Welcome! This is “Staying In,” a Sunday newsletter with recipe ideas for your week ahead. Every other Thursday I also publish a “Going Out” edition where I review a restaurant, bar, or activity here in Portland. What should I write about next? Feel free to leave a comment on this post or submit your idea here. And don’t forget to check out pdxrecs.com for even more recommendations and follow RR on Instagram at @rileysrecs. Enjoy!
I love icebreaker questions. They are a fast pass to banter with only a touch of forced fun. Beats asking someone what they do for work or if they’ve started Emily in Paris Season 4 yet (have you???). One of my go-to questions is:
If you could only eat one starch for the rest of your life, which would you choose: bread, noodles, potatoes, or rice?
For me, it’s a toss-up between bread and rice. I eat some sort of bread for nearly every meal, but rice is a global starch. It would be really hard to travel and not eat rice. Plus, burritos? Fried rice? Paella? It has to be rice, right?
I recently realized that I’m missing a key starch from this question: masa harina. Otherwise known as corn flour.
If masa is in the mix, how is a girl to choose? Masa is the Play-Doh of the food world. With just water, salt, and a little manual labor you can make tortillas, sopes, enchiladas, pancakes, tamales…
This week’s Staying In is dedicated to Mexico’s favorite starch, masa. Although the powerhouse of masa brands is Maseca, I’m going to insist that you go to Whole Foods and buy a bag of white or yellow corn flour from Masienda, a relatively new small business that’s self-described as “The best masa, period.” I have to agree. Here’s a little SAT Analogy to illustrate the point:
Masienda: Maseca: Breakside IPA: Natty Light.
I don’t have any brand partnerships, but putting it out there that I would shill Masienda all day every day if they’re looking for a Substack-fluencer.
As an enthusiastic customer, here’s my ode to masa. Provecho!
✨ Inspo ingredients for the week: masa and tomato ✨
DINNERS
Oven-Roasted Ribs | Masa Harina Cornbread
Cornbread Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
Aguachile Verde | Tostadas
Spaghetti alla Nerano
D*ck’s Tribute Burger from Grand Fir Brewing for Burger Week!
LUNCH
Maroulosalata
BREAKFAST
Gluten-Free Masa Pancakes
DRINK
Sunny Sting
Notes:
Yes, this might be masa overkill. But I feel like all of the masa-based dishes are fairly different so you won’t get sick of corn.
Burger Week is happening this week in Portland. Meaning you can get an $8 burger at any of the participating locations.
Masa Harina Cornbread
Masienda
This can be made with any masa variety, although I’m not brave enough to choose blue corn. If you can only find Maseca, that will work here, too. But just know that Masienda can also be ordered online so there’s no excuse!
Masienda’s recipe calls for my favorite cornbread baking method: doing everything in a cast-iron skillet. This allows you to reduce dishes and get a nice crust on the bread, but if you don’t have a cast iron you could use a baking dish and be fine. With a few simple ingredients and 20 minutes, you can have cornbread ready for dinner.
This week, I’m saving about 3 cups of this (cubed) so that I can make the cornbread salad from Smitten Kitchen. So just keep that in mind before you scarf it all down. If you’re feeding more than 2 people, you might want to double the recipe so that you have enough leftover for the salad.
Oven-Roasted Ribs
Daniel Gritzer | Serious Eats
I don’t have a smoker, but it’s summer, and I still want to eat ribs. Especially when I’m making cornbread. Thanks to Serious Eats and their meticulous recipe testing, they’ve developed an oven-friendly alternative. Don’t be fooled though: this will still take more time than the average meal. With ribs, you have to make sure you put your rub on 2-8 hours ahead of time in order to give the meat enough time to tenderize and then cook low and slow.
If you make these ribs, be sure to spend some time reading the recipe intro, which is dotted with tips and tricks like testing for doneness with a toothpick instead of a meat thermometer.
Cornbread Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
Deb Perelman | Smitten Kitchen
I found this recipe by using the “Surprise!” button on Smitten Kitchen’s website, a fun little detail that I’m going to use more often. The author, Deb Perelman, calls this the “Southern answer to Italian Panzanella.” It uses cornbread instead of croutons, buttermilk-lime dressing instead of olive oil and lettuce instead of the typical chunky vegetables. Never fear: it definitely still calls for tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes, at that. But you can definitely use whatever tomato variety you want.
Assembling this salad seems straight-forward, especially when you’ve already made the cornbread, with the most laborious part being the herb buttermilk dressing. But because this is hearty enough to serve on its own, I’m fine spending a little more time on a salad than I normally would.
Aguachile Verde
Masienda
I love ceviche. But I love aguachile even more. The main difference between the two is that ceviche sits for a minimum of 20 minutes as it marinates and cures in lime juice, whereas aguachile is served raw as its prepared. Aguachile typically relies on a flavorful, spicy base with butterflied or thinly sliced shellfish, and is served flat on a large plate vs scooped into a bowl like ceviche. This lends itself to a more entree-like feel. Pair with tostadas, and you have a refreshing beach-like meal at home.
Spaghetti alla Nerano
Chef John | All Recipes
Stanley Tucci says this is one of the best things he’s ever eaten. I’m into his Searching for Italy show so I’m more than willing to trust his word on this one. You’ll need to deep fry the zucchini for full textural effect, which is fine if you have an Air Fryer or a heavy bottomed deep pan like a Dutch oven. Deep frying doesn’t have to be intimidating if you use the right tools at the right temperature. Chef John, who is apparently becoming a mainstay of this newsletter, has a video that should help any nervous fryer (read: me). Outside of frying, everything else about this recipe is perfectly simple. Just be sure to make the zucchini the night before.
Maroulosalata
Farideh Sadeghin | New York Times (Gifted Link)
I just want a very green, satisfying salad every day for lunch. I have yet to find the perfect salad solution, so I’m going to give this one a try. It’s a simple Greek salad that gets its extra “uumph” from dill and feta. Otherwise, it’s sliced romaine and a simple lemon vinaigrette. This recipe calls for the best lettuce hack, which is instead of washing the leaves and letting them wilt slowly in the salad spinner, place them in a bowl of ice water until you’re ready to dry and slice. You’ll never look back.
Gluten-Free Masa Pancakes
Masienda
The inclusion of the term “gluten-free” here is a little redundant. Most masa-based items are gluten-free. Not the cornbread above because it uses a bit of flour, but tortillas, enchiladas, etc. are the saving grace for Celiacs everywhere. This pancake recipe is no exception. Here’s a 50-second clip that will convince anyone to make these next Sunday morning.
Sunny Sting
Evie Negri-Albert | Drinks by Evie
The Drinks by Evie Instagram account has been popping up more on my feed lately, and I’m intrigued by her cocktail that uses sungold tomatoes. It’s a take on a Bee’s Knees, a honey-based cocktail. This one involves muddling tomatoes, hot honey, and lemon juice and then is mixing with gin and ice. SOLD.
