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. Know someone who might like Riley’s Recs? Get your share link here! And don’t forget to check out pdxrecs.com for even more recommendations and follow RR on Instagram at @rileysrecs. Enjoy!
I’m doing Dry January. But that didn’t stop me from making Alison Roman’s Hot Buttered Rum Pudding yesterday. Just because I’m not drinking alcohol doesn’t mean I can’t eat it.
Making a pudding felt like a great excuse to host a dinner party so I texted three of my friends who came over for a “girls’ night.” We drank lots of water and talked about important things like would you rather travel in a spaceship or a submersible, the rise of subway crimes, and the Justin Baldoni/Blake Lively drama.
Before I get to this week’s recipe plan, I want to share my dinner party menu with all of you. Even though I spend a lot of time thinking about what to cook for this newsletter, I still find it hard to decide what to serve when I’m hosting. It’s tricky because it requires a different level of prep compared to weeknight cooking. I don’t want to be frying smashed potatoes or dealing with a fussy steak as people are coming through the door.
But I’ve found a winning formula: make a bunch of salads. Everything can be prepped gradually or made ahead and allows you to showcase a variety of low-effort dishes. Here’s what I served:
Alison Roman’s Roasted Squash with Yogurt and Spiced Buttered Pistachios
Joshua McFadden’s Kale Salad
Mark Bittman’s Winter Citrus Salad
Alison Roman’s Vinegar Marinated Butter Beans
Focaccia (New Seasons)
Hope this helps next time you have friends over. Now, on to this week’s menu….the first of 2025!
✨ Inspo ingredients: feta, lentils, delicata squash, and spinach ✨
DINNERS
Frizzled Chickpeas and Feta | Broccolini with Lemon
Roasted Delicata Squash | Beluga Lentils | Arugula Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
Chile Crisp Fettuccine Alfredo
Lentils, Greens, and Marinated Feta
LUNCH
Kale Salad with Leftover Delicata Squash and Pumpkin Seeds
BREAKFAST
Eleven Madison Park Granola
DESSERT
Salted Coconut and Cardamom Hot Chocolate
Notes:
The lentils can be prepped the same way for both meals: cook according to package directions and then toss in a light dressing. Combine 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard and 2 tablespoons olive oil and pour over warm, drained lentils. I call for Beluga but you can use green instead.
For the lunch-time kale salad, I’m just going to douse in lemon juice and olive oil and top with cubed leftover squash and pumpkin seeds.
You can find write-ups on the Lentils, Greens, and Marinated Feta and the Eleven Madison Park Granola in my recipe archive. They’re dishes I’ve shared here before.
Spinach is used in both the lentil dish and the pasta.
Frizzled Chickpeas and Feta
Alison Roman | A Newsletter
I’m apparently on an Alison Roman kick. She is the queen of easy, weeknight recipes that don’t fall into the trap of pandering grain bowls or sheet pan recipes. That makes me sound incredibly pretentious, but I guess I just appreciate that she can offer ideas for quick meals that taste and look like they take more work than they actually do.
This is one of those low-effort recipes. It’s three simple steps: brown onions, add chickpeas, and top with oregano and feta. She suggests serving with herbs, but I like to make an arugula salad or a steamed vegetable with a squeeze of lemon. It can take a few times to get the right level of browning on the chickpeas, but once you have this recipe down you can make it in your sleep.
Roasted Delicata Squash
Katie Leaird | Serious Eats
Squash season is the best! I love squash because it’s sweet and filling and so easy to make. Unless you’re using butternut, you can generally just slice up a squash and roast with the skin on.
Just slice, drizzle with a few tablespoons of olive oil and top with spices like cumin, paprika, or cinnamon. You can also drizzle a little honey. But for those of us who need to follow a recipe (me), here are roasting instructions.
Chile Crisp Fettuccine Alfredo
Genevieve Ko | New York Times (Gifted Link)
I do not like fettuccine alfredo. It’s really heavy and makes me think of Michael Scott carbo loading. But my friend Anna was making this when we were talking on the phone the other night, and she said it’s really good. I trust her and the other 6,000 New York Times reviewers who gave it five stars.
That being said…I don’t think I’m going to use a fettuccine noodle. I’ll use cochigle or fussilli instead.
Salted Coconut and Cardamom Hot Chocolate
Garrett Schlichte | I Promise I Can Cook
My mom errr Santa put a Trader Joe’s hot chocolate stirrer in my stocking this year. This is the hot chocolate I’m going to make when I use it.
The recipe comes from fellow Substacker, , who is a private chef in SF. This recipe is portioned for 12-16 people and TBH is a little hard to downsize because of the coconut milk, but I’m going to anyways and then use the leftover coconut milk with my granola or oatmeal in the mornings. Maybe this is chaotic, idk.
This recipe also calls for cardamom pods, which I love, but does require steeping for about 30 minutes. So throw on an episode of Sex Lives of College Girls or Selling the City, and it’ll be done by the time you finish your first ep.
If you liked reading this, click the ❤️ button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack!