21 October 2010
 
Peanut Soup

(Fall leaves at Refuge Farm.)
 
I am a little disjointed this morning, though you probably can't tell the difference. There is apparently a fellow named John hurtling south from New Jersey in a truck, intent on purchasing my 2003 Harley Night Train. I don’t want to get rid of it, but hey, I have too many toys and it is about time to grow up.
 
I don’t have time to do justice to the project de jour. I have a notebook filled with great stories from Mac’s fabled three-career life; the Naval Intelligence one, the Other Government Agency one that we still can’t talk about, and the last sad one, taking care of his beloved wife Billie as the insidious ravages of dementia stole her away.
 
We can talk all we want to about that. I know something about that, based on what is happening to my folks. I talked to Jackie at Potemkin Village yesterday, trying to find out if the Sunday Detroit Free Press was being delivered to my parent's apartment on the third floor. The Free Press thinks it is, Mom doesn’t, and I am at a loss.
 
Jackie agreed to start an in-depth investigation. I asked, parenthetically, how Raven was doing. We put a night watch on him and apparently he was being a good boy and staying home. The weekend staff, recognizing a change of behavior, curtailed the surveillance.
 
Bad idea. It is a curious thing, this up and down progress on the road to oblivion. I made my usual Sunday call, and Big Mama was lucid enough to complain gently about the Sunday paper. I did not think to ask to talk to Raven, since that usually results in some loopy half phrases, incorporating the “moving forward” and “getting things done” ethos that my father carried all of his sentient life, before entering into this incarnation as the inquisitive but inchoate Raven.
 
Big Mama rang off, saying they had to get to dinner, and I sighed with relief that the car and the house had not come up as major issues.
 
I was startled when the cell phone went off as I was cooking a new recipe I had been meaning to try, waiting for the crispness of Fall to bring around the soup season. The minestrone I simmered last month was long gone, even the jug I tucked away in the freezer, and it was time for some creativity.
 
Bill-from-North Carolina vouched for the recipe. He said, “If you have never had Peanut Soup, then you must try this.  It is the best out of over 25 recipes I tried.”
 
I don’t have the concentration to try a quarter hundred recipes, so I rely on Bill’s energy. Virginia is a peanut state, after all, though not as much as our neighbor to the south, and certainly not as much as Jimmy Carter’s Georgia, but as a native northerner, it is not anything that was front-and-center on my radar.
 

(Dr. George Washington Carver. Photo by Frances B. Johnston, 1906. Courtesy Library of Congress)

I know something about the general goodness of peanuts from the stories of Dr. Carver, the African-American pioneer in agronomy. He recognized that peanuts are rich in nutrients, providing over 30 essential nutrients and phytonutrients. Peanuts are a good source of niacin, folate, fiber, magnesium, vitamin E, manganese and phosphorus. They also are naturally free of trans-fats and sodium, and contain about 25% protein.
 
I am watching what I eat these days, partly as a prophylactic against turning into Raven any sooner than I have to, and partly to impress someone with my resolution and resolve.
 
But you still have to eat, and in that regard we owe a lot to the courageous Dr. Carver, who took on the stereotypes of his time head on. His fame is based on his post-Reconstruction era research and promotion of crops as alternatives to cotton, notably peanuts.
 
Dr. Carver wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops both as a source of their own food and as a source of other products to improve their quality of life. The most popular of his forty-four practical bulletins for farmers contained more than a hundred creative recipes centered on the peanut.
 
 My pals in Memphis who did the Attache tour in Hong Kong were the first to introduce me to satay, the delicious Indonesian skewered meat dish with spicy peanut sauce. If they care too, we will share that recipe in the Cloak-and-Dagger Cookbook that is currently on the back burner.
 
Bill’s recipe included a variation with vegetable broth as a substitute for chicken for those who are vegetarians.  I am wondering if my artichoke broth might be the key- I stored a batch and thawed it for the experiment.
 
I was adding the artichoke broth to the onion-flour-celery roué when my phone went off. I was startled to see that it was Big Mama calling, a rare occurrence. The phone in the apartment has very small buttons, and it confuses me, too.
 
I answered, still stirring vigorously, and she said that dinner was fine, but that Raven was unhappy that he had not talked to me. She put him on, and I had more than five complete sentences, many of them containing whole thoughts.
 
I was stunned, and gratified. Maybe the assisted living and regular, nutritious meals have made a difference. And maybe it has not. When I asked Jackie how things were going the next day, basking in the idea that things might be getting better, she said that Sunday night Raven had staged an unsupervised break-out, and entered no less than five other apartments, turning on the lights to the dismay of his neighbors.
 
His quest apparently was to find Big Mama, whose side he left to embark on the journey. Embarrassed, I authorized the restoration of the night security detail. Damn.
 
Anyway, Bill claimed the soup was “very rich and hits the spot on a cold winter afternoon,” but I can only testify to how good it tasted as the leaves begin to change, gaining color as my tan fades.  Let me know how you like it.
 

(Peanut soup originally came from Africa, though Dr. Carver contributed modern research into the southern tradition.  Ghana was probably the source country, but a variation certainly was served in Colonial Williamsburg.)

 
INGREDIENTS

1 Large Yellow Onion Diced and chopped
2 Celery stalks Finely chopped
1/4 Cup Unsalted butter
3 Tablespoons Flour
1 qt (8 cups) Chicken broth OR Vegetable broth OR Hearty Artichoke broth
2 Cups smooth Peanut butter
3 Tablespoons fresh salted creamery Butter
1 Cup Whipping Cream or Half-and-Half
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
1/4 Cup Chopped peanuts
 
 
PREPARATION

1.  Sauté onion and celery in butter until soft — about 3-5 minutes.
2.  Stir in flour and blend well.
3,  Add broth (see options above), stirring constantly.
4.  Bring mixture to a boil while adding 3 tablespoons of butter, and then let simmer
for 3 to 5 minutes.
5.  Remove from heat and then rub through a sieve..
6.  Add peanut butter and whipping cream while stirring them in thoroughly.
7.  Blend in salt and pepper.
8.  Heat thoroughly but do not boil.
9.  Serve 8 to 10 and garnish with chopped peanuts..
 
 
For pure peanut butter go to Whole Foods over in Clarendon. Try it during the day before the Yuppies get off work and clog the inadequate parking.  They have a machine in the produce section stacked full of peanuts.  Put a plastic container under the spout and turn on the switch.  The peanuts are ground and out comes pure peanut butter. It costs too much, but how often do you make peanut soup?

Copyright 2010 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
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