Inspired by Connecticut

THE MEAL

(Click on the links above to jump to that part of the post!)

I’m so sorry that it took me so long to post about this meal! I had an extremely busy spring, and then I was having issues with the photos uploading to the blog, and it took a lot of effort to get back into the mood to write. 🙂 This meal was a delight, though. I got to make three of my favorite foods from scratch and make my house smell like Christmas in April. Even though it took me forever to tell you all about it, it was a highlight of my spring months.

WHITE CLAM PIZZA

Pizza is one of my favorite foods, and I love how many variations there are on such a simple concept. (Maybe someday I’ll do a “pizza around the world” challenge.) This white clam pizza was inspired by the clam apizza (“ah-beetz”) of New Haven, Connecticut, fame. New-Haven-style pizza doesn’t have sauce, is heavy on the mozzarella, and has a more substantial crust than the Neapolitan style it derived from. Clams were added by Frank Pepe in the 1960s, and the combination is now wide-spread in the Northeast.

Despite pizza being one of my favorite foods, this was my first time making a full-size pizza entirely from scratch. I’d done mini ones with pre-made dough at parties and such, but a full-size pizza was new territory for me. I was worried about getting the dough right and baking it in a regular oven without even a pizza stone, but it turned out great! I followed a great pizza dough tutorial online that now I’m having trouble finding again… The recipe I posted to this site follows those crust-making instructions, though, and I’ll be sure to post the link if I ever find it again.

The pizza turned out amazing. It’s a tad more dry than I’m used to, because of the lack of sauce, but the salty flavor of clam, bacon, and cheese soaks into the crust, and it has a nice chewy texture. I was very pleased with the results, and now feel a lot less intimidated about making pizza from scratch again in the future!

APPLE CIDER

I feel like I’m in the minority here, but I actually prefer apple cider to hot chocolate during the cold winter months. I have a huge sweet tooth and love chocolate, but drinking it is just too indulgent for me except in small quantities. It fills me up too fast and gives me a huge sugar rush. I prefer apple cider because it’s still sweet but lighter, so I can sip it throughout a cold winter night without feeling like I overdid it.

Apples have been cultivated on the East Coast since the pilgrims first arrived. The colonies relied on apples for food, and made cider to get them through the winter. Connecticut is home to the oldest steam-powered cider mill in the United States, B.F. Clyde’s Cider Mill. Apples are a big part of Connecticut harvest season, and there were dozens of recipes I could have made to represent the state, but I’m happy that I chose cider.

My family loves to make wassail for our Christmas caroling parties, so making apple cider in a crock pot in April confused my senses into thinking it was Christmastime again already! And I loved being able to control the sweetness of my own batch. Making wassail on a stove with pre-made apple cider and orange juice is definitely easier than slow-cooking, mashing, and straining whole fruit, but the results were amazing.

SNICKERDOODLES

Snickerdoodles have been around since the late 1800s are considered Connecticut’s state cookie. I couldn’t find any specific reason why, but who doesn’t love snickerdoodles?? I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make them, even though I’ve known how for a long time. My mom always made these for us growing up. They’re such a nostalgic food for me. I understand now why they were a staple of hers—they take very basic pantry ingredients, they’re easy to prepare, and despite being a dessert, they’re not as rich or overly sugary as other cookies one could make. I love their crinkly, chewy texture and their cinnamon-sugar taste. If you’ve never had them before, please give them a try! You won’t regret it.

So how do you think I did? Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions for improvement, and be sure to tune in next time for my take on a meal inspired by Rhode Island! If that’s where you’re from, what do you think I should make to represent your state? Bonus points if you have reliable recipes or pro tips before I make the attempt! Thank you for reading!