After 15 years in the food industry, a publisher reached out earlier this Spring with a cookbook concept they wanted me to write based on my experience as a private chef. Yes! My ship had finally come in. Or so I thought.
A bit of context: I wrote a solo cookbook proposal about sauces years ago when I was living in NYC. I workshopped it with a writing coach who I met when working on another author’s cookbook (follow that?) Their advice, along with the advice from agents and publishers, was that I needed more social media followers to get a book deal. The concept needed to be unique, and therefore less dependent on my platform size, or I needed a bigger social following. That advice was a deciding factor in my pivot away from the recipe development hustle and into the corporate food world. I went back to freelancing last year. You can read more about that here.
Flash forward to last Spring and that fateful email from the publisher. After a promising meeting, I quickly got to work to submit a proposal at their request, more as a formality. Crickets. After a few weeks of back-and-forth emails, I was told the book was on hold indefinitely at no fault of my own. To be honest, I was devastated. I did the thing everyone says not to do: I told my friends and family about the half-baked project before the ink had dried. After a few days weeks of feeling bad for myself, I refocused and got back to work. I pressed on, teaching my cooking classes, filming IG Reels, private cheffing, developing recipes and writing this newsletter.
I should note: writing a cookbook, in most cases, is not necessarily lucrative. It IS a big resume booster, a calling card that opens doors to other opportunities.
You can imagine my surprise when a few months later, a dear friend (and mega food influencer) from culinary school reached out to see if I would be interested in helping her write her third cookbook, a follow-up to her first two best sellers. The answer was a resounding ‘hell yeah!’
So I’m working on a cookbook again. It’s not mine, but it’s a logical next step with a great team behind it. My roles involves testing and formatting about 90 recipes by the end of the year, in line with the publisher’s style guide, along with punching up the ancillary copy. I’m pulling back a bit on private cheffing, but otherwise, I’m maintaining my existing client work.
The book comes out in Fall 2027 — yes, that’s how long it takes cookbooks to go from pan to print. The photo shoot will take place next year, then it will go into design, packaging and production. Some well-intentioned family members asked if I was going to take the photos and “make the food look pretty”. Professional food photographers, art directors, food and prop stylists play key roles on a cookbook shoot. There are so many talented, creative people behind cookbooks aside from the name on the cover. If you’re interested in learning more, subscribe to
’s newsletter or listen to the podcast behind .I hope you’ll follow along as I share more about this project here and on IG. If you have any questions for me to cover in a future newsletter, shoot me a message! And now, some pasta!
Zucchini Pasta Recipe
I developed this zucchini spaghetti few years ago for an olive oil brand, and it deserves a bit more attention. It’s *very* inspired by the Amalfi classic Spaghetti alla Nerano, with less oil to clean up. You may have seen Stanley Tucci make it on his CNN show, and we love him for that. I’ve seen versions with Pecorino or even provolone, but if you’re like me, you usually have Parm in the fridge. It’s one of those dishes that looks like nothing special but tastes much more complex. If you have time, dry the zucchini very well before cooking it in batches for the best color. If you can’t be bothered, it will still be good.
You may be temped to start cooking “Fall Foods” because the shops are selling pumpkin stuff. Unlike winter squash, root vegetables and apples, which have a longer shelf life, softer summer produce like stone fruit, zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes are still incredible right now. Use them or lose them!
Zucchini Pasta
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