DATE: Wednesday, July 2, 1997               TAG: 9707010060

SECTION: FLAVOR                  PAGE: F1   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: MARKET REPORT 

SOURCE: BY KAREN SANTOS, VIRGINIAN-PILOT STAFF 

                                            LENGTH:   75 lines

PACKAGES BRING THE RESTAURANT FOOD TO YOU

WANT restaurant-style food but don't feel like getting dressed? Have it at home with Mallard's Cooking Made Easy.

Mallard's, a Modesto, Calif., restaurant, has developed a way to package some of its favorite menu items for distribution in stores across the country.

Each package, which serves two to three, contains a microwavable meat-sauce pouch and an appropriate starch. Some of the 12 varieties include: Steak Ranchero, Chicken Verde, Chicken and Dumplings, Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya and Szechwan-Style Beef.

We tried the Fettucini With Chicken in Dijon sauce and were quite impressed with the tenderness of the meat and the fresh flavors of the sauce. Though the sauce was a bit thick for our taste, we were able to thin it easily with a bit of pasta water. The meal can be cooked in just seven minutes (excluding the time needed to bring a pot of water to a boil). Add a vegetable or salad and a loaf of bread, and dinner is ready.

Mallard's entrees are available locally at Costco warehouse stores and Farm Fresh and cost from $4.99 to $6.99 per package.

This week's specials

What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than with an All-American cookout. Break out the grills and enjoy USDA Select porterhouse or T-bone steaks for $3.98 a pound or Certified Angus T-bone steaks for $6.99 a pound at Farm Fresh.

Farmer Jack has 5-pound bags of boneless chicken breast for $1.89 a pound.

Ground chuck is 89 cents a pound at Harris Teeter when you use your VIC card. Harris Teeter is also featuring Certified Angus London broil for $2.99 a pound.

Gwaltney Big 8 meat franks are 99 cents a pound at Be-Lo.

3 Stores 1 Roof and Rack & Sack have boneless rib-eye steaks for $3.88 a pound, 10-pound bags of fryer leg quarters for 28 cents a pound and western-style pork spare ribs for 98 cents a pound.

Seafood lovers can dip into these specials. Tuna steaks are $4.99 a pound at Farmer Jack. Farm Fresh has shrimp (51 to 60 count) for $5.99 a pound. Harris Teeter is offering snow crab clusters for $2.99 with a VIC card.

3 Stores 1 Roof has marinated salmon fillets for $4.78 a pound and farm-raised catfish fillets for $3.98 a pound.

Produce specials include watermelons for $1.77, Washington bing cherries for $1.29 a pound and vine-ripe tomatoes for 49 cents a pound at Rack & Sack and 3 Stores 1 Roof.

Blueberries are $1.49 a pint and ears of corn are 15 cents each at Hannaford.

Be-Lo has red or white seedless grapes for 99 cents a pound and Virginia white potatoes for 39 cents a pound.

Five-pounds of red potatoes are $1.77 and cantaloupes are two for $3 at Farmer Jack.

Farm Fresh has South Carolina peaches for 58 cents a pound, and cabbage is four pounds for $1. How does fresh-squeezed limeade or lemonade sound? Farm Fresh also has lemons, four for $1, and limes, five for 95 cents.

Other thirst quenchers include 64-ounce cartons of Five Alive for 88 cents and 12 packs of 12-ounce Coke products for $1.97, limit four at Rack & Sack.

If you are a Pepsi lover, Farm Fresh has 24-packs of 12-ounce cans for $3.99.

Toppings for steaks, chicken, burgers and dogs are easy to come by. Rack and Sack has 28-ounce Del Monte ketchup for 79 cents, 10-ounce bottles of A-1 steak sauce for $2.98, French's mustard (16-ounce squeeze) for 79 cents and Mary Jane 12-count hamburger or hot dog rolls for 89 cents.

Farm Fresh has 18-ounce bottles of Kraft barbecue sauce for 59 cents, and 16-ounce Mt. Olive sandwich stuffers pickles are two for $3. MEMO: Items listed in Market Report are provided by the stores by 11

a.m. the Monday prior to publication. All stores providing information

to Flavor for this week's column are represented. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

Mallard's Cooking Made Easy packages include microwavable menu items

from a Modesto, Calif., restaurant.

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