Trustee Chair Jennifer Borislow, Trustee Anita Worden, NECC President Lane Glenn, Trustee Shalimar Quiles, and Trustee Sally Cerasuolo-O’Rorke.

Haverhill and Lawrence, MA (July 21, 2021)-Northern Essex Community College Board of Trustee members have been hearing about the college’s new Lupoli Family Institute of Culinary Arts in downtown Haverhill for years, but it wasn’t until July 14 that they had their first visit: an elegant four course meal, which they prepared themselves, with the help of culinary students.

“We’ve been closely involved with the planning of the college’s culinary institute, but, because of COVID, we didn’t have an opportunity to see it until now,” said Jennifer Borislow, chair of the college’s Board of Trustees. “I was impressed with the sweeping views of the Merrimack, the state-of-the-art culinary facilities, and the creativity of Chef Denis and his hard-working students.”

In honor of Bastille Day, a French inspired meal was featured, including a grilled Caesar salad with homemade croutons, seared scallops with beurre blanc, filet mignon with bearnaise sauce, roasted vegetables, tomato saffron risotto and a fresh cherry clafoutis for dessert. Here are recipes for the courses that were prepared that night.

Donning chef hats and aprons, the 10 trustees attending were divided into teams, each responsible for one course of the meal. At the end of the night, they left with a cookbook featuring recipes for each dish that had been served that might.

Chef Denis Boucher, program coordinator, spent many hours preparing for the event, and proclaimed it “so much fun.” He said the students were “jazzed” to prepare a full meal and meet the college leadership

The institute occupies two floors in The Heights, a newly built 10-story luxury building on Merrimack Street with views of the Merrimack River. The space includes classrooms, laboratories, and state-of-the-art kitchens and offers noncredit community courses as well as credit programs in Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management.

The culinary institute had a soft opening in the fall of 2020 with noncredit courses. Credit courses followed in the spring.

This fall noncredit classes will explore Comfort Food, Vegetarian Options, and Food from Europe and India. To learn more, contact Sandy Zappala, szappala@necc.mass.edu.

To learn more about credit programs, contact Denis Boucher, dboucher@necc.mass.edu.

Northern Essex Community College has campuses in both Haverhill and Lawrence. It offers approximately 60 associate degree and certificate programs as well as hundreds of noncredit courses designed for personal enrichment and career growth.  Each year, 6,000 students are enrolled in credit associate degree and certificate programs on the Haverhill and Lawrence campuses; and another 2,000 take noncredit workforce development and community education classes on campus, and at businesses and community sites across the Merrimack Valley.  For more information, visit the website at www.necc.mass.edu or call 978-556-3700.