ShopRite's antibiotic-free chicken gets new name, wine-cork recycling and more

ShopRite supermarkets have introduced a new name and label for the fresh antibiotic-free chicken that was sold for many years under the Readington Farms label. Wholesome Pantry Organic Chicken also is being introduced. The label says, "Hatched, raised and harvested in USA."

Wholesome Pantry is part of an initiative to remove artificial ingredients from products sold at ShopRite, the supermarket cooperative says. Click here to see those ingredients.

Although Perdue has introduced its own line of antibiotic-free chicken, the ShopRite at Route 4 and Forest Avenue in Paramus carries only the company's original low-quality poultry, above.

One of the great pleasures of the table is a glass of red wine with dinner. You can recycle corks at Whole Foods Market in the Bergen Town Center, Paramus.

If there is no shortage of corks, why recycle? "It's good for the environment," an employee in Whole Foods' wine and beer department said.

At Whole Foods, pricey wine from the wealthy Monmouth County town of Colts Neck, N.J., above and below.

At the Paramus Whole Foods, I gravitate to the many bottles of red wine for under $10, including Three Wishes Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot ($2.99 each), above and below.

Costco Wholesale in the Teterboro Landing Shopping Center continues to add organic produce and other organic food. Organic Gala Apples were about $1.64 a pound last Monday.

But Organic Honeycrisp Apples were a pricey $3.36 a pound.

Conventionally grown Honeycrisp Apples were about $2.73 a pound. Unfortunately, Honeycrisp are my favorite apple.

Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti from ShopRite ($1.50 for a 1-pound package) dressed in a homemade sauce of organic diced tomatoes, anchovies, mushrooms, garlic, chopped black olives, red wine, extra-virgin olive oil, seasonings and dried Italian herbs.

Organic Sweet Potatoes from ShopRite ($3.99 for a 3-pound bag), mashed with extra-virgin olive oil.

In a covered pot, I boiled the sweet potato sections and peeled garlic cloves for about an hour, then drained them and returned them to the pot.

I added Kirkland Signature Organic Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, plus seasonings I had on hand, many from Costco, including curry powder, cinnamon, black pepper, red-pepper flakes, coriander and granulated garlic, then mashed the potatoes in the pot.

I made a frittata with whole eggs, liquid whites, grated cheese -- 3 cups to 4 cups of liquid in all poured into a preheated 10-inch non-stick pan with olive oil. As the crust set, I added slices of a large organic tomato.

After I removed the frittata from the oven, where it finished cooking under the broiler, I added Costco's Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto and leftover Victoria Vodka Sauce, which is made without cream.

At the H Mart in  Little Ferry, above, workers are renovating the vacant half of the former Valley Fair building at 260 Bergen Turnpike, photos below, even though the Korean supermarket chain hasn't formally announced whether a new store and food court will occupy the space.

Seaweed rolls stuffed with rice, vegetables and a crab substitute, made from pollack, are a great appetizer.

I found five fat Finger Maki from Pinocchio, an outside caterer, in the refrigerated case with other Korean side dishes, opposite the fresh fish department at the Little Ferry H Mart.

Organic Carrots at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro are only about 70 cents a pound, if you buy a 10-pound bag, so to use that many carrots, we've started oven roasting them. We trim the fat end, cut the carrots in half, brush them with olive oil, add a little salt and organic no-salt seasoning, and roast them at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes to an hour. 

-- VICTOR E. SASSON