What I Cooked and Ate This Month: Tarte Tatin, Ham and Rosemary Butter Sandwiches, Salmon Rice Bowls
A diary of the dishes defining my November
Hello! How are you?
For me, the past couple weeks have been turbulent ones: a nasty cold leading into a hopeful-turned-devastating election, followed by one of the most life-affirming weekends of my life in Vermont with friends. My heart feels like it just did an Ironman.
Today, back at home in Brooklyn, I felt inspired to share a cooking diary from the last week or so, similar to this post about a week of first-rate dinners. Transcribing what you cook and eat is such a beautiful way to reflect on your life; taste memories, like scent memories, can be so potent and lasting.
Food writer
is famous for keeping a diary of dinners, which means she can look back on any specific date and remember what she and her family ate. Perhaps I should start a dinner diary of my own, but for now, I have The Dish, my pride and joy — nearly 150 posts, full of food memories and musings. Whenever I get weird/insecure/doubtful about what I’m doing here, I remember what I’m doing for myself: recording my life through food so I can remember it later. This is already proving valuable, given that I frequently scroll back to 2021 to read my Ballymaloe posts and swoon over the Irish sea, salty butter, and Jersey cream.On that note, I’d love to hear about something you cooked this week, or that someone cooked for you — either in the comments or by responding directly to this email (it’ll go straight to my inbox!).
Cooking & Eating
Aloo tikki-inspired potato cakes
Leftover mashed potatoes from A November Menu, transformed into aloo tikki-inspired potato cakes with green chili, cilantro, garam masala, and cumin. I also added an egg to help bind the mixture before forming little patties and frying them off in a skillet. The Kalustyan’s Coriander Chutney would be my dream condiment here, but I didn’t have any on hand, so instead I whizzed up some cilantro, mint, lime juice, salt, and water in a blender for a quick chutney of sorts.
Tarte tatin & shortbread
My friends Hannah and Alex arrived in Vermont last weekend bearing the most beautiful gifts: homemade tarte tatin in a cast iron skillet, ready to reheat, and a container of crisp, buttery homemade shortbread. We ate the tarte tatin for breakfast on Saturday morning with dollops of Greek yogurt, and gradually consumed the shortbread throughout the weekend, reaching for biscuits to dip into our coffees, teas, and hot toddies.
Ham & rosemary butter sandwiches
I’m obsessed with the ham and rosemary butter sandwiches on sesame stirato at Radio Bakery, so Teo and I sourced the fixings to make our own version on baguette for a hiking picnic in Vermont. This was not just any hiking picnic, because on the summit of Snake Mountain, my friend MICHAEL PROPOSED TO TESSA, my darling lifelong friend. We all ate ham and rosemary butter sandwiches, and, after Michael popped the question, Teo popped a small bottle of champagne that’d been hiding in his backpack. We toasted the beautiful couple and the beautiful view (Snake Mountain is more of a hill, but the payoff is major), and made our descent.
An engagement feast
As we descended the mountain post-engagement, Teo, Hannah, Alex, and I decided we needed to cook Tessa and Michael a celebratory dinner. All of us love to cook, so we divided and conquered. Teo made the appetizer (his mom’s famous chestnut soup), Hannah and I handled the main course (low-and-slow roast chicken, rosemary polenta, and lemony Napa cabbage salad), and Alex baked the dessert (sticky toffee pudding — arguably the greatest cold-weather dessert ever invented).
Homemade breakfast sandwiches
To be kind to myself while transitioning back to Real Life in Brooklyn, I spent an evening watching Friends while making homemade breakfast sandwiches. Buttered challah rolls, homemade turkey sausage, egg, and cheddar, wrapped neatly in parchment and refrigerated to eat throughout the work week. I’d be happy to elaborate if you’re interested!
Salmon rice bowls & spinach sautéed in sesame oil
My Instagram is feeding me a lot of rice cooker content — which I assume is because Teo and I recently inherited a rice cooker and have been using and talking about it a lot. The Instagrammers love to show that you can make an entire dinner in a rice cooker by adding protein to the rice. This was our first experiment with such a meal. About 15 minutes before the rice was done, we added cubed salmon, and when everything finished cooking, we seasoned it with soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar, threw in a handful of chopped scallions, and mixed everything together. For a side, we quickly sautéed baby spinach in sesame oil with a pinch of salt. Healthy and practically effortless — shoutout to the Instagrammers.
That’s all for today. Adore you all!
x Phoebe
Malcolm made Ottolenghi’s Halloumi Chicken Parmesan with Za’atar for us this week — and it was wonderful — but then he made Alison Roman’s Honey-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Harissa on the side, topping them at the end with goat cheese, and I was in heaven! (Also I want that salmon bowl!)
I just loved reading this and it all sounds so incredibly delicious too