It always seems around this time of year I get a strong craving for Germanic foods. Cabbage, rich sausages, tart wines, sweet, sweet lager. While Oktoberfest is primarily celebrated in September in Germany, October is the perfect timing in California to start enjoying all of these treats. The weather cools down where mornings and evenings actually feel like crisp, fall days, and even the mid-day is a bit cooler. Last week I fed my craving first at our local Austrian restaurant, Naschmarkt, with kraut rouladen, or stuffed cabbage rolls. The next day when I strolled through the produce section of my local market, I saw the most beautiful heads of red cabbage – small, perfect, compact leaves, in a brilliant purple-ish-red – and I knew my craving hadn’t quite went away yet. (more…)

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Dinner, German, Gluten free, Side Dish, Vegetarian by Courtney

While perusing Pinterest not long ago, I noticed a photo of this brilliant idea, an idea so brilliant that I couldn’t believe no one had ever thought of it before. It was labeled “Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers”. And from that moment on I knew I had to have them.

Of course, my idea of the perfect Philly cheesesteak is a little different. My favorite version is from a little shop in a strip mall near Lenox Square in Atlanta. Actually, I have no idea if the strip mall or the shop is even there anymore. I remember being in middle school and going down for back to school shopping. One of the highlights of the trip was going to this cheesesteak shop for their Pizza Cheesesteak. Layers of yummy beef, onions, peppers, provolone, with a bit of marinara mixed in.

In college, when I was still able to find Steak Ums, this is the way I would always make my cheesesteak sandwich. So I knew my recipe would have to include the marinara, and I’m glad it did. (more…)

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Comfort food, Dinner, Gluten free, Lunch by Courtney

At the end of last week I shared with you what is quickly becoming my favorite roast chicken recipe, and I promised a follow up post with a chicken soup that could be made with the leftovers, if you had any. While you could just as easily make a traditional chicken noodle soup following the same instructions, I decided I wanted to give my soup a little kick this time around with a few Asian flavors – ginger, lemongrass, and just a hint of Thai chile. It sounded like the perfect match for a chicken and rice soup, and I agree even more so with that sentiment now that I’ve devoured a large potful of it. (more…)

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Asian, Comfort food, Dairy free, Gluten free, Soups by Courtney

A few month’s ago, while in Carmel, I had what might be the best roasted chicken I had ever had out on the town at Hog’s Breath Pub. Maybe it was just because my husband and I were enjoying a weekend away together, maybe it was the wine, but either way, I couldn’t get the perfectly crisp skin, flakes of salt, and fresh vegetable succotash out of my head. So of course, I decided to recreate the meal at home.

Of course, I didn’t actually know what constituted a succotash. I assumed corn, because every succotash I had ever seen had corn. Making this meal was a little on the fly, as I noticed the grocery store had a large bunch of fresh corn in. So I wandered through the produce section, picking up some okra and zucchini, because it looked good. Only later did I learn that succotash also includes lima beans, by definition. So we’ll call this Courtney’s sort-of-succotash, sans beans, but you won’t miss them.

For the chicken recipe, I decided to try Thomas Keller’s simple roast chicken. (more…)

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Comfort food, Dinner, Gluten free, Side Dish, Sunday Suppers, Wine pairings by Courtney

It’s just that simple – alterations I’ve made to some of the Madd Hatter’s Kitchen recipes to adapt to the myriad of diets that my friends or family have adopted over the years. While in the past I’ve made little notes here and there in my recipes about ways to make them suitable for a vegetarian, vegan, or otherwise, there was really no way to quickly look for all the vegetarian foods or alterations on the site.

Alterations – what exactly does this mean? Well, I’m not a vegetarian, I’m not a vegan, I’m not dairy free, and other than a short two-month stint, I’m not gluten-free. So I don’t plan on retooling the site to be devoted to these types of foods, because that’s not how I cook. However, I love to entertain, and I want to be sure when I have friends and family over, they have something they can eat that tastes great. In some cases I do have a few of these pure recipes up my sleeve, but in many cases I alter my recipes, such as my poke bowl which is topped with edamame for vegetarian friends or those who don’t want to eat raw tuna. Or the cherry chai smoothie, which calls for yogurt, but at the end of my recipe I’ve noted a replacement to make this a suitable drink for a person on a dairy free or vegan diet.

So while you peruse the diet alterations section, you may see pictures that contain meat, eggs, cheese, et al, but scroll to the bottom of the recipe and you’ll see the recommended substitutions to satisfy the particular diet requirements. Of course, you can alter any recipe on the site, but these are recipes I’ve either tried or had someone else try, and I think they stay true my intention.

And while I’ve tried my best to learn in-depth about each of these diets, it is possible that I’ve slipped up and not realized an ingredient has casein or gluten or gelatin or something else. So I definitely welcome any feedback if you see such a slip up. That’s one way to learn!

Filed under:
a note on this section by Courtney