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!
Last week’s Staying In was…not great. I chose a few recipes that ended up being total duds. Labor intensive duds with hard-to-find ingredients.
In order to make the coconut cashew rice, for example, I went to four stores, cracked open a literal coconut, cooked for countless hours, and ended up with very soggy, unappetizing meal.
Sometimes this happens. Sometimes we brush it off and call it a learning experience. I did not brush it off. I’m angry! If any of you made the coconut rice or tofu eggplant (which was wayyyy too salty), I am sorry. Although now we know how to crack open a coconut, and that’s not nothing.
To make it up to you, this week’s Staying In will only feature easy, thoroughly tested recipes. Please forgive me.
DINNERS
Herbed Rice with Shrimpy Kimchi Tomato Sauce
Pan Seared Asparagus with Cashews
Lemon Pepper Pasta with Browned Butter
Kachka Pierogies | Sausage | Roasted Cabbage
LUNCH
Peanut Butter Tofu
Rotisserie Chicken | Bagged Caeser Salad
BREAKFAST
Spiced Irish Oatmeal with Cream
Notes:
You can purchase Kachka pierogies New Seasons or Providore. I recommend getting sausages from local purveyors like Scratch Meats (order online!), Otto’s, or Edelweiss.
For the roasted cabbage, you can just cut into wedges, drizzle with oil and salt and pepper, and roast at high heat (450/500) until browned. About 15 minutes.
Find the PB Tofu recipe here. It’s an incredibly easy lunch if you have a rice cooker and eat the tofu at room temperature vs frying.
I get the Jacobson’s Sea Salt Rotisserie Chicken from New Seasons and then shred over salad. You could also eat some of the chicken for dinner along with leftover cabbage.
Herbed Rice with Shrimpy Kimchi Tomato Sauce
Carla Lalli Music | That Sounds So Good
I normally don’t cook with shrimp because deveining and peeling requires too much work. Plus, there are loads of ethical and environmental concerns. The nets used to harvest wild shrimp inevitably trap other sea life including turtles. Farmed shrimp tends to be imported from Asia and is jam-packed with chemicals. Most famously, there have been countless human trafficking cases at farms in Thailand.
But it is still possible to find wild-caught shrimp that doesn’t require deveining or negotiating with our conscience. According to Seafood Watch, we should be looking for shrimp caught in the U.S. Pacific Ocean or Gulf of Mexico. New Seasons sells Oregon-caught fresh, and Whole Foods revamped their shrimp sourcing standards in 2021 so their frozen, Key West-sourced 365 packages aren’t too bad.
Anyways, if you can wrap your mind around eating shrimp, this is a great weeknight recipe that shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes. The herbed rice is totally optional, but if you have basil on hand, it’s a nice touch. The tomato-ey, kimchi, shrimpy sauce gets its richness from butter and its approachable heat from the kimchi. If you’re not peeling your shrimp, everything should be ready in 30 minutes.
Pan Seared Asparagus with Cashews
Melissa Clark | New York Times
This is the second time I’ve shared this recipe here. That’s because it’s an empty-the-fridge meal that calls for ingredients I generally have in my kitchen: asparagus, rice, nuts, lime, red pepper flakes, soy sauce, and coconut flakes. It takes less than 20 minutes to prepare and is forgiving with ingredient substitutions. For example, I almost always use almonds instead of cashews and white wine vinegar instead of lime juice. To prepare, fry up the asparagus and nuts, toss in soy sauce and lime juice, and then serve on top of rice with a fried egg. You’ll love the crunch, acidity, and touch of heat.
Side note: when I’m super lazy, I just slice asparagus and heat in the cast iron with mustard and vinegar. It’s a great way to use up leftover asparagus stalks.
Lemon Pepper Pasta with Browned Butter
Alison Roman
This is Alison Roman’s attempt at recreating boxed mac and cheese at home. On that front, it fails. If you want boxed mac and cheese, just go grab a box of New Seasons White Cheddar Shells. But it’s delicious, and I turn to this recipe when I’m looking for something easy and comforting.
I also love this recipe because it’s a great example of how adding pasta water is the trick to achieving a creamy consistency (the starch in the pasta water helps the sauce cling to the pasta). Just add little by little until you get the perfect thickened, glossy sauce.
Spiced Irish Oatmeal with Cream
Melissa Clark | New York Times
This warming, aromatic oatmeal is a wintertime treat. We’re not even close to winter, but I want to switch it up from my typical steel cut oats, so it’s going on the menu for the week. This dish keeps for a few days in the fridge, and it’s as close to “meal prepping” as I’m going to get.
A few notes:
It’s a tad sweet so cut back on the sugar if you’re concerned about that.
Use either a dutch oven or a 2-quart pan. The recipe calls for 1.5 quarts, but learn from my personal experience and everyone in the comments’ experiences—use a bigger pan.
You could swap brown sugar for the Demerara. You just won’t get a crunchy, caramelized top.
Wouldn’t hurt to throw in dried fruit or nuts at the end when serving. Maybe even consider adding the coconut flakes you use in the asparagus dish.
