Wild salmon with diced tomatoes, garlic and fresh mint

Fresh, wild-caught sockeye salmon cooks through and stays moist after about 13 minutes in a 375-degree oven. Costco Wholesale in Hackensack sells Copper River salmon from Alaska for about half what other stores charge.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

My wife picked up another fillet of fresh, wild sockeye salmon from Alaska for $14.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

From a fillet of about 1.5 pounds, I prepared five serving portions with organic diced tomatoes, garlic, fresh oregano, red wine and extra-virgin olive oil, and added chopped fresh mint right before serving them.

The only other ingredients you'll need are fresh lime juice and salt for the fillets before you put them in a 375-degree oven.

I roasted them for 8 minutes on parchment paper, pulled the large pan out of the oven, added the diced-tomato mixture and returned the fish to cook for 5 minutes more.

Fresh mint is the finishing touch.

Easily overcooked

Costco's label recommends an internal temperature of 145 degrees, but the fillets were cooked through in 13 minutes, even though they registered only 120 degrees, according to my thermometer.

Before I put the fish in the oven, I sautéed chopped garlic in extra-virgin olive oil, added a drained can of organic diced tomatoes from Costco, red wine, lime juice and fresh oregano, and brought them to a boil on the stove in an uncovered frying pan.

I turned down the heat, but inadvertently cooked off almost all of the liquid, foiling my plan for a rich sauce.

But when I ate the fish and diced-tomato mixture together, the salmon was wonderfully moist and full of flavor.

For breakfast today, I ate the last piece of wild salmon with a leftover wedge of frittata and brown rice.

I enjoy smoked Alaskan sockeye salmon year-round. Here, I added a few slices to organic eggs and ate them with mashed sweet potatoes, using extra-virgin olive oil, salt, cinnamon, curry powder, black pepper and powdered garlic. Almost everything is available at Costco Wholesale.

 

I boil skin-on sweet potatoes, drain them in a colander and return them to the pot to season and mash. Last week, a 6.5-pound bag of sweet potatoes was $5.99 at Costco.

 

Exploring Wondee's vegetarian menu

Mock Duck Kraprow at Wondee's Fine Thai Food in Hackensack.

Fried rice with tofu, vegetables and fresh basil leaves.

The plan for dinner out on Saturday was to order everything from the vegetarian menu at one of our favorite restaurants, Wondee's Fine Thai Food and Nooodles in Hackensack.

It was a perfectly good plan, of course, until my meat-loving teenage son got wind of it.

So, that's how we ended up with both meat and vegetarian dishes on the table.

But my wife joined me in enjoying soup, salad, entree and fried rice -- all with vegetables, tofu or textured soy.

The dishes were mildly spicy and full of flavor and texture, but free of unhealthy animal fats. 

My wife raved about the meal, and both of us were stuffed. 

A full page of Wondee's menu is vegetarian.

We started with Thome Yum Vegetable Soup.

Four of us shared a vegetarian salad, Yom Rod Pedt, which substitutes crispy tofu for bits of duck with lettuce and fruit in a tasty dressing ($10).

My wife and I had Thome Yum Vegetable, a spicy vegetable soup ($3.50), but my son and mother-in-law ordered Geuw Nam, wonton soup with roast pork slices ($3.50).

We loved the Mock Duck Kraprow with chili, onion and sweet basil, especially the meaty texture of the faux duck ($12).

Our brightly flavored vegetable-and-tofu fried rice, Pad Kraprow, was $10.

My son and mother-in-law shared a special, Braised Pig's Shoulder, which came with white rice ($12). 
  

Crispy tofu stands in for duck in a delicious salad.

A spicy chili-garlic sauce brightened our entrees and fried rice.

Braised Pig's Shoulder with hard-boiled egg.

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

Parking in rear, BYO, no delivery. Closed Mondays.



Related article

• There is Thai -- and then there is Wondee's

Here are a few ways of enjoying pesto without going near pasta

Homemade pesto, above, was made in a blender from a recipe that appears below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I never get tired of pesto -- made with plenty of fragrant basil, pine nuts, garlic and cheese. Simply put, it says summer.

But now that I'm on a diet and cutting down drastically on pasta and bread, I've had to enjoy it in new ways -- folded into a cheese omelet, spooned onto grilled tomatoes or added to hot tomato soup.

I've even used a spoonful on top of two eggs fried sunny side up -- it tastes great eaten with the creamy yolk and egg white. (Blender pesto recipe below.)

I'm out of the smoked wild-caught salmon and sliced, low-fat Swiss cheese I get at Costco Wholesale, but I can see spreading some pesto on a slice of cheese, adding a slice of salmon and rolling them up for a mini-sandwich without bread.

Pesto with wild salmon

I might try it with the fresh wild sockeye salmon that has filled the fish case at Costco this summer, spooning some on top of hot fillets already covered with chopped, fresh basil and other herbs.

