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10/07/2021 12:01 AMOh, summer is over when we have our last boules party.
And it was a doozy, to use an old-fashioned word for an amazing get-together. We missed the entire 2020 summer, and our kickoff in June 2021 caused some of us to tear up. Most of us hadn’t seen each other in almost two years.
Yes, our team of four won the finals, but consider this: The women play separately with the men and there were only 12 women who could play every boules Sunday (and two Saturdays this year, too). So we all know each other very well. The women among the three teams are very good. So the team members who win must become captains and therefore our teams change every year. As a result, a different team can win each year.
Boules is played pretty much like bocce, but it is French game rather than Italian. On this particular year’s final the food was very, very French. Brandade (baked dried cod, potatoes, butter, and garlic and topped with black peppers); savory crepes to order (I chose kielbasa, gruyere, sauerkraut, mustard, and apple butter); tiny sweet peppers roasted and filled with anchovy, garlic, and extra-virgin olive oil; small tuna sandwiches; and gravlax atop superb bread. And Priscilla Martel made a beautiful carrot cake topped with a luscious frosting drizzled with her own house-made caramel.
One of our members cannot eat anything with most flour, so I made an old-fashioned tapioca pudding along with a ramekin of my grandmother’s recipe for chocolate syrup. Many supermarkets no longer offer large-pearl tapioca; Amazon does. I now have enough for the next five years. Or longer.
Lee White of Old Lyme has been a food editor and restaurant reviewer for more than 25 years. You can email her at leeawhite@aol.com.
Old-Fashioned Large-Pearl Tapioca Pudding
From A Coalcracker in the Kitchen, May 16, 2019
Serves: 8 to 10
Ingredients
½ cup large pearl tapioca (not instant or quick-cook varieties)
4 cups whole milk
½ cup sugar, divided
½ teaspoon salt
3 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
Place tapioca pearls in a bowl and fill with water. Swish the pearls around, drain, refill the bowl with water and allow pearls to sit 8 hours or overnight.
Drain the tapioca after the soak and set aside (I allow them to drain in a large strainer).
In a large saucepan, mix milk, salt, and ¾ cup sugar. Bring to a simmer over medial heat. Add drained tapioca when the milk starts to bubble around the edges of the pan.
Simmer 25 minutes or unto tapioca pearls are mostly clean, stirring frequently to avoid sticking and scorching.
In a small bowl, beat eggs with remaining ¾ cup sugar. Temper the eggs by slowly adding and stirring some (about half) of the tapioca mixture into them.*
Add tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan and stir well. Bring to a boil over medium heat and stir constantly for 2 minutes or until mixture is thick.
Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and transfer the hot tapioca onto a large bowl (a good-sized gratin bowl works well and it is pretty enough to go directly onto the table at dessert time). Cover the tapioca surface with plastic wrap and allow it to rest directly on the pudding to prevent a skin from forming on the top.
Serve warm or cold with fresh fruit or caramel or chocolate syrup.