COOKING WITH CANDIDATES
With Election Day fast approaching, here’s a different look at some of the candidates. Call it a peek inside their kitchens and a seat at their tables.
“Our dining room table is a gathering spot,” said Chrissy Houlahan of Devon, a Democrat running for Congress. “I’ve always been a working parent. They’ve always been busy kids, but we’d always strive to have dinner together.”
A tried-and-true crowd-pleaser: Gramie spaghetti, a dish her mom made growing up.
“I’m a military kid. My parents, we moved around quite a lot,” recalled Houlahan, an Air Force veteran. “This was one of the staples in the house.”
“It’s comfort food for me,” she added. “It’s inexpensive. It’s easy, and it’s good.”
Another comforting choice: mac and cheese, a kid-approved pick in Amber Little-Turner’s Coatesville home. A friend’s recipe satisfies all four children ages 7 to 17.
“They love it, especially Reece because she’s a vegetarian,” explained the Republican candidate for state representative. “My childhood favorite dish was actually stuffed peppers, stuffed bell peppers with the ground beef and the cheese and the sauce and all that good stuff.”
Speaking of good stuff, try Swarthmore Mayor Tim Kearney’s chimichurri, a savory sauce of chopped parsley, oregano, olive oil, vinegar, garlic and pepper flakes. It’s “a staple for tailgates” on grilled chorizo sandwiches and something he learned from his wife’s family.
“It’s really wonderful,” said the Democratic state Senate candidate. “If you meet 20 Argentines, you get 20 different recipes for it.”
Former Lansdale Mayor Andy Szekely, a Republican running for state representative, enjoys his wife’s Hungarian rakott krumpli, a potato casserole with sausage, hard-boiled eggs, sour cream and onions.
“It’s just a nice, warm comfort food,” he described. “It’s very hearty, good to have it first thing in the morning and take the dog for a walk in the woods.”
And on Thanksgiving and Christmas mornings, Szekely prepares “a take on Quiche Lorraine with spinach and bacon.”
“It’s great twice a year as it takes about six months to work off the calories,” he joked. Gramie Spaghetti Ingredients
1 pound ground hamburger, lean
1 onion, diced
Olive oil to brown onion 1 small can tomato paste
1 can condensed tomato soup 1 large can either whole or diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 bay leaves (optional)
1 box spaghetti Instructions
In a saucepan that can be covered, cook the onions and oil until translucent. Add the beef and brown, draining away any fat. Add paste, soup and canned tomatoes one at a time and stir with each. Add cinnamon and bay leaves and stir. Simmer on low for 1/2 hour (can add water to thin if desired). Remove bay leaves before serving. Serve over cooked spaghetti noodles or plain. Servings: 4 to 6. RECIPE COURTESY OF CHRISSY HOULAHAN
Mac and Cheese
Ingredients 1 pound elbow macaroni
3/4 of a 32-ounce Velveeta cheese block
1 cup of Monterey jack, Colbyjack and mild cheddar cheese 1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
16 ounces whipping cream 3 teaspoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper Instructions
Boil the macaroni. Drain and set aside. Next you’re going to put your whipping cream in the pan and melt the Velveeta. Scramble an egg and add that. Add the macaroni to the pan. Then you’ll layer the macaroni with the three cheeses, salt and pepper until it’s gone. Make sure the top layer is cheese. Add some butter and milk to the top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to an hour until bubbling. Feeds about 10 people. RECIPE COURTESY OF AMBER LITTLE-TURNER
Tim’s Chimi
Chimichurri, Argentine-style. Required for sausage (chorizos) at pregame tailgates. This is an oil-based condiment used to accompany grilled meats. We use it before Union games for choripán, sausage sandwiches. The key to great chimi is to chop the ingredients. It needs to be loose so that it blends with the natural meat juice and soaks into the bread. Ingredients
1/2 cup good olive oil
2 to 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup freshly chopped flat leaf parsley
1/4 cup freshly chopped oregano (can be substituted by heaping tablespoon of dried)
4+ cloves of chopped garlic 1/2 cup salmuera (salted water) Dash of red pepper flakes Instructions
All these amounts are a guide. You can adjust to taste as you go. I rarely measure, and it is often a little different each time I make it.
Begin by boiling 1/2 cup of water, stir in 1 tablespoon of coarse salt then put it in the fridge to cool. Start chopping. It should not be pasty, nor should it be too chunky. Start with the parsley and oregano in a mixing bowl, add the oil, the garlic and the vinegar. Check for taste and then add the pepper flakes as you like. Last, add the salmuera as required for taste and consistency. Keep all your ingredients fresh, and you can’t go wrong. Tim’s Chimi is best refrigerated overnight in a sealed container. Grill chorizos (use sweet Italian sausage) and heat baguettes. Cut the bread into lengths about 1 to 2 inches shorter than the sausage, cut the pieces in half and spread the chimi on the bread, add the sausage and enjoy. RECIPE COURTESY OF TIM KEARNEY
Rakott Krumpli
My wife, Szilvia, is from Hungary and this is one of the staples from the old country that our daughters, Anna and Emma, love to eat. Ingredients
4 potatoes, boiled and sliced 5 hard-boiled eggs, sliced 1 sausage link, sautéed with onions
1 cup sour cream
Garlic powder, to taste 1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste Paprika, to taste
Olive oil Instructions
Put the boiled, sliced potatoes in a casserole dish and add the sausage sautéed with onions, layering together with sour cream between. Sprinkle the top with garlic powder, pepper and paprika and add a splash of olive oil. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes at 375 degrees. RECIPE COURTESY OF ANDY SZEKELY
Holiday Quiche
Ingredients 6 slices of Hatfield bacon
1 cup baby spinach
1 cup of the finest shredded Emmentaler Swiss cheese you can find from Wegmans
1/2 cup of finely chopped onion 4 eggs
2 cups of whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon hot Hungarian paprika
Store-bought pie shell Instructions
Mix the ingredients together and place in the oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes and then reduce to the temperature to 325 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until a knife comes out “clean” from the quiche. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes. RECIPE COURTESY OF ANDY SZEKELY
Election Day… piece of cake!
On festive Election Days of yore, food and drink flowed freely to get out the vote.
Did you know? When George Washington ran for Virginia’s House of Burgesses in 1758, he “spent his entire campaign budget, 50 pounds, on 160 gallons of liquor served to 391 voters.” That’s according to the National Constitution Center. Apparently, “buying votes with booze was already a custom in England.”
Another tradition: great cakes, which became known as election cakes to entice and reward voters. These massive creations could feed a crowd. In 1796, “American Cookery” included a recipe with 30 quarts of flour, 10 pounds of butter, 14 pounds of sugar, 12 pounds of raisins, 3 dozen eggs, a pint of wine, a quart of brandy, plus spices.
Fast forward to 2016 when OWL Bakery in Asheville, N.C. launched a nonpartisan campaign to “Make America Cake Again.” Find election cake recipes and information at www.owlbakery.com/electioncake. Just don’t offer any in exchange for votes.