Staying In No. 3

A short(ish) list for a short week

Hi! A couple of housekeeping notes this week: I’m no longer including a grocery list in this newsletter. It was a real pain to make and most people already have a system that works for them. If you are looking for a meal-planning/grocery app though, my friend uses Samsung Food (literally the worst name of all time but apparently great for saving recipes and generating grocery lists).

Also, I learned how to gift New York Times Cooking recipes so those will no longer be gatekept. You’re welcome!

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I’m going out of town this week so I’m not cooking as much as I normally would. But I’m excited about the line-up. These recipes are ones that I turn to when I want something a little more elevated than the usual (without elevated effort!).

✨ Inspo ingredients for the week: kimchi, pistachios, zucchini, and cantaloupe ✨

DINNERS

• Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Kimchi, and Scallions| Glazed Chicken Thighs with Garlic, Ginger and Scallions | Rice

• More-Vegetable-Than-Egg Frittata | Toast | Arugula Salad

• Pistachio Green Mole | Tortillas & Rice

LUNCH

• Purple Cabbage and Parm Salad

BREAKFAST

• Eleven Madison Park Granola

DRINK

• Cantaloupe Agua Fresca

Notes:

• Get yourself a bag of Costco pistachios this week and go craaaazzyyy. Pistachios are one of the more versatile ingredients in my kitchen and are included in three of this week’s recipes.

  • For the mole: If you buy salted pistachios like I do, either rinse them off or use a little less salt.

• Two great sales at New Seasons this week:

  • Cantaloupe is 50 cents off per lb

  • Buy 2 Get 1 free on Wildwonder prebiotic drinks, which tbh might be my new favorite NA beverage.

• Two of these recipes (mole and agua fresca) require a strong blender.

• Buy extra zucchini and put it in the frittata.

• For the arugula salad, I just make a simple vinaigrette from lemon, dijon, olive oil, and salt/pepper.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Kimchi and Scallions

Gregory Gourdet| Eater

My husband volunteers at Milk Crate Kitchen, a no-questions-asked meal service for Portland area families, where a lot of chefs in town spend their spare time doing even more cooking. One of them works at Kann and recommended this Kimchi and Brussels Sprouts recipe from Gregory Gourdet’s Everybody’s Table, saying it’s one of the best recipes in the book. I love love love Everybody’s Table so, needless to say, I can’t wait to try it. If you made the Kimchi Fried Rice from last week, this will be a great way to use whatever kimchi you have leftover.

This recipe selection is in celebration of Gregory Gourdet himself, who was just awarded the title of James Beard Chef of the Year: Pacific Northwest. His acceptance speech is really touching, and made me proud to be from Portland.

gg30000

A post shared by @gg30000

Glazed Chicken Thighs with Garlic, Ginger, and Scallions

Gregory Gourdet | Everybody’s Table

Let’s keep the Gregory party going with this sticky chicken, whose glazed exterior comes from a simple blend of honey, coconut aminos (soy sauce), and apple cider vinegar. The rest of the ingredients list is also pretty minimal aka seems like a fairly low-cost recipe.

If you’re pairing this with the brussels sprouts, I would cook the chicken before the sprouts because those only take 15 minutes and are cooked at a higher temp (500). The chicken takes about 25-30 minutes at 400. I’d essentially rather have brussels sprouts sit out a little longer vs meat.

More-Vegetable-Than-Egg Frittata

Mark Bittman | New York Times (Gifted Link)

This is the perfect thing to make when you have lots of extra veggies in your fridge, which I do because of Alison Roman’s white bean recipe from last week. If you made it you already know—it had like 8 cups of greens and herbs!

This is also a great recipe for anyone whose lazy meal involves eggs. This requires nearly the same amount of effort (low), but feels a little more healthy since it’s jam-packed with vegetables. This is a textbook Mark Bittman recipe where he gives you a solid base to work from and you can experiment from there. Same with his agua fresca recipe included in this week’s line-up.

Pistachio Green Mole

Enrique Olvera | New York Times (Gifted Link)

Chef Enrique Olvera is famous for his mole. The one he serves at his Mexico City restaurant, Pujol, is more than 3000 days old and the product of a perpetual-stew-esque process where he gradually adds new ingredients over time until the sauce develops an increasingly complex flavor.

If you don’t have nine years or the funds to go to a Michelin-star restaurant in Mexico City, but want a restaurant-quality mole, this recipe—adapted for the New York Times—will do the trick. With a few simple ingredients and a strong blender, you can have a Pujol-worthy dinner ready in 30 minutes.

A few recipe notes: although the ingredients list calls for epazote and güero chile, you can get by without the epazote and sub in a jalapeno or Anaheim pepper. Otherwise, I make exactly as directed.

Eleven Madison Park Granola

Daniel Humm | New York Times (Gifted Link)

This is the granola recipe to end all granola recipes. It’s not too sweet, not too salty, and has the perfect balance of ingredients. Dried cherries are a little expensive, but I do find them worth it because of their tartness and size. Cranberries just can’t compete. When buying coconut, I’ve found that the flaked variety definitely turn out a lot better than shredded. I make this on a Sunday, and it lasts until about Thursday.

Purple Cabbage and Parm Salad

Carla Lalli Music | That Sounds So Good

I love this salad, but you have to be okay with eating a massive bowl of cabbage. Carla describes it as the thing she would eat in front of the TV when she was young, broke, and in her early 20s. If you’re nostalgic for those days (or just love spending $5 on dinner), this is for you. I add pistachios in for a little extra something.

Cantaloupe Agua Fresca

Is it going to be the summer of Agua Fresca? Or “Fresh Waters” as I saw on a sign hanging in the Los Gorditos on Division?

Probably, yes. Agua fresca is basically just blended fruit plus a little sugar plus water. It’s a great way to make breakfast or lunch a little more fun.

INGREDIENTS

1 large cantaloupe (or watermelon or pineapple)

1/4 cup sugar (but scale back on this if you think the cantaloupe is on the sweeter side)

DIRECTIONS

Seed and roughly chop the cantaloupe. Place in blender with a little water and blend. Strain, if you prefer a less fibrous juice.

Put the fruit purée into a pitcher or large container. Add more water until you reach about 8 cups. Stir in the sugar and voilà. This yields about 4-6 servings.