How a 20-Year Friendship Blossomed Into a Gorgeous Food Blog
Gnocchi with ramp butter and Parmesan cheese, from Kitchen Repertoire. All photos by Dana Gallagher
Dana Gallagher can’t quite remember the first time she met Frances Boswell nearly two decades ago. She knows it was in New York City, and that it was through Martha Stewart Living, for which Boswell worked as a recipe developer and writer and Gallagher freelanced as a photographer. Beyond that, it’s a blur.
But not for Boswell.
“I remember!” she cried when the three of us spoke on the phone. “When I first met Dana, she lived on Hudson Street. We were shooting a Bacardi rum advertisement that Martha Stewart developed just for them. She had a dog. She had an old car that was orange. And she had this fantastic flea market find, a fold-out double bench. It was like a folding chair, but it was two stuck together. That’s my memory. I was like, ‘Oh gosh, she’s got it figured out.’”
Dana Gallagher, left, and Frances Boswell, right. (Photo: kitchenreportoir/Instagram)
Gallagher’s lapse in memory proves to be a lone moment out of sync with Boswell: It’s difficult at times to tell when one has finished talking and the other begun, because their voices frequently overlap with one another, nearly always in agreement. I soon discover it’s indicative of a rare harmony, which extends to Kitchen Repertoire, their joint food blog.
“I think we do have a similar taste in food and a similar aesthetic,” Boswell mused. “Dana is ‘the genius.’ You look at the photographs, and you would think we have a prop stylist with us every time. But we don’t.”
“I think we balance each other out,” Gallagher countered, eager to return the compliment. “Frances is an amazing cook and she has so much experience with recipe development and technique. I love to cook, but I’m not as knowledgable in that way. Frances takes on a project like nobody’s business.”
Neither Boswell or Gallagher are particular fans of buzzy “foodie” cuisine. You could say they’re willfully oblivious to the latest trends and hot chefs of the moment, preferring instead to focus on satisfying dishes that follow the seasons.
And this spring has proved a magical time for Kitchen Repertoire: Recently, spicy ramps have appeared in grilled steak sandwiches and Parmesan-dusted gnocchi, kelly-green asparagus in a bright white bean salad, and tart rhubarb in a cornmeal crusted tart.
Though Boswell and Gallagher’s friendship goes way back, it’s had peaks and valleys. After working together for a decade on projects for Martha Stewart Living, the pair slowly drifted apart. Boswell left Martha Stewart, taking on more freelance projects. Both had children.
“Frances and I were always friends, but we didn’t see it other very much,” Gallagher recalled. But two years ago, they had an idea: create a one-off editorial spread featuring Boswell’s recipes and Gallagher’s photography. The result was so beautiful — and the process so fun — that both knew a one-off wasn’t nearly enough. It should be a blog.
Today, Kitchen Repertoire is just over a year old and being discovered by readers who have seen Boswell and Gallagher’s other work in publications including The New York Times, Gourmet, Food and Wine, Oprah, Health, Everyday Food, Cookie, and Town & Country. But the pair is happy to keep the blog a side project for now. Maybe a cookbook is in their future, who knows? Someday, they think.
“The friendship side of it has been really fun — there aren’t many times when you meet someone and just click,” Dana explained. “We get to enjoy hanging out together and working on this project that has no real rules,” she added. “We answer only to ourselves.”
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