By Leslie Brenner
What’s better than dinner and a show? Dinner and a show when the show is a presidential debate!
In preparation for the match-up between President Biden and former president Trump back in June, we chased down the favorite foods of presidents and former presidents for inspiration.
This time around, we have a very different situation: Vice President Kamala Harris, a dedicated home cook and true food lover with wide-ranging tastes, will be pitted against the former president, a fan of fast food and overcooked steak.
This blows the what-to-cook on debate night issue wide open, with some exciting possibilities. In my household it definitely won’t be overcooked steak. Instead it will be one of the Vice President’s favorite foods.
Shrimp, Andouille Sausage and Okra Gumbo
We’ll be serving up bowls of gumbo as the debaters get underway.
In an interview posted to her YouTube channel, Harris talked about why the Louisiana specialty is one of her favorite foods:
“I love gumbo. I was raised by my by mother, and then my second mother, Ms. Shelton, who was from Louisiana, and she made the best gumbo — and I have been a lifelong gumbo apprentice learning how to make gumbo my whole life. I’ve never mastered it like she did, but that’s one of my favorite foods probably.” — Vice President Kamala Harris
Bowls of it (served with Louisiana hot sauce, which Harris also loves) will be easy to manage TV-side, and we’re in high okra season. A fine situation all around.
Perfect Easy Roast Chicken
Roast chicken, another Harris favorite (she shared her method with Glamour magazine four years ago), would also be a terrific choice — great with potato salad and greens (yet another Harris favorite).
RECIPE: Perfect Easy Roast Chicken
RECIPE: Wylie’s Greens
Chicken Salad Tostadas
Or serve assemble-your-own chicken tostadas. Simmer up a pot of beans, set out salad greens and shredded roast chicken (either leftover or pick up a supermarket rotisserie bird) and let the layering begin. Harris mentioned in her Glamour interview that chicken tostadas are one of the many ways she repurposes leftover roast chicken.
RECIPE: Chicken Salad Tostadas
Did you know that lamb meatballs are part of Vice President Harris’ repertoire? In 2018 she told The Cut about some that she made “with mint and parsley and a little cilantro.” Sounds a lot like our lamb meatballs with parsley, mint, garlic and pine nuts — which would make an outstanding debate night treat. You could serve them with rice (a Harris family favorite) or couscous.
RECIPE: Lamb Meatballs
Yangzhou Fried Rice
And speaking of rice, fried rice is also highly appreciated in Harris’ household. “We actually love fried rice,” the Vice President told chef Tom Colicchio four years ago. “We’ve been doing a lot of fried rice.”
Hard to imagine a dreamier debate dinner.
RECIPE: Yangzhou Fried Rice