Before my diet, I loved to use pesto as a spread with toasted bread, stuffing the sandwich with smoked salmon, sardines or canned fish salad; sliced cheese and tomato, and lettuce or organic spring mix.

And when I was eating pasta, I found pesto went best with penne, shells or bowties -- which caught the thick, dark green mixture -- rather than with spaghetti or linguine.

With the last two, much of the pesto seemed to end up at the bottom of the bowl.

I also found cleaning plates covered with the remains of a pesto dinner difficult to do in a dishwasher. 

The plates don't come out clean, and the olive-oil-based pesto goes all over the place.

I've memorized a blender pesto recipe from Italian kitchen master Marcella Hazan that I've been using for 20 or more years, but reproduce it here from another food blog, Stove Top Reading. 

Here's the link:

Homage to Marcella Hazan

The original recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of softened butter, but I eliminated that many years ago. A little extra olive oil wouldn't be out of order.

I also don't add salt, relying on the salty grated cheese added at the end.

I have basil plants growing in my garden and I've made three portions recently. This recipe gives you a thick sauce grainy with cheese that really coats penne and other small pasta, and is incredible as a sandwich spread.

In Genoa, where pesto originates, it is often made with sliced potatoes that cook with the pasta in boiling water.

BLENDER PESTO

Enough for one pound or 6 servings of pasta

2 cups fresh basil leaves 

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons pine nuts

2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed with a heavy knife handle and peeled

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons freshly grated Roman pecorino cheese

1. Put the pine nuts, garlic cloves, basil and extra-virgin olive oil in the blender and mix at high speed.  Stop from time to time and scrape the ingredients down toward the bottom of the blender cup with a rubber spatula.  

2.  When the ingredients are evenly blended, pour into a bowl and beat in the two grated cheeses by hand. (This is not much work, and it results in more interesting texture and better flavor than you get when you mix in the cheese in the blender.)  If you do not want to use the pesto immediately, put it into a closed container and freeze it before you add the cheese.

3. Before spooning the pesto over the pasta, add to it a tablespoon or so of the hot water in which the pasta has boiled.  Do not heat the pesto before you add it to the pasta.

Editor's note: The best pesto has a great deal of basil in it. I use leaves and stems, and pack a 2-cup measuring cup with it. The more basil, the better. I've also added mint, rosemary, arugula, parsley and other herbs, but think basil makes the best pesto.

Loving food too much

Image by roboppy via Flickr

 "I love food."


"I know. Just love food a little less."


That pretty much sums up the exchange today between me and my doctor after my yearly physical. My weight -- 226 pounds, four more than in May 2009, but four pounds less than my recent peak -- prompted his advice that I'm eating too much, even though I go to the gym five days a week.


His words weren't exactly ringing in my ears when I drove to the other end of Englewood to see if I could pick up three fish dinners at Jerry's Gourmet & More. I was out of luck; I only found one dinner with fish among the restaurant-quality chicken and pork meals.

Jerry's was probably the wrong place to go after my physical. I had to fast for the examination and needed breakfast, and all the free samples of cheese, bread and olive oil were too hard to resist. I had a dozen or more small cubes of cheese, four or five pieces of bread dipped in extra virgin olive oil, crackers and yogurt, but didn't try the energy drink. 


I bought three of Jerry's small, chewy focaccias ($1.49 each) -- covered in marinara sauce and lots of chopped garlic (I had half of one to complete my breakfast at home). The Original Napoletana Pizza Margherita (like the one in photo above), with house-made fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, tomato, salt and extra-virgin olive oil, was $4.99, a bargain when compared to what a Neapolitan pizzeria charges.


For dinner tonight, I'll heat up Jerry's two-pound lasagna (meatless, $10.99) and steam a pound of French green beans from Costco.


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

Web site:
Jerry's Homemade

Turn your back on refrigerated hummus

Image via Wikipedia

If you love hummus, read this New York Times story (link below), then go out and buy canned hummus from Lebanon and make your own with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic powder. With all the money you'll save, you can buy some fresh Syrian bread to scoop up your tasty, homemade dip.


I buy my canned hummus at Fattal's Syrian Bakery in Paterson (975-77 Main St.), a one-stop shopping experience for fresh bread and everything you'd want to eat with it. Lebano Verde is the brand I favor, and a 15-ounce can was 99 cents the last time I was there 10 days ago. 

I garnish my hummus with more olive oil and cumin or Aleppo red pepper, and use it as a sandwich spread when I'm not scooping it up with bread. Here is the link to the story:

 Hummus with peanut butter?

