Eating In + Eating Out: Fat blackberries, juicy pomegranates, shrimp and scallops

Sweet, tart and crunchy, pomegranate seeds are a tasty accent for baked sweet potatoes with a homemade, non-fat Greek yogurt sauce instead of sour cream, above. Today, I bought a 3-pound bag of Southern's 10 in 1 Sweet Potatoes, which are triple washed, on sale for $2.29 at ShopRite, 220 W. Passaic St., Rochelle Park.

Pomegranate seeds over granola and lactose-free milk. Removing them from the whole fruit is labor intensive, but my wife willingly tackles that chore. I've also enjoyed the seeds sprinkled over warm organic quinoa.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Whole pomegranates are one of the fruits that appear around Thanksgiving every year, and stay through Christmas.

We bought a half-dozen large ones last month at Costco Wholesale in the Teterboro Landing Shopping Center, and enjoyed the crunchy seeds with sweet potatoes, granola, quinoa or eaten by themselves.

On Monday, the Teterboro Costco was selling a box of 6 large California Pomegranates (a total of 9 pounds) for $13.99, a dollar less than we paid in November.

Blackberries are another great fruit, and I found them on sale a week ago at the Whole Foods Market in the Bergen Town Center in Paramus -- three 6-ounce containers for $5.

These Driscoll's berries were from Mexico (but not organic), and I enjoyed them over granola, in a fruit salad and eaten out of the container after washing them.

Large, soft blackberries have a crunchy center, above and below.

I bought 2 pounds of antibiotic- and preservative-free farmed shrimp at Whole Foods Market in Paramus, and cooked them in extra-virgin olive oil, sliced fresh garlic, red wine, a small can of tomato sauce and seasonings, then added them to 1 pound of cooked Organic Whole Wheat Linguine from ShopRite for a filling dinner with plenty of leftovers.

Two pounds of Whole Foods' Responsibly Farmed Shrimp mean you get more than 50 pieces that have been shelled and deveined, and are ready to cook.

Now, the Teterboro Costco is selling organic instead of conventionally grown broccoli in a 3-pound bag for about $1.93 a pound. I bought a bag of the "thoroughly washed" florets for $5.79, and used them along with organic spinach to prepare a fish and vegetable medley, below. 

I also bought about 2 pounds of skinless-and-boneless fresh Haddock from Iceland ($8.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale), cut the fillets into serving pieces, added them to organic spinach and broccoli, then scattered pitted black olives and capers over the fish. I seasoned them with crushed red pepper, plenty of grated cheese and fresh lemon juice.

The fish cooks in 15 minutes after the pan, lined with aluminum foil, is placed in a preheated 400-degree oven.

Big-eye Ocean Perch were $3.99 a pound at the Super H Mart, 321 Broad Ave. in Ridgefield, the Korean chain's biggest supermarket in Bergen County. They are sometimes mislabeled as Small Red Snapper.

My wife seasoned three fish,, stuffed them with callaloo, a collard-like green; and added sweet pepper and scallions before wrapping them in aluminum foil, and placing them in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes.

I could have skipped breakfast before my trip to the Super H Mart, where numerous free samples of vegetables, seafood, beef and pork are handed out on weekends, including crunchy, vegetable-stuffed Egg Rolls, above, and Mung Bean Pancakes, below.

I loved these Seared Diver Scallops with Sunchokes, Brussels sprouts and a deliciously warm Lemon Vinaigrette at Kitchen, the fine dining restaurant in David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center in Manhattan ($34). I started with 7-Vegetable Chopped Salad ($15), which I shared with a friend who invited me to see a 175th anniversary concert of the New York Philharmonic, including Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.