Cookaholics Bulletin Board

What's good and bad at TJ's this season, particularly among the new stuff. Add your own list.

Good

• Frozen mini-spanikopita (freezer) great hors d'oeuvers
• Mushroom turnovers (freezer) great hors d'oeuvers
• Blue cheese & pear gourmet flatbread (fridge)
• Ready-made pizza dough (fridge) quick real pizza on a weeknight
• Tri-tip Wrap (fridge) heat it in the oven
• Hand-made Whole Wheat Tortillas (bakery) use them as chapatis with Indian food
• Pomegranate Syrup great for Turkish & Persian food
• Freekeh (shelf-stable cooked) wow! saves me 8 hours of soaking. And I only heard of freekeh last year
• Brown Rice (shelf-stable cooked) helping me stick to my more-whole-grains diet pledge
• Multigrain Pilaf (shelf-stable cooked) great high-fiber lunch, well-spiced

Bad

• Frozen Latkes tasted like sawdust & mashed potatoes
• Frozen Fish too much of it is from dubious or overfished locations

Indiffrent

• Shrimp rolls (fridge) bland
• Spicy Spinach mini-pizzas (fridge) ok on the side, not much of anything. cheap, though
• Shrimp gyoza (freezer) kinda bland
• Baby Beets (shelf-stable cooked) a bit overcooked; too much like canned
• Trader Joe's Brand beers there's a reason they're cheaper

What is freekeh?

Also do you have any recipes for the pom syrup? I bought some at a Turkish grocer and don't really know what to do with it. The story of my life.

Mary

I read somewhere that TJ's puff pastry is quite good. Does anyone have any experience? Pepperidge Farm is the only brand I can find here, and I'd like to find something better.

trink.

The Trader Ming's noodle are particularly horrid. Which I probably should have know when I had to ask myself "What IS the vegan equivalent of fish sauce?"

On my last trip they were giving out samples of a chicken liver and mushroom pâté that was quite good and their instant chai is surprisingly tasty. I will probably pick some up for traveling as it's not always easy to keep milk handy when you're out and about.

I am very dismayed about the fish situation. Having to buy all my fish at WF is not helping my budget.

Hi Mary,

My sister-in-law is Persian and I've had some wonderful dishes at her house made with pomegranate syrup. Fensenjan is probably the most famous and is really easy (she makes hers with meatballs, though fancier versions with poultry and fish can be made, esp. at holidays). Here's a version:

Ingredients:
1 large onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons butter or cooking oil
1 pound ground beef, made into small meat balls (other versions with poultry and fish are available)
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 pound walnut meat, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup hot water
4 tbsp. pomegranate molasses or 1/2 cup pomegranate syrup mixed with 1-1/4 cups water
Salt to taste
1 small eggplant
Cooking oil
1 1/2 teaspoons cardamom powder

Directions:

Saute the onion with the pepper and turmeric in the butter or the oil until well browned. Remove onions and drain. Brown the meat balls slightly in the oil remaining in the pan.

Sprinkle meat with the flour and the chopped walnuts and saute for a few minutes longer. Add water, pomegranate molasses mixture and salt to taste. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.

Peel eggplant, cut lenghtwise into 6 or 8 pieces, sprinkle each piece with salt and stack one on top of the other for a few minutes to drain. Then rinse in cold water, dry and saute inhot oil until lightly browned on both sides. Arrange the eggplant on top of the meat, partially cover, and simmer over low heat until the eggplant is tender and a rich brown gravy rises to the top. Add powdered cardamom, stir well but gently and cook about 5 minutes longer. Serve with chelo (white rice).

NOTE: Pomegranate syrup in Persian cooking is not grenadine; it is unsweetened. In fact, Pomegranate molasses or syrup can be quite sour, so some recipes catering to Westerns tastes add a sweetener like brown sugar or honey to taste.

Oh yum! I will be making that one. I think I would try to do the eggplant in the oven to cut down on the fat.

Thanks Lindsay!

Mary

We also really like

Frozen vegetarian spring rolls
Frozen birds nests
Cuban Black Beans (canned)
Soy Chips with soy sauce
Sesame and honey cashews (or almonds)
Frozen Pork dumplings

Haven't had anything that we're indifferent about or dislike. But our TJ's in NYC is ridiculously overcrowded and always understocked so we can't take full advantage of all their great "stuff". It's this close to NYU so you can understand why. And also the ONLY TJ's in NYC so need I say more?

Nancy

The pizza dough is surprisingly good. What really amazes me is I take it out of the fridge 20 minutes prior to cooking. and it works! Recently I have changed my technique a bit... we cook for 15020 with only a light coating of olive oil. Then we take it out, put what ever toppings we want and put back in. This has increased the crispiness and doneness of the dough. Not quite as good as homemade, but is very good on a Friday night!

TJ's tortillas are very good. They have the best price in town on my favorite wine (Geyser Peak SVB!!)

Their frozen spuds are as good as those at the pricier store down the road. I don't get much produce there. I have better options.

Possibly the best is TJ's is in walking distance!

Janet

Mary,

First of all, let me strongly recommend Paula Wolfert's Cooking of The Eastern Mediterranean as your source for all recipes with exotic middle eastern ingredients: http://www.powells.com/biblio/6-9780060166519-5

Freekeh is smoked young green wheat, and is a tradition of the ancient middle east which dates back to starving farmers everywhere when winter was too long or last year's harvest too meager. It's made by harvesting the young wheat and burning the stalks, then extracting the kernels. It's a lot like cracked wheat, only very smoky and slightly acid.

It's generally used for pilafs, and sometimes as the grain in soups, especially with rich foods like lamb and eggplant. One of the problems with preparing freekeh is that you have to rinse it multiple times, extract any remaining husks and dirt, and soak it before cooking it for 40+ minutes. This is why it's both bizarre and great that TJ's is offering prepared freekeh in cryovac bags.

Pomegranate syrup is the "sour" flavor in a lot of Turkish, Persian and Syrian cooking. One of the easiest things to do is to replace the lemon juice in "Greek" or "Lebanese" salad dressing with some pomegranate syrup, such as:

• 2 tbs Pomegranate syrup
• 1 tbs red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup kalamata olive oil
• 1 tsp thyme or Greek/Turkish oregano
• 1 tsp Salt

... and serve it over a salad of tomatoes, peppers, olives and cucumbers. Please do note that I've never measured the above precisely, so adjust to taste.

Thanks Josh. I haven't bought any cookbooks for a while but middle Eastern cooking is something that I have not done much of but like it very much. My aunt's late husband was Syrian and his mom and sister made the most amazing food.

I like the idea of smoky wheat, sounds like something I could cook in my new (imaginary) electric pressure cooker. I will check out that Turkish grocer I have become so fond of. Last time I was there I found Israeli couscous. Otherwise I don't think I would have a source.

Mary