Presidents Day is hardly a gastronomic festival. Aside from a nod to George Washington – cherry pie, anyone? – there’s not really any great food associated with the Oval Office. Sure, Ronald Reagan liked jelly beans, and Bill Clinton hankered for fast food, but if you want to know what the presidents ate, you have to look to the first ladies.

Thanks to a fortuitous yard-sale find, bequeathed to me by a generous neighbor, I have “The First Ladies Cook Book: Favorite Recipes of All of the Presidents of the United States” (Parents’ Magazine Press, 1969), by Margaret Brown Klapthor, then an associate curator at the Smithsonian Institution, and Helen Duprey Bullock, senior editor and historian with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The book takes us from the days of George and Martha Washington through Richard Nixon’s first term, detailing the menus, china and recipes brought to the presidential table. The recipes are attributed to the first ladies, and only brief mention is made of the chefs, servants and, in the case of the earliest presidents, slaves who labored behind the scenes.

In the earliest days of the republic, presidential fare largely seems influenced by English cookery. Martha Washington served steak and kidney pie with English trifle for dessert. Recipes attributed to Abigail Adams’ tenure include the British bread pudding known as beggar’s pudding.

But as early as Thomas Jefferson’s term, the cuisine of France started influencing the cookery of England, appearing in the form of boeuf a la mode and chartreuse (a molded vegetable dish). As a former minister to France, Jefferson had developed a taste for continental dining and fine wines.

In honor of Presidents Day, I can’t help but turn to good old Martha Washington, whose recipe for chess cake is really a variation on chess pie, a Southern staple. The cherry sauce, which is not in the least bit authentic, is an optional and festive topping. Serve it this Presidents Day, and your guests will be humming “Hail to the Chef.”

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DESSERT

Martha Washington’s Chess Cake

Unbaked pastry for a (9-inch) piecrust

1 cup butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar, divided

6 egg yolks, lightly beaten

1/4 teaspoon salt

Grated zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/3 cup dry white wine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and 1/2 cup sugar.

In another large bowl, using a whisk or electric mixer, beat egg yolks and salt until light and lemon-colored, at least three minutes. Gently beat in remaining 1/2 cup sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and wine. Add creamed butter mixture to the yolks and beat gently until combined. The mixture will be yellow and may look lumpy or curdled; that’s OK.

Pour mixture into the piecrust. Crimp edges of the pastry and cover edges with strips of foil to keep them from burning. Bake 50 minutes, or until top is golden brown. The filling will be runny but will firm up as the pie cools. Place on a wire rack to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least two hours or up to two days.

Slice into wedges and serve plain or with whipped cream, cherry sauce (recipe below) or both.

Yields six to eight servings.

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CONDIMENT

Cherry Sauce

1 (14.5-ounce) can pitted tart cherries in water, undrained

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Place juice from the cherries, sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until thick, stirring continually. Remove from heat and stir in cherries, lemon juice, extract and salt. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Yields 2 cups (enough for one pie).