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Cooking food in parchment paper allows the flavors to be absorbed one into another while keeping ingredients moist. You’ll find versions of pasta cooked in parchment all over Italy, from Palermo up to Milan. This is my fancy version of macaroni and cheese. There’s a special surprise awaiting the diner when the packet is opened.

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Nantucket Chowder Contest
Saturday October 17th
2-3:30PM @A&P Parking Lot

Taste Chowder from many Nantucket Restaurants and vote for your favorite.

HOGTOBERFEST
Date: Sunday October 18th 2009
Place: American Seasons
Start time: 5.30
Price: tbd
For Reservations Please call 508 228 7111

Two Chefs will take one pig and use every part for this dinner, the purpose is to underline the importance of Nose to Tail cooking and for the Chefs to get a little drunk on pork product. Pork will be evident in each course and there will be an undetermined amount of Courses until that evening. The price will include Dinner and Beer Pairing and we shall throw a little Vino in for good measure. Also some Pig Inspired Cocktails.

The Breweries involved are Nantucket’s own Cisco Brewery & Narragansett beer

Chefs Michael LaScola American Seasons & Chef Matt Jennings,
Farmstead, La Laiterie & Farmstead Lunch Providence RI Winner of the Northeast Boston Cochon 555 and crowned The Prince of Pork

Cochon 555 Preview

Highlights of the Cochon 555 and winner Matt Jennings

Visit the American Seasons website for more information

Nantucket Restaurant Week starts September 28th!

Experience exceptional food, wine, and Nantucket hospitality in close to 30 of the islands culinary establishments. Three-course dinners offered from $25-$45 make this Fall 2009 seasonal event not to be missed! The week is proudly presented and organized by the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce and The Nantucket Magazine. There are many fundraisers for Nantucket charities, a Junior Chef Competition and annual Nantucket Chowder Contest.

For more information visit the website

Pasta Sfoglia is a new cookbook from Ron & Colleen Suhanosky owners of the restaurant Sfoglia. The cookbook is available September 29th at major bookstores or pre ordered from their website at the link at the bottom of this page.

Ron Suhanosky dreams about pasta. He was entrusted at an early age with testing the spaghetti in his nonna’s kitchen by throwing it against the backsplash. His love of all things Italian was nurtured in restaurant kitchens as he apprenticed throughout Italy with his wife, Colleen. When they decided to open their own restaurant, the name was the first thing they agreed upon: Sfoglia, which means “an uncut sheet of pasta.” And their pasta is what made Sfoglia a hit, with raves in the New York Times and New York magazine and features in Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, and the New Yorker.

The pasta the Suhanoskys serve at their two restaurants – on Nantucket and in New York City – is inventive, playful, and enticing. Each dish pays homage to authentic Italian cooking yet is also decidedly modern, with distinctive combinations of fresh and seasonal ingredients. As New York Times critic Frank Bruni wrote in his review: “A dish of pasta this fantastic, its sauce of cream and vin santo applied with restraint and leavened cunningly by shredded carrot, convinces a person that whatever path led him to it should be embraced more often.”

In Pasta Sfoglia, Ron shows you how to mix, roll, and shape homemade fresh pasta with ease, from rich egg pasta to light-as-a-feather ricotta gnocchi. He shares tricks from his grandmother and great-grandmother and skills he’s learned as a professional chef; it’s like having him by your side in the kitchen for lessons in all things pasta. You’ll learn how to create imaginative dishes with fresh flavor combinations simply and quickly, like Spaghetti with Strawberries, Tomatoes, and Balsamic Vinegar or Orecchiette with Asparagus and Fresh Lemon Ricotta. Or combine just a few ingredients to make the luxurious but simple Butternut Squash Gnocchi, Pistachio Pesto, or Nonna’s Sunday Ragu.

From his memories of his childhood to his travels with Colleen in Italy as a young chef, Ron Suhanosky reveals a lifelong passion for handmade pasta. With over 100 mouthwatering creations inspired by Sfoglia’s popular pasta dishes, stunning photographs, and step-by-step guidance, Pasta Sfoglia brings Ron’s recipes home for everyone… all for the love of pasta.

Click on this link to visit their website and order the cookbook!

Chicken Al Mattone (Under a Brick)

Chicken al Mattone
Chef Ron Suhanosky of Sfoglia roasts his chicken al mattone (“with a brick”). Use our Test Kitchen’s tip link, How to Prepare Chicken Under a Brick for help. This old Italian technique is typically associated with grilling, but Suhanosky proves it’s just as successful in the oven. The brick presses the chicken onto the pan so that it comes out moist and juicy, with lovely golden skin. And it doesn’t require much seasoning—just a simple marinade. For ease of preparation, ask the butcher to cut out the backbone of the chicken. Start preparing this dish one day ahead; the chicken needs to marinate overnight.

4 SERVINGS
Recipe by Sfoglia
Photograph by Lisa Hubbard
September 2009

INGREDIENTS
1 4-pound whole chicken, backbone cut away and discarded, rinsed, patted dry
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil or olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary plus additional sprigs for garnish
2 garlic cloves, pressed
Coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
Chopped fresh Italian parsley

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
Brick wrapped in aluminum foil or heavy cast-iron skillet

PREPARATION
Open chicken flat like book; place butterflied chicken, skin side down, on rimmed baking sheet. Mix 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons oil, 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary, and garlic in small bowl. Rub mixture all over both sides of chicken. Cover and chill overnight.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Sprinkle chicken with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, skin side down, to skillet and cook until golden brown, about 7 minutes (do not turn chicken over). Place foil-wrapped brick (or cast-iron skillet) crosswise atop chicken; roast in oven 30 minutes. Remove brick and turn chicken over; return brick to chicken and continue to roast until juices run clear when thickest part of thigh is pierced, about 15 minutes longer. Remove brick and transfer chicken to platter. Drizzle chicken with remaining 2 tablespoons lemon juice and sprinkle with crushed red pepper and parsley. Garnish with rosemary sprigs.

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