4.99 to $8.99 each before a 20% discount.

This "deep cherry red" wine from France and a bottle of California Pinot Noir, also $8.99, were the most expensive bottles in my cart.

Editor's note: I've updated this post by adding a link to a discussion of the health benefits and risks of drinking wine.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Whole Foods Market in Paramus is a reliable source of drinkable red wine for well under $10 a bottle.

On Saturday, I bought a dozen bottles from California, France, Argentina and Italy at 20% off during a one-day sale ($4.99 to $8.99 each before the discount).

Why spend more on wine? The health benefits are the same, whether you spend $4.99, $49 or $499 a bottle.

While I was there, I also picked up two 8-ounce packages of uncured, antibiotic-free Wellshire Maple Bacon (on sale for $4.50 each), frozen Chicken Bones for Soup ($1.79 a pound) and frozen Oxtails ($7.99 a pound). 

I paid for the wine, bacon and frozen Oxtails with an American Express card, earning a 3% cash rebate and a $10 statement credit on a purchase of more than $60. 

See: Health benefits, risks of drinking wine

Whole Foods Market, Bergen Town Center, Spring Valley and Maywood avenues, Paramus; 201-226-1244. Open 7 days.

I steered clear of this overpriced Beaujolais Noveau.

This naturally raised, preservative-free bacon was reduced to $4.50 from $5.99.

At Whole Foods, frozen Chicken Bones for Soup (not shown) were only $1.79 a pound. 

I told an employee in the Whole Foods produce department the sign says "Grown in Spain," but all three brands of Clementines were from Morocco. He said he would "get to it."