This summer, Snake River Grill‘s recently promoted Sous Chef, Addison Fleming, will share his knowledge of handmade pasta with guests by creating speciality pasta dishes using traditional techniques and local flavors from around the valley.
I intend to make a lot of different pasta, but I am really looking forward to showcasing pasta ‘fatto a mano,’ or made by hand. This means everything from making the dough to rolling the pasta out is done by hand. As far as the dishes are concerned, I want to create my own using whatever is available at the farmer’s market.
Addison Fleming, sous chef at Snake River Grill
Fleming currently makes all of the pasta at the Snake River Grill by hand, with the help of a specialized machine to roll and flatten the dough. At home, he continues to practices and uses a mattarello (a long thin rolling pin) to roll out the dough – a very difficult process to learn and one that he says ‘deserves major respect.’ The process, whether creating a simple, well executed noodle like pappardelle, or a more intricate shape, like culurgiones, or the most difficult pasta of all to create, tortellini, made using the thinest sheet of pasta to fill the smallest shape, involves very specific and intricate details.
To make really good pasta, one needs to understand that every aspect of their environment affects the result of that pasta. The humidity, the flour, the eggs, how much the dough has been kneaded, the amount of time it has rested, the list goes on. There is so much more to it than mixing eggs and flour and putting it through a machine.
Addison Fleming
Fleming, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, has worked in some of Chicago’s well-known Michelin Star restaurants including Alinea and Entente, where he found his passion for pasta.
I am excited to introduce techniques that I have learned in Chicago, but mainly to share my rediscovered understanding as to what makes this area so amazing. It’s hard to grow good food out here. Farmer’s put in so many hours just to grow vegetables or raise pigs, etc. That devotion only makes me want to work harder to properly showcase their product.
Addison Fleming
The Snake River Grill is also happy to announce Colin Hemens has been promoted to executive chef. Hemens worked in Michelin Star restaurants in San Francisco before cooking with former chef Luke Biewick at The Grill this past year.
