Election Night Feast

A food blog is not necessarily a place for politics, but
I was inspired by Tanya Steel's election night menu on Epicurious and so I put one of our own together to give us sustenance through what promised to be a long election night. In putting a menu together I wanted to have a dish that represented each of the major four candidates. For John McCain, I did a Tex-Mex dish of Chiles Rellenos with Black Bean Sauce (these were an ugly, but delicious dish served with a mango-peach salsa).

For Sarah Palin, since I couldn't find moose I settled for a smoked salmon with capers.
For Barack Obama, I strayed from the usual
Chicago deep dish pizza, and chose a dish that commemorates his time as a youth in Hawaii - Spam Musubi, a sushi made with Spam (Hawaii is the state that consumes the most Spam). When I saw this I was intrigued, so I decided to give it a try. I had a hard time finding something specific to Delaware, so I went to the state's agricultural page and found that Delaware produces chickens, so I opted for oven-fried chicken, maybe a bit Southern for Joe Biden, but a great option for my less adventurous diners.

Everything turned out great, and the surprise of the evening was definitely the musubi - it was surprisingly good, and made us anxious to try our hand at more homemade sushi. It definitely won my vote.

In case you want to give it a try (maybe for Inauguration day), here is how to make you own Spam Musubi.

Hawaiian Spam Sushi

2 cups uncooked sushi rice
2 cups water
6 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 finely chopped scallions
6 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tbsp Splenda
1 (12 ounce) container fully cooked Spam (I used light)
5 sheets sushi nori (dry seaweed)

2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey

Cook sushi rice according to the directions. Set aside and add rice vinegar, sesame seeds, scallions, soy sauce and splenda, and mix well. Let cool until rice can be handled.
Slice luncheon meat lengthwise into 8 slices, or to desired thickness, and brown on both sides in about 1 tablespoon oil. Add soy sauce and honey to make sauce for the spam, and then turn off heat.

Put slice of cooked Spam in the bottom of the Spam can and pack in rice mixture to a depth of about 1 inch. Turn upside down and wrap nori around musubi. Repeat until all slices have been used. Serve at room temperature or chilled with wasabi and soy sauce.
(The nori makes the musubi look burned in the picture, but they are not).

VOTE- Not just this election, but every election

I am just back from the polls, where at 6:30 AM we waited about 20 minutes. Seeing the incredible crowds of friends and neighbors, I wondered where many of them have been in the many smaller elections that affect their lives everyday. It is great that this election has energized people who normally don't vote, but I hope this enthusiasm will get people to educate and involve themselves in the political process on a regular basis, not just 2008. After all, men and women for generations have fought to allow us this freedom,and we owe it to ourselves, our children and our country to exercise that right. So whether you support Obama or John McCain, when you vote today, make yourself a pledge to vote every time you have the opportunity, and to carry your enthusiasm past November and past January to every first Tuesday in November!

Note: I will be posting later on my Election Night dinner party.