Jean, Eggs and Ham

Tip o'the week: spice up your spice rack

A friend of mine asked my advice of how to add some sass to her meals. She felt totally bored by the bland stuff she kept making in an effort to eat more healthfully and cut salt from her diet. So here's this week's tip o' the week: the best basic herbs and spices and how to use them. These are cheap and should last awhile. Feel free to branch out and try other spices/herbs, including coriander, dill, parsley and celery salt.

• Garlic: Sautee with vegetables, add to pastas and pizzas, mix into rice and beans. Bake or sprinkle in potato dishes.
• Cinnamon: Bake in cakes and sweets; also adds depth to beef dishes. Stir into coffee or tea.
• Basil: Sprinkle into vegetable dishes, salads and on pizza, mix into tomato sauce or cream cheese.
• Pepper: Compliments and enhances meats, soups and bean dishes.
• Oregano: Adds depth to chicken, soups and in any recipe with tomatoes.

Founder of Popeye's Chicken dies

Al Copeland, the founder of Popeye's Famous Fried Chicken restaurant chain, died last week at age 64. He'd been diagnosed in November with a tumor in his salivory gland. How do feel about that?

Rotten tomatoes for NJ Dept. of Agriculture

In an effort to cut New Jersey state spending, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture might be dissolved. Gov. Jon Corzine has proposed an end to the department, which oversees far more than plants and animals: food safety (recalls), school nutrition programs, animal health, and farmland preservation.

Lots of people feel quite upset about the proposed cut. Farmers say they'd have no protection from the state in the face of pressure from developers to sell their farms, and it'd send the message that the state does not value farming. Corzine however says NJ will continue to value its farms and the DOA's programs would be moved to the jurisdiction of other departments. 

The question for us: will locally grown New Jersey tomatoes, berries, squash and apples become more expensive? Will they disappear if farmers have no choice but to quit farming? What do you think?

Restaurant buzz: Mexican in Paterson and Clifton

What's this week's restaurant buzz? Al-Quds Bakery, a Middle Eastern pastry and lunch eatery, opened at 1131 Main St. in Paterson ... Guavaberry, a Dominican eatery, officially opened at 515 Union Ave. in Paterson ... Mediterranea, a Middle Eastern and Mediterranean restaurant, opened at 578 Bloomfield Ave. in Montclair ... Toro Sushi, a Japanese and sushi restaurant, opened at 44 Upper Montclair Plaza in Montclair ... El Mixteco Mexican Restaurant opened at 378 Main St. in Paterson ... El Sitio, a BBQ restaurant, opened at 321 6th Ave. in Paterson ... Tacos Matamoros Restaurant, a Mexican eatery, opened at 213 Parker Ave. in Clifton.

Bad boys: Drug dealer at Clifton Applebee's, cheese fraud in Paterson

Tons of crime in the Paterson/Clifton food world today!!

There's always that one sketchy guy at the bar... at Applebee's in Clifton Commons, he's Yusef Hakim, a.k.a. Dwayne Harpaul, 30, of Belleville. He was arrested late Wednesday night on 16 drug-related charges, mostly involving Endocet, marijuana and OxyContin, after allegedly making a drug transacation in the Applebee's parking lot.

Police had been watching him for a month and discovered he'd sit at the bar of the Applebee's and wait for customers to approach him. Now he's in Clifton city jail on bail for $150,000.

Now for the big cheese...Mark Cocchiola, the former C.E.O. of the Paterson cheese company, Suprema, was sentenced to 15 years in prison Thursday and ordered to pay $115 million to make up for years of fraud and the scamming of banks, consumers and investors.

Sometime between 1983 and 2001, Cocchiola and his C.F.O faked cheese sales of $568 million. They sold imitation cheese labeled as high quality cheese cheese and sent cheese and false invoices to conspiring companies (as thank-yous? bribes?) They faked the sales because the company had no money, and they needed something to receive a $99 million loan and support from investors. It didn't work -- Suprema shut down in 2002 after filing for bankruptcy.