(Photo: Hummus served in Haifa, Israel)

Stocking up for meatless meals

Image via Wikipedia

I spent $68 today on my weekly run to Costco in Hackensack -- all of it on produce, fish and non-meat items that will help us keep our pledge to eat meatless meals. (See earlier post, "We take the pledge at Wondee's")


I brought home a 13-pound carton of California navel oranges ($8.99), wild-caught Canadian flounder fillets ($8.49 a pound), all-vegetable patties ($10.89 for 14), organic edamame ($4.99 for 24 ounces), gourmet fingerling potatoes ($6.99 for five pounds), organic salad mix ($4.49), herbicide-free tomatoes ($4.99), strawberries ($4.99 for two pounds), lemons ($6.49 for five pounds) and bananas ($1.32 for three pounds).

I saw Glatt kosher, vegan falafel for about $7 (two pounds), but thought that was overkill. Falafel is made of chickpeas (photo) and spices. Who needs it both kosher and vegan? I could probably do better on the soybeans at H Mart.

Last night, we sauteed two pounds of wild-caught shrimp that had been marinated in red wine, garlic, red-pepper flakes and salt, and served it with yellow rice and organic black beans, which I heated up and seasoned with lots of spices. I also had a salad of organic greens. Very satisfying.

Tonight, we are having a vegetarian meal imported from India by Target, with rice, bread and salad. But Costco was out of Asian Indian bread, so we'll eat Syrian bread. Tomorrow night, we'll fry the flounder I bought today.

Spicing up our breakfast

Image via Wikipedia

"That was a great breakfast," my 12-year-old son said as he got up from the table today after polishing off two pocket-bread halves stuffed with organic greens, hummus and fava beans. (Photo: Hummus at Maxim Restaurant in Haifa, Israel.)

My breakfast sandwiches also held greens and hummus, but I added a fat Moroccan sardine and a slice or two of plum tomato sprinkled with the thyme-based mixture called za'atar. We both ate some taboule salad, the last from the container I bought at Costco in Hackensack. Everything else but the greens came from Fattal's Bakery (and market) in Paterson.

This breakfast was fragrant with Middle eastern spices -- cumin, coarse Aleppo red pepper, allspice -- and lemon, garlic and extra-virgin olive oil in the hummus with tahini I made from a can (Lebano Verde brand).

As we ate, we discussed how my son's bean, bean and bread sandwich made such a great vegetarian meal and how I would be happy giving up meat as long as I could eat sardines and other seafood. After I finished, I put another half of Fattal's Syrian bread into the toaster to warm and assembled a hummus and fava bean sandwich. Absolutely wonderful.

Fattal's Bakery, 975 Main St.; (973) 742-7125;

Paterson; open seven days.

Beans, beans and bread

Image by seier+seier+seier via Flickr

My passion for the spices and flavors of the Middle East only seem to increase as I get older. I have been trying more and more to experience again the wonderful meals I enjoyed for many years at my mother's table -- her Jewish specialties from Aleppo, Syria, where she was born.

Now, I visit Aleppo Restaurant and Middle Eastern bakeries and markets in Paterson to taste that wonderful food or gather the ingredients for home-cooked meals.

The other day, I found a large, 32-ounce can of fava beans from Lebanon in my cupboard and immediately thought salad. I drained most of the liquid and poured these humble beans into a bowl, adding chopped scallion and parsley, extra-virgin olive oil, juice from two small lemons, garlic powder, cumin, allspice, Aleppo red pepper and salt.

You can heat up the seasoned beans, smash some of them and serve them with a hard-boiled egg on top. Or you can spoon a good amount of beans on a plate, warm them in the microwave and top them with one or two sunny side up eggs, as I did for breakfast today. Then, I warmed up Syrian bread and scooped up egg, yolk and beans, or made small sandwiches with the pocket bread.

Image via Wikipedia

Grace Sasson, my mother, used to make falafel with fresh fava beans, as the Egyptians do. Everyone else uses chickpeas. In her self-published cookbook, "Kosher Syrian Cooking," she has the falafel recipe and a second recipe where shelled fava beans are cooked in oil, water and allspice until they turn brown and served as a side dish.

I'll probably be making some hummus (pureed chickpeas) this week -- adding powdered garlic, lemon juice and olive oil to canned spread from Lebanon -- and I know I'll be snacking on pocket-bread sandwiches of fava beans and hummus. Basic, filling and delicious.

A great way to break a beef fast

Image via Wikipedia

 I served one of our favorite meals at home last night -- marinated Korean beef barbecue with white rice and side dishes. My 12-year-old son still calls this "cook on the table," a reference to how it is served in restaurants, even though I use a non-stick grill that covers two burners on our stove (photos are generic).

Image via Wikipedia

We started making this meal at home to avoid questions about the quality of the beef served in Korean restaurants in  North Jersey. I used beef I had sliced off of a free-range, grass-fed, whole beef tenderloin from Australia, sold at ShopRite under the Nature's Reserve label. I bought it on sale in December for $4.99 a pound, put the slices in a plastic freezer bag and added bulgogi marinade from H Mart in Little Ferry.

