"Sunlight & Breadcrumbs"
Talking with James Beard Award-Winning Seattle Chef Renee Erickson About Her New Cookbook, Making Food with Creativity and Curiosity, and a Recipe for Meatloaf for Sandwiches
Sunlight & Breadcrumbs
Yesterday afternoon I had the chance to catch up with award-winning Seattle chef Renee Erickson to talk about her new cookbook, Sunlight & Breadcrumbs: Making Food with Creativity & Curiosity (out today from Abrams Books!). I wanted to turn this around quickly and transcribe and write and edit this to share this with you for the book’s pub-day (today!) as I hope LAST CALL readers will be as excited to pick up and cook from this inspiring volume as much as I am.
Renee is one of Seattle’s most celebrated chefs and a prolific restaurateur, whose Sea Creatures restaurant group is behind the famed restaurants The Walrus and the Carpenter, The Whale Wins, Barnacle Bar, Bateau, Boat Bar, Westward, Willmott’s Ghost, Deep Dive, Lioness, and General Porpoise. She is also the author of Getaway: Food & Drink to Transport and A Boat, a Whale & a Walrus: Menus and Stories.
Written with Sara Dickerman, Sunlight & Breadcrumbs: Making Food with Creativity & Curiosity features more than 100 approachable recipes to elevate a dish from merely nice to unforgettable, but it’s Renee’s lyrical and informative headnotes, poetic “Work in Progress” sidebars, and philosophy on creativity—in the kitchen and in life—that truly brings the book to another level.
After more than 25 years running her renowned restaurants, Renee, who didn’t go to culinary school but instead earned a BFA in Art at the University of Washington’s School of Art, Art History, and Design, and studied at their Residence in Rome program, reconnects with her own artist’s intuition for this very personal book. Sunlight & Breadcrumbs is also illustrated with Renee’s paintings and photographs. Be prepared to slap a Post-It on recipes like Big Meatball Feast; Escarole Caesar with Creamy Anchovy Dressing, Parmigiano, and Pangrattato; Grilled Pork Ribs with Garlic, Aleppo Pepper, Honey, and Rosemary; Tuna Melt with Charred Jalapeño Pickles, Chives, and Provolone; Roasted Plum Ice Cream, and more.
Read on for my interview with Renee to learn more about her creative process, painting at home and on the road, tips on elevating a dish, the art of self-editing (yourself and dishes), photographing her own book, her cat Kitty B, and she shares her Meat Loaf recipe which is made specifically for the killer leftover sandwiches.
“I am so happy Renee wrote this book, because this kind of joy and curiosity is the kind that should be shared.”
―J. Kenji López-Alt
“A beautiful tribute to how we all want to cook, and eat, today.”
―David Lebovitz, author of My Paris Kitchen and Drinking French
"Much has been written about the interaction of food and art, often laid out in pompous and esoteric terms. In her latest book chef Renee Erickson deploys images and recipes to show just how naturally the two can merge without pretense while filling the belly and mind."
―Katie Parla, author of Food of the Italian Islands
Order your copy of Sunlight & Breadcrumbs
Meet Renee on the Sunlight & Breadcrumbs Book Tour (Seattle, Boston, NYC, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Charleston, Atlanta, Decatur)
Talking with Renee Erickson
Your new book, Sunlight & Breadcrumbs, felt to me like a kitchen notebook of sorts, with stories, memories, inspiration, guiding the recipes. Did you have a particular inspiration in mind, whether culinary or chef going into this book?