Comfort recipes inspired by a hidden gem
Warm vegetable salad & Calabrian chili rosemary-roasted chicken
Afternoon/evening folks. In today’s travel edition of the letter: two intensely delicious autumn recipes - a warm roasted beet and carrot vegetable ‘salad’ with goat cheese crème, and Calabrian chili rosemary-roasted chicken.
Both of these recipes are inspired by the quietly exceptional cooking at Madera - a hidden gem tucked inside Rosewood Sand Hill, where the menu leans into hyper-local and deeply seasonal Northern California cuisine. You’ll also find a Q&A with Executive Chef Roman Petry, where he shares his thoughts on how to shop and cook with the instinct and rhythm of a chef.
A huge thank you to the Rosewood Sand Hill, Menlo Park for sponsoring this newsletter. Their support enables both of today’s recipes to be freely available for everyone to cook and enjoy.
Menlo Park, Northern California — land of pitch decks, VC deals, and the occasional food truck. Not exactly where you’d expect to find a head chef who starts his mornings talking to farmers about soil and citrus, or a menu featuring matsutake mushroom risotto, roasted chicken, and ricotta fritters with huckleberries — all served fireside at one of the coziest restaurants around. But that’s exactly what’s happening at Madera.
I love talking to chefs. Alongside surgeons and submarine officers — the kind who spend three months underwater, no sunlight, no escape — they belong to a particular category of professional: obsessive, slightly mad, deeply committed. You have to be. No one stumbles into a professional kitchen by accident, and stays there, without a certain streak of masochism — or love.
However, that old image of the screaming, chain-smoking kitchen tyrant has faded. Today’s chefs are more likely to spend their days off talking to farmers, foraging and pickling things. The obsessive spirit lives on. It has to. That’s how you learn. It’s only after years of burn scars, 18-hour shifts, and quiet perfectionism that you acquire the knowledge and develop the instincts to become a master chef.
Last week, I chatted with Executive Chef Roman Petry — the chef now at the helm of Madera. He’s spent his entire life in kitchens, and I was eager to poke around — to hear how he cooks, where he finds inspiration, and what lessons home cooks might borrow from the pros.
Sarah: Can you tell me about some of the techniques or habits from restaurant kitchens that home cooks should try at home?
Chef Roman: This sounds basic, but it’s so important. Keep a well-stocked pantry — and learn to preserve the season. Pickles, jams, chutneys: they’re what get you through the winter when fresh produce thins out. I always keep a few key useful ingredients on hand — good olive oil, local vinegar, and fresh citrus. Even a bit of zest can completely change a dish.
My best advice for home cooks is this: support your local market, and don’t shop with a recipe in hand. Walk through, see what looks vibrant, what smells incredible — and let that be your starting point. When you’re working with beautiful ingredients, you don’t need to overthink it. Simplicity, guided by what’s in season, is often what makes a dish feel truly special.
Sarah: Couldn’t agree more! What’s inspiring your autumn/winter menu right now?
Chef Roman: Right now, it’s all about mushrooms. We’re getting incredible porcini foraged from the Santa Cruz Mountains. They go beautifully with halibut from Half Moon Bay — we serve it with Italian butter beans from Iacopi Farms. It’s also squash season, so we’re bringing in gorgeous local varieties, full of sweetness and depth. Fall is about earthiness — we’re leaning into what I’d call forest flavors. And when you look out from the restaurant into the mountains, you’re literally seeing the farms that supply our kitchen. That sense of place really matters to me.
Sarah: That kind of rootedness — cooking from what’s just outside your door — is really beautiful. Are there any other seasonal ingredients you’re especially drawn to at the moment?
Chef Roman: Bloomsdale spinach. It’s a little overlooked, but it’s rich, textured, and incredibly versatile — silky, with more bite than your average green. For fruit, passionfruit is in right now. We also recently added a Tuna Crudo to the menu, built around local gooseberries. The fruit brings a bright, almost unexpected layer to the dish — it’s delicate but grounded. The yellowtail is sourced from Southern California, so it’s very much a reflection of place: a California fish, paired with fall flavors.