Image by bobafred via Flickr

Yesterday, I returned to the H Mart for red leaf lettuce, scallions, seasoned bean sprouts and hot pepper paste. I prepared four cups of white rice in our rice cooker and set out the lettuce leaves, three kinds of kimchi and the pepper paste. I grilled the beef, scallions and sliced garlic at the same time.
At the table, we dipped a slice of meat in the hot pepper paste and wrapped it a lettuce leaf along with garlic or scallion, rice and kimchi. The goal is to see who can make the biggest package and still fit it into his or her mouth. The beef, which I cooked just past medium, was really tender. It's a delicious and fun meal. Since the first of the year, this was only our second meal of beef.

Tossing the guacamole

In preparing dinner last night, I had second thoughts about serving guacamole from 2005 I found in the back of the freezer. See post, "What's in your freezer?"

I just now tossed the package into the garbage.

Image via Wikipedia

But I did serve two other side dishes with antibiotic-free Australian shoulder lamb chops that were quick, easy and nutritious -- Middle Eastern fingerling potato salad and collard greens with garlic.

The multicolored potatoes came in a 5-pound bag from Costco. The salad is quick to prepare, but boiling  about three cups of potatoes, which I cut up, took about 20 to 25 minutes. You could do that while the chops are roasting in the oven. After draining the potatoes and running cold water over them, I added:
 
Juice of one big lemon
Two to three ounces of extra-virgin olive oil
Cumin, allspice, Aleppo pepper and salt to taste
Toss and serve

I washed and cut up the collard greens (from H Mart), then blanched them for a few minutes in boiling, salted water. (I have found that if you don't first blanch fresh greens, spinach and similar items, they turn brown.) Using tongs, I transferred the greens to a pan in which I had heated heated extra-virgin olive oil and dehydrated garlic chips, sauteeing them for another four or five minutes. Then I turned off the fire and covered the pan to let the greens steam until I served them.

The only problem, my wife said, is that I didn't make enough. My son thought they needed salt.

Comforting stew chases the chills away

Now that the weather has turned cold, my thoughts turn often to a comforting stone bowl of spicy Korean soft-tofu stew, with a fresh egg cooking in the bubbling broth, and side dishes of rice and kimchi. But last night, I wanted something different and I knew what it was when I saw a large photo in the window of The Fresh Tofu Restaurant in Palisades Park.

I ordered the boiled hen soup with rice ($14.99) -- a great version of chicken soup -- and it warmed me up instantly on a night when temperatures were in the 40s. This is one of the many Korean dishes that aren't spicy. The waitress, Young, brought me seven excellent side dishes, or panchan: cabbage and radish kimchi, greens, roasted seaweed, bean sprouts, fish cakes and a sweetish vegetable I couldn't identify. I also got a small dish of salt in which to dip the chicken pieces.

Most Korean stews come with rice on the side, but in this one, the rice was stuffed into the small, whole chicken with garlic cloves, beans and nuts. Jujube -- a small, dark-red fruit that tastes a little like apple -- and chopped scallions were scattered on top. I found out too late that what looked like a piece of wood was to flavor the stew and wasn't meant for consumption.

The Fresh Tofu Restaurant, 268 Broad Ave., Palisades Park; 201-592-6400; serves lunch and dinner, including Korean barbecue and soft-tofu stew; call for hours.

Today's food coverage in The Record

In The Record's Better Living section today, on F-2, we read about an "authentic" Greek place that serves burgers, mozzarella sticks and Buffalo wings. I and many other North Jerseyans shop frequently at Korean markets, but an item about Korean black garlic lists no Korean store that stocks it.

These two food reports, an illustrated recipe and a story about wine ($12 a bottle and higher) are all the newspaper could muster on a Wednesday, when readers in the past could feast on an entire Food section.

The Food section was dropped by Publisher Stephen A. Borg, who promised readers food coverage "every day." Unfortunately, despite an occasional house ad touting "every day" food news, there is no food coverage on Thursdays and a vast majority of Saturdays. Monday's coverage usually consists of a single recipe for vegetarians.

http://eyeontherecord.blogspot.com/

Another fast one at ShopRite

The ShopRite in Hackensack pulled another fast one on me today. I needed sweet peppers, an onion and garlic to prepare arroz con pollo with chicken thighs I defrosted, and also picked up lactose-free organic milk and seltzer while I was there.

I glanced at the receipt in the store, but didn't look at it more carefully until I got home, which is where I saw I was charged $3.49 for a head of elephant garlic, not the $2.99 listed on the sign. Mierda! Don't you hate that?

How likely is it that I will be going back there for 50 cents, since it is my least favorite ShopRite? About the only thing it has going for it is that, out of three ShopRites, it is closest to my home -- the reason I went there in the first place.