Our culinary theme for Sunday’s Concert was New England Cuisine. I’ve spent a few days in Jamestown, RI, which reminded me of an east coast version of Coronado, and a quick in and out of Boston, MA, but I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting any of the other New England states.
Renowned for its fresh seafood and down-to-earth regional ingredients, New England cuisine has been a staple of American cooking since the days of the Pilgrims, who wrote about the region’s bountiful “fruits of the sea.” Much of New England’s culinary traditions today can be traced back to the early English settlers, who began cooking with the ingredients found in the area’s fertile landscape. In the past 200 years, Italian Americans, Irish Americans, and coastal Portuguese have all left their mark on New England cuisine [The Culinary Institute of America].
Nina made this dark, slightly sweet, New England or Boston Brown Bread. Slathered with a little butter…so good!
I did manage to swipe a few of Alec’s Clams Casino, a dish originating in Narragansett, Rhode Island, before they disappeared.
Although I bitched and moaned quite a bit during the preparation of homemade pizza dough, my White Clam Pies turned out quite nice. Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana, in New Haven, CT, opened in 1925, and, to this day, Pepe’s premier pizza is its white clam pie. It’s made without mozzarella, and is nothing but crust strewn with freshly-shucked littleneck clams, olive oil, garlic, oregano, and a dash of grated cheese.
I added some fresh mozzarella to mine, and a little arugula salad dressed with olive oil and lemon, on top. For the crust, I used Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Pizza Dough, and I adapted Mario Batali’s White Clam Pie and Food Network’s White Clam Pizza recipes for the topping.
Nina wasn’t kidding when she e-mailed me the week before the Concert, saying she couldn’t decide between Lobster Pie, Brown Bread or Boston Cream Pie. She went with the Brown Bread and this lovely Boston Cream Pie. In 1996, the Boston Cream Pie was declared the official dessert of Massachusetts. It’s not a pie, but a pudding and cake combination comprised of two layers of sponge cake filled with vanilla custard or crème pâtissière, and topped with chocolate ganache. Nina glammed hers up with fresh blueberries, raspberries, and mint sprigs. The late afternoon sun wreaked havoc on the ganache.
, and I was able to secure the most beautiful, plump blueberries from Little Italy’s Farmers’ Market.
Keller’s cobbler has more of a cake-like topping to soak up all the juices. Here’s the recipe.
