Favorite Vegetable?
Garlic. Okay, I know it’s an allium, but I eat it like a veggie.

Favorite Italian Word?
Raviolini (small ravioli)

Dream Dinner Guest?
Dan Levy, please come over!

Best Pasta Shape?
Bucatini. I love it so much I named my dog after it!

Hey, Katie, Are You Italian?
Nope. Not one bit. I’m Estonian-American, thanks for asking. I went to school in Italy and learned to speak the language (meaning, conversational as well as the language of Italian food and wine); I love to research and learn about Italian culinary tradition because I truly believe it’s the best food on the planet. But alas, my blood runs Baltic.

Hi, I’m Katie!

My food tale winds through restaurant dish pits and cookbook editorial round-tables, spans both American coasts, and meanders into Italy. After a lot of school,* I cooked in some restaurants,** worked as a chocolatier, created a wedding cake business, and consulted for bakery and restaurant start-ups. Since I can’t stay away from the classroom, I spent six months teaching middle schoolers at Edible Schoolyard (Berkeley, CA) and worked as the Assistant Pastry Professor at Tante Marie’s Cooking School (San Francisco, CA).

After living in Italy (Emilia-Romagna —> Puglia), I moved back to the East Coast to take my dream job at America’s Test Kitchen. I spent 5 years surrounded by the most talented food professionals in the biz testing recipes again and again and AGAIN. I developed recipes and wrote for Cook’s Country, authoring the Great American Cake page of the magazine, and then moved over to help start the ATK Kids brand as the Senior Editor of the first four cookbooks and online content. Throughout my tenure, I worked on two PBS television shows, countless photo shoots, and appeared in a bunch of videos. So. Much. Fun.

Now, I write recipes and am a contributor to food media outlets such as Serious Eats, The Kitchn, and Fresh magazine. I am always looking to partner with more food folks. I write about my personal cooking life with my kids, kitchen tools and equipment, and, of course, pasta.

Let’s work together.

For recipe development or food writing inquiries, please contact me using the form below. Thanks!

*About that culinary school stuff: I got my professional pastry certificate from Tante Marie’s Cooking School (San Francisco), my culinary degree from the International Culinary Center (NYC), and my Italian Cooking & Wine certificate from ALMA La Scuola Internazionale di Cucina Italiana (Parma, Italy).

**Some of my favorite restaurant gigs: Rutherford Grill in the Napa Valley, Presidio Social Club in San Francisco, Offshore Ale on Martha’s Vineyard, Michelin-starred Pashà Ristorante in Conversano, Italy (Chocolatier at Chilmark Chocolates in MA)