Two Books in a Single Shot

I recently had the opportunity to work with the very talented and charming John Valls. As a long-time admirer of John's photography, I jumped at the chance. John suggested we do some photos of raw and cooked red meat, which of course is right up my alley. We spent an entire afternoon playing with our food. With John behind the camera, I got to focus on my food styling skills, making an enormous steak look sexy for the camera. I gave the steak a good sear and topped it off with some Shallot-Herb Butter. I have to say I'm absolutely thrilled with the results of our photo shoot.

It's amazing to me how this one photograph sums up both my first cookbook and my forthcoming one. And speaking of my next cookbook, this Shallot-Herb Butter recipe will appear in Flavored Butters, which is due out from Harvard Common Press in the spring of 2013.

A big thank you goes out to John Valls and his lovely wife Theresa, who were a pleasure to work with. I look forward to collaborating with you again soon!

You can check out John's recap of our photo shoot here.

Photograph ©John Valls.