Quick cook: Hearty Black Bean and Pasta Stew

With my cheap-eats tips of my earlier post in mind, I thought this rich (but low-cost) stew sounded cozy and delish for such a dreary day:

Hearty Black Bean and Pasta Stew

• 1 16 oz. can black beans, drained
• 1 16 oz.can navy beans, drained
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 3/4 cup small macaroni shells, uncooked
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 clove garlic, chopped or 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 14.5-oz can chicken broth (or water with a bit of oil)
• 1/4 cup green bell pepper, chopped

Mix all ingredients in a 2-quart saucepan. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until macaroni is tender. Serve hot.

Rutt's Hut in Clifton on TV!

Did anyone catch Rutt's Hut of Clifton on last night's episode of "Deep Fried Paradise" on the Travel Channel?? The show, filmed in December, featured the juicy deep-fried "ripper" hot dogs served for years at Rutt's, said Johnny Karagiorgis, a Hut owner. It first aired two weeks ago and several times since. Karagiorgis said it inspired customers from Freehold, A.C., Philadelphia and even a family from Chicago to try drive in for a taste. The Travel Channel also profiled Rutt's earlier last year for an episode of "Hot Dog Paradise."

Does Rutt's Hut make the best dogs around?? Let me know what you think!

Rutt's Hut, 417 River Rd., Clifton. 973-779-8615

Karate chop your food costs

More in the news today about rising food costs. Eggs, bread, milk, beef, chicken, tomatoes (?) cost more than ever. This is a disaster nationwide, no question. What can you do about it? Try these tricks:

• Bake your own breads, cakes and sweets.
  • You'll be spending less on ingredients. And it's fun.
• Prepare more soups and stews.
  • Double what you've got with spices and water (hey, it's free!)
• Buy in bulk.
  • You pay less for what you get; just use what you need, save/store the rest for later.
• Cut coupons from newspaper circulars.
  • Seriously. Just try to hold back your glee when you read your receipt.
• Eat less meat, eat more beans.
  • They're far more inexpensive than meat, nutritious and filling; Buy dried beans to soak overnight and cook them with pasta and rice dishes, mashed and mixed with spices and spread into sandwiches, or mashed with spices and fried (a la falafel).
• Buy whole chickens or turkeys
  • Tear up the parts, cook what you need and freeze the rest to cook later.

Anyone have any cheap-eats tricks? Let me know!!

Picky eating and kid-friendly foods

Every so often, parents in Passaic County ask me if I have any ideas for kid-friendly recipes. Well, I've been writing about cooking with kids for the past month and I can reply without hesitation -- there's no such thing as kid-friendly. Anything you make for the rest of the family could be "kid-friendly" depending on how you serve it, how comfortable your child feels tasting it, if your child had any say in choosing what to make, and, most importantly, if your child helped cook the meal.

In fact, "kid-friendly" -- smiley faces, fun shapes, bright colors, simple, sweet flavors -- might actually slow your child's development to taste and eat a wide-variety of foods. Kid-friendly meals over and over may even lead to pickiness. How so? Read more here.

The "new fusion" food in Paterson

Where's the best Indian and Bangladeshi food in Paterson? At Mondial Pastry in Paterson, a Syrian bakeshop. Where's the best (and only) buffalo chicken and shawarma pizza? At Mama's Oven down the street, a Syrian-Italian pizzeria. And the best Colombian soups, flan and Italian deli sandwiches (all halal)? At Santa Fe Pizza & Grill on Main St.

They're part of the "new fusion" food movement, as I dubbed it in today's article about the trend and the aforementioned restaurants.  More and more restaurants in Paterson and Clifton, home to dozens of different ethnic groups, cater to a wide variety of palettes -- creating totally new cuisines. Read more here and check them out!

(Above: Naiem Samo, owner of Mama's Oven in Paterson, sprinkles cheese on his buffalo chicken pizza. From left to right: Samo's stuffed Roni burger and buffalo chicken pizza; the chef at Mondial Pastry & Tandoori Kabab House in Paterson cooks skewers of chicken taka, an Indian dish, and bakes naan bread; Maggy Moreno, owner of Santa Ge Pizza and Grill in Paterson, spinkles onions on the Colombian dish, bistek encebollado. Photos by Mike Karas and Kevin Wexler).