LEMON ZUCCHINI BASIL LINGUINE

it tastes as good as it rhymes

The best food is always the simplest. This is a hill I will die on. It’s pretty hard to make a bad plate of food if you take good ingredients and treat them with respect. I think the Italian cuisine, on the whole, is the best example of this. One of my favourite pastas, cacio e pepe, when made correctly, only has three ingredients (four if you count the pasta water). When it comes to my favourite summer foods, the simpler the better and nine times out of ten, it is a variation on this pasta. Zucchini, lemon and basil is one of my favourite flavour combos, paired here with the welcome addition of a little butter, parmesan, chilli and silky pasta and you have a meal that borders on perfection.

I will be in Italy this time tomorrow (beyond excited / in denial / not packed), to take my first real holiday in over a year. I have been working pretty relentlessly for too long, which has been simultaneously a joy and a privilege, but has also left me feeling in need of a recharge. I am starting to realise that the quality of my work, and the enthusiasm I have for it, suffers if I don’t take the necessary time to rest, recuperate and get inspired. I can’t pour from an empty cup; something I love to tell my friends but rarely listen to myself.

I had planned to still send out my weekly post here on The Late Plate, and work on it while I was away, but I have since decided to take a break here too.

Substack Writers

recently published a brilliant post about how and why their writers take paid time off. They went into numerous examples of writers who had chosen to take some time to reset, without pausing paid subscriptions on their platforms - a particularly inspiring example for me was

Haley Nahman

taking paid maternity leave from her (brilliant) newsletter Maybe Baby. In all instances, these writer’s reported their readerships being understanding and even encouraging of the break. Reading this gave me the courage to do the same, to take a real break, a whole week away from making content, writing recipes and sticking to my weekly schedule. I hope you’ll all understand why I need to take this break and that whilst there won’t be a recipe next week, I will be doing vital research in Sicily, to gather inspiration for future newsletters, which will benefit you in the long run. I am so grateful for the support I receive from the Substack community, from everyone who reads The Late Plate, and I know after a week away I will return brimming with excitement and inspiration to share with you all here.

If any of you are self employed and also struggle to take time off, I feel you, but I encourage you to take the leap. It’s scary and feels risky, but I think we all know, deep down, that it is absolutely crucial to the making of good work. I’m writing this today, on the bank holiday Monday, and I have worked through most of the weekend, as is the way with most freelance creatives. But the flip side to this, is that we can also choose when to take a holiday, without asking permission of anyone but ourselves.

As ever, thanks for being here, I can’t wait to come back and share all my travel and culinary adventures with you.

Sending love, Rosie x