I don’t know what it is about Super Tuesday that makes me so ravenous, but in light of the fact that Barack Obama may actually be elected president of the United States this November, I have been thinking about what sort of cuisine could best celebrate the occasion. And what I keep thinking of is a play on the old saying “as American as apple pie.”  What I want to say, and serve, to the world is a dish that is “as American as Barack pie.” 

I’m quite a good home cook, as profiled last year in Bon Appetit Magazine.  (You can also search for my recipes on Epicurious.com)  So I’m taking this task of creating a Barack pie very seriously.

As I putter around my kitchen like the domestic goddess that I aspire to be, I’m thinking that a Barack pie would be a savory pie, like a chicken pot pie. To be truly authentic, it would have to have both a Kenyan and a Hawaiian influence.  There’s a Kenyan dish called Mtuzi wa Sumaki, which features fish in a coconut curry sauce.  The genius part is that coconut milk, one of the primary ingredients, is also a popular element of Hawaiian cuisine.  So what I think I’ll do is use a buttery pre-made Dufour pastry shell (I love my country, but I’m not trying to be in the kitchen all day.)  I’ll take a Hawaiian butterfish, sear it in a little olive oil and as in the Mtuzi wa Sumaki, add onion, garlic and red pepper.  I’ll simmer the fish and other delish items in one cup of coconut milk and let it all cook down. Then, instead of using tamarind paste and Garam masala curry as is traditionally used in Kenya, I’ll add a little citrus ponzu and a mixture of soy sauce, grainy French mustard and Plugras butter.   I’ll stir the whole mixture, pour it in my premade pie shell and top it with a pre-made pastry crust. (I like Dufour puff pastry because of the lovely way it rises.)  I’ll give the pastry crust an egg wash so it comes out a lovely golden color, not unlike our future president. Then I’ll let it bake for twenty minutes.

We are at such a critical time in our history. Get out there and vote, urge friends in other states to make sure they are registered so they can do the right thing when their moment comes, donate a matching contribution to the campaign and maybe just maybe, as Ghandi said, we’ll be the change we want to see in the world.  

In the meantime, I’m cooking up hope in my kitchen. The good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, come November, we’ll have the president this country deserves and a new phrase will enter the lexicon.   Maybe one day soon, we’ll describe good, wholesome things as “American as Barack pie.”  Pass it on. 

Veronica Chambers is a journalist, editor and author of several books including The Joy of Doing Things Badly: A Girls's Guide to Love, Life and Foolish Bravery and Having it All? Black Women and Success.