Speaking of citrus, California’s real bounty hits in winter — December through February is when you get the blood oranges, pomelos, Meyer lemons.
Sarah: I love citrus season. I’m curious, how do you approach the research and development process when creating new dishes, and what advice would you give to home cooks who feel stuck or uninspired in the kitchen?
Chef Roman: One technique I always lean on is color. Ingredients of the same shade tend to harmonize. Spring brings green things (peas, herbs), summer leans red and pink (berries, tomatoes), and fall is full of golds and oranges. Once you start seeing ingredients this way, it all begins to click.
Also, one of the best ways to stay inspired is simple: get out the kitchen and go to the market. Like I said, don’t go with a recipe in mind, instead visit with curiosity. Pick up what looks beautiful, what feels alive. When you get it home, then figure out what to make. Most people shop for specific recipes, and that’s fine — but there’s something much more rewarding about cooking from the ingredients you fall in love with. That’s where real creativity begins.
This warm vegetable salad alongside a Calabrian-chili, rosemary-roasted chicken is one of those quietly perfect meals for hosting family during the holidays — easy enough to throw together on a busy day, but special enough to feel like a moment. I use Calabrian chili here, though in the original Madera version, Executive Chef Roman Petry also uses a local Boonville Espelette from The Boonville Barn Collective — a gorgeous, soft heat that makes the whole dish sing. And of course, as ever, use whatever is seasonally and locally available to you.
Beet & Carrot Salad with Goat Cheese Crème and Pistachios
Serves 4–6
Ingredients
Vegetables
1 head radicchio
6 large beets (red and golden beets), washed, peeled, cut into thick wedges
1 bunch of radishes
1 bunch medium-large multicolored carrots, washed and halved lengthwise
A good glug of olive oil
Salt and pepper
Splash of balsamic vinegar
1–2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
Goat cheese, torn into pieces, for serving
Goat Cheese Crème
300 g labneh or Greek yogurt
100 g fresh soft goat’s cheese
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp orange juice + 1 tsp orange zest
Flaky salt, to taste
To Finish
2 tbsp roasted pistachios, chopped
Flaky sea salt
Method
Goat cheese crème
In a blender or food processor, combine the labneh, goat’s cheese, tahini, orange juice and zest. Blend until smooth and creamy. Season with flaky salt to taste.
The vegetables
Toss the carrots, beets and radishes in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread onto a baking sheet and roast at 400°F for 35–45 minutes, until golden and tender (timing depends on the temperament of your oven). In the last 10 minutes of roasting, remove the tray and drizzle the vegetables with maple syrup and balsamic vinegar. Return to the oven until caramelized and golden.
Toss the radicchio leaves with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of orange (optional), and a pinch of salt.
Assemble
Spoon the goat cheese crème onto a large serving platter. Arrange the radicchio leaves over the crème, then pile on the warm roasted vegetables. Top with chopped pistachios and a final sprinkle of flaky salt. Tear the goat cheese into rough hunks and drop them here and there across the warm vegetables — not too neat.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Calabrian Chili and Rosemary-Roasted Chicken
Serves 4–6
Ingredients
Chicken
4–6 bone-in, skin-on chicken leg quarters
2 lemons, cut into quarters
3–5 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
2 fat garlic cloves
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1–2 tsp Calabrian chili paste
Salt and pepper (use a generous hand)
Method
Place the olive oil, honey, garlic, rosemary, Calabrian chili, smoked paprika, salt and pepper in a food processor and blend into a thick paste. Pat the chicken dry, then rub the mixture all over the pieces. Let the chicken marinate for at least 2 hours — ideally overnight in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Heat a large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat and drizzle in a little olive oil. Sear the chicken, skin-side down, until golden and crisp. Flip the pieces, pour in any remaining marinade, and nestle in the lemon quarters. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast for 40–50 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through — the juices should run clear and the internal temperature should read 165°F (74°C) at the thickest part.
Serve alongside the beet and carrot warm salad.
I’d love to invite you to the paid subscriber chat — it’s a friendly space to share recipes, talk about what you’re cooking, or swap little moments from your week. I’m there too if you ever need cooking advice or want to talk through an idea.
This sounds all sounds delicious!!! SAVED!