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I’m Annie (Garcia) Lucey, a trained chef and professional recipe developer. My cooking style is causal, feel-good, seasonally driven and inspired by my home state of California, as well as my Sicilian and Mexican roots. I'm obsessed with tomatoes, seasonal produce, and getting you to step into your kitchen.
This is where I share my own recipes. The flavors are cheffy, fresh, and creative, and the cooking techniques are casual. Beyond sharing recipes, I really hope to share a general feeling in the kitchen. More than anything else I just want it to feel…casual, doable, and hopefully at least a little inspired and fun. Most nights you can find me cooking with a good playlist and finding ways to incorporate my vintage kitchen finds on the table. It's low key and a good vibe, and I hope to share some of that from my little corner of the internet.
While I have a professional culinary background, I've spent my career creating recipes *specifically* for home cooks. I've worked in food media and editorial, as a test kitchen chef, at a cooking school, and heading up culinary teams that develop recipes just for home cooks. Few things light me up as much as getting someone excited to cook in their home kitchen. It's just the best.
My recipes lean on realistic cooking methods and techniques so that you can easily cook a dish that tastes *so* good that you can’t wait to make it again. I live with my husband and our scrappy senior dog Frances in a coastal town in the SF Bay Area, where I work in recipe development and food media by day. Now throw some music on and let's get cookin'.
Q: HOW CAN WE WORK TOGETHER?
A: Hire me to develop recipes for your brand or cookbook, create elevated UGC-style assets, write copy for your culinary brand, or all of the above. Lean on my professional culinary experience and background in content strategy for a collaborative project that's tailored to your brand channels and goals. Already developed your recipes? Hire me to give 'em the royal treatment for testing, editing, and copy. I will home-cook-ify them for you!
Q: PERSONAL BACKGROUND WITH FOOD?
A: I have strong Italian-American roots on my mom's side of the family and Mexican-American roots on my dad's side, and my family has always been very passionate about slow food, gardening, and seasonal, California cooking. Living in California has also meant I’ve had access to lots of incredibly diverse and delicious cuisine. My cooking style has always kind of been a confluence of all of these things.
Much of my childhood was centered around big family gatherings that were all about the food. There were raviolis, tortillas, tamales, pastas, tomato sauces, platters of freshly harvested garden tomatoes with grilled bread - you name it. Food has always been fun and something to be savored and enjoyed. Creating recipes for others to enjoy in their own homes allows me to share some of that magic in a very rewarding way.
Q: professional background?
A: English + Cultural Anthropology majors at UCLA, Culinary school, externship in test kitchen at goop.com, classes, events, and popups at the Gourmandise School of Sweets & Savories, founding team at Just Date, test kitchen chef at Brava Home, and now Director, Recipe Development + Culinary Content at Brava Home. All while developing and sharing my own recipes on my website since 2014 (previously whatannieseating.com).
Q: How would you describe your overall cooking style + philosophy?
A: Cheffy flavors, casual cooking techniques. I am a big believer in cooking based on your mood! Keep it simple and practical if you’re busy, and let yourself get lost in a cooking project if you’re feelin’ it. Enjoying food and cooking is all about a balance. Most weeknights, I look towards fresh produce and nutrient-dense ingredients, and use simple, everyday cooking techniques to make them taste as delicious as possible. So, lots of roasted vegetables, a quick stovetop dish, oven roasted proteins, salads– things that feel realistic after a workday.
I also lean on pantry and kitchen staples to round out dishes. Tomatoes, anchovies, citrus, herbs, chiles, and toasted pistachios are all heavy hitters in my rotation and they add delicious layers of flavor and texture. I eat this way the majority of the time and of course allow myself to just enjoy anything in between, because what is life without pizza or pasta night? On the weekends you can find me knee-deep in a longer cooking project - braising, baking, making homemade pasta or gnocchi, you name it.
Q: Underrated ingredients or cooking techniques?
A: Ingredient - fresh marjoram. It's a little more citrusy and floral than fresh oregano and you'll see it pop up in a lot of my recipes. Cooking technique - it's definitely not underrated, but rather, more misunderstood as something complicated when it's actually simple and very forgiving - braising!
