Staying In No. 15
Two recipes + non-cooking related things I've been enjoying
Welcome! This is “Staying In,” a weekly 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. Enjoy!
I’m traveling to Austin again for work this week so no cooking for me!
Because I won’t be “staying in,” this week’s newsletter doesn’t include a full meal plan. Instead, I’m sharing two of my favorite recipes that I make over and over again PLUS a few random recs I think you’ll enjoy.
…Enjoy!
Tortilla Española
Daniel Gritzer | Serious Eats
Also known as Tortilla de Patata, this potato, onion, and egg “casserole” has been a staple in my family for as long as I can remember. My dad studied abroad in Spain and he returns frequently to visit friends he made during that semester abroad. Along with a love of using “joder!” as his expletive of choice, he brought back the killer ability to make Tortilla Española.
Tortilla can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It keeps for days and is the perfect thing to make on a Sunday and then eat for lunch throughout the week with a little side salad. Back when I was a teacher, I packed this lunch on a regular basis. One time, in the teacher’s lounge, a teacher from Spain did a double-take when she saw me eating the tortilla. IYKYK!
Although the ingredients list is simple—onions, potatoes, eggs, olive oil, and salt—the cooking process is not. It does require the forearm strength to flip a heavy pan, and the ability to remember a few key tricks and steps. But once you have it down, you’re set. Watching a video first helps make the process easier to follow.
A few notes from me:
This requires using A LOT of olive oil. This would be a great thing to make after a Costco run to get a giant jug of oil. You can definitely save and re-use the leftover cooking oil, but be sure to keep it refrigerated and reuse within the week since it does cross-contaminate with eggs.
I recommend using a 10-inch nonstick skillet. You do not want the potatoes and onions to stick to the bottom of the pan.
After flipping, when sliding the tortilla back into the pan, do it with confidence. Just one, two, three….slide!
While you’re getting olive oil at Costco, pick up a block of Manchego cheese to eat as an appetizer and pistachios for the recipe below!
Charlie Bird’s Farro Salad
Melissa Clark | New York Times (Gifted Link)
This salad is incredible. I don’t really know how else to say it. The warm, nutty farro mixed with flakes of parmesan and juicy cherry tomatoes sends me into a state of bliss.
The key is cooking the farro in apple cider. NOT to be confused with apple cider vinegar. Or with apple juice. It doesn’t need to be the fancy fresh-pressed kind, either. Just grab the cheapest jug you can find and then use that as a cooking liquid for your farro. It brings so much flavor to a grain chronically at risk of blandness. If you want to make extra so that you can have it on hand for other salads throughout the week, I would endorse that.
The rest of the salad prep is simple. Mix the cooked farro, pistachios, oil and parmesan together and then combine arugula, basil, mint, radish, and cherry tomatoes.
One of the reasons I make this salad so often is because it feels like a full meal. Sure, you could serve alongside a roast chicken or sausage link, but you don’t need to. It holds its own. And you have to respect a god-damn independent salad who doesn’t need a piece of meat to give her worth.
Rando Recs
If you read the Dear Abby newspaper column growing up, you’ll devour Ask Polly. It’s a Substack for us highly emotional people who just want to read about other people’s inner lives.
Other than Demon Copperhead (and, if I’m being honest, Fourth Wing), this is the best novel I’ve read this year. Remarkably Bright Creatures weaves POVs between a widow who works as a nighttime janitor at an aquarium and a “remarkably bright” octopus who lives there.
If you’re in Portland and never made it to Pok Pok before it closed in 2020, chef and founder Andy Ricker is partnering with Jeju to come back for two nights only: today, Sept 8, and tomorrow, Sept 9. Somehow there is still counter seating available at peak dinner times: snag your tickets!
Turns out I’ve been cleaning all wrong. I’ve been using paper towels or the Marley’s Monsters reusable equivalent, when really I should have just been buying these microfiber cloths from Amazon. Not only have my kitchen counters never been shinier, but they removed all of the streaks from my stainless steel appliances with one quick wipe.
This New Yorker article about Ina Garten. Barefoot Contessa At Home was one of my first cookbooks, and recipes like her lemon fusilli pasta are responsible for launching my interest in cooking. This article shows a side of her I hadn’t seen before, while still giving you exactly what you want from Ina: feel-good content.
I’m not into Selling Sunset or real estate shows in general (unless it’s House Hunters International!), but I tore through Owning Manhattan on Netflix. Ryan Serhan is our controversial protagonist who has developed a team of ambitious and drama-prone agents who are tasked with selling ridiculously expensive apartments to people like Bad Bunny. The balance between drama and apartment ogling felt right, and it was solid easy viewing.
If you’re a member of Bachelor Nation, first of all: I’m sorry. It’s been a rough week. Second of all, let me introduce you to the Love to See It podcast. These two former Huffington Post journalists, Claire and Emma, are examples of how podcasting and Substack are allowing journalists to continue their work despite a bleak and consolidating media landscape. But, more importantly, they have the most incisive takes on what’s happening in the world of reality TV, including the Bachelor and Bachelorette. Our parasocial relationship has been going steady for a few years now, and I love them.
Have you played the latest and greatest from New York Times Games? Strands is like a really hard word search. It doesn’t have the cult following of Connections (yet), but I’ve been enjoying playing it every once in awhile.
Yoshida is back baby! Some of you Oregonians might remember Yoshida Teriyaki sauce. Heinz paid “big money” for the brand’s distribution rights in 2000, and then promptly drove the company into the ground. As this unfolded, founder Junki Yoshida and his wife Linda spent their time using that big money to support philanthropic efforts in Troutdale. You might have seen his compound on the Sandy River, which he donated to Randall Children’s hospital in 2019 so that it could be used as a refuge for families with children undergoing cancer treatments. Anyways, he is determined to save the Yoshida Teriyaki name and has started distributing again through wholesalers like Costco. I not only enjoyed hearing this news, but reading the backstory here.
If you’re looking for more recipe ideas, check out the Staying In archives.
