In addition to my regular reviews, I occasionally like to avail myself of the various community meals that spring up around the Upper Valley. Harvest suppers. Fire department fund raisers. Non-profit fundraisers. And one of the best categories, the church basement supper. Many of the area churches host community suppers throughout the calendar year, especially clustered around harvest season and mid-winter (the ne plus ultra of church basement suppers, the Hartland Roast Beef Suppper, has gotten several visits from Offbeat Eats, for example). And in late June, we spied in the newspaper (yes, we actually still get a print newspaper) that one of the Community Suppers I had been keeping my eye on was back: the Union Episcopal Church Annual Strawberry Festival and Norwegian Meatball Dinner in Claremont, NH.
Both the Church and the festival have long, storied traditions. The Church itself is located in a quiet corner of west Claremont, NH, nestled in the middle of two large cemeteries along with a small Catholic church across the street. It’s the oldest Episcopal Church (and oldest building used exclusively for religious purposes) still standing in NH, having been built back in 1771 (and Old St Mary’s across the street was actually built by the son of the Union Episcopal Church pastor after he converted to Catholicism).
The Strawberry Festival and Norwegian Meatball Dinner hosted by the Church every June also has a long tradition, having been going for almost 60 years. It’s a pretty simple affair: serving up large plates of Norwegian meatballs from their own secret recipe, served with homemade mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, beets, and coleslaw. After that, a dessert of strawberry shortcake with NH strawberries over biscuits. With options for both indoor dining (in the basement of the function hall), or with your food packaged to-go for eating outside or at home, this has historically been a very popular event for the Union Episcopal Church with a long line waiting to get in. However, the last few years have taken a toll; the Pandemic turned the event into a “take-out only” affair at first, and even as they’ve restarted dine-in service, people have been slow to come back, so the “Community” supper aspect has taken a modest hit. But we opted to dine-in to get the full Church Basement Supper experience.
After getting seated at a community table (with vintage plates and silverware that have obviously been a church asset for a long time), our friendly hosts brought everyone plates loaded with mashed potatoes, a generous pile of Norwegian meatballs and gravy, and beets. On the side were several dinner rolls and a large communal bowl of home-made cole slaw. Everything here was good: the meatballs were large, tender, and nicely spiced, with a decent gravy that was perfect for grabbing a bit of meatball and mash all in one fork-full. The beets were nicely tender, the coleslaw having a nice light buttermilk flavor and a good crunch, and the dinner rolls nice and fresh. This was basically just the sort of satisfying traditional dinner that you’d enjoy on a nice weekend evening at home with family.
The strawberry shortcake came next, and while not the most photographically-attractive dish, it was certainly no slouch: the strawberries were perfectly fresh and not overly sweetened, letting the natural flavor come out. The biscuits were fresh and slightly sweet, with a nice crumb. Tying it all together was a nice dollop of real cream, and this was a nice counterpoint to the savory notes of the main meatball course.
We enjoyed our dinner, and the only sad thing is that we need to wait a year before the next one. The food was good, the Church volunteers very friendly, and the company welcoming. I actually feel bad that attendance was low; people are missing out on a local gem, and I’ll have to make a note to send a reminder to folks next year and see if we can get the attendance count back up.
The photo of the dinner is from a different review
Sorry about that. Fixed.