Sauce or Soup? Or It's Gina's Fault

I was talking to one of my best friends a couple weeks ago and the subject of peanuts came up. I am kind of weird about peanuts. I don't particularly like them out of the shell, though I have been known to munch on them while drinking with friends and not thinking about it too much. You won't see me buying a bag at a ball game. I don't like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but I will eat a Snickers as a meal replacement once or twice a year. Peanut butter sandwich? Hard pass. If there's peanuts in a box of chocolate truffles you'll see me heading straight for the caramel or the chocolate ganache on the other end of the box.

When it comes to Asian food, however, I quite enjoy them. They seem to belong there. Pad Thai. Satay. The top of a bun bowl (Vietnamese vermicelli with many wonderful things). Gina mentioned African Peanut Soup, which I'd never had before. Why not? I thought ,and set aside a Sunday afternoon.

I searched a lot and found Congo Cookbook, which has a lot of things I'm going to try. The peanut soup recipe, I have to say, was pretty vague, so you'll see a lot of my purple comments below. I doubled the recipe so I would use the entire jar of peanut butter (I have no other use for it), but I'm leaving the proportions as they are on the website: 

What you need

• two or three cups chicken broth or chicken stock
• one small onion, minced (I used Vidalia)
• one small sweet green pepper (or bell pepper), minced (I used a green bell pepper and I can't help thinking a red or gold one would be better)
• one clove of garlic, crushed (optional) (I do not grok "one clove of garlic" never mind "optional" in this context. I threw in 5)
• salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper or red pepper (to taste) (this meant a few grinds of salt, about five grinds of black pepper, and a Tablespoon of cayenne. I'm thinking red pepper flakes for next time)
• one hot chile pepper, minced (optional) (I used habanero, ribs and seeds removed)
• one carrot, chopped fine or one sweet potato or yams, boiled and mashed (optional)(I went with the carrot. I only like sweet potatoes in fries. It's a texture thing)
• one or two tomatoes, chopped or canned tomatoes (optional) (I used a 28 oz can, there's a reason, below)
• one cup natural unsweetened peanut butter (or make your own peanut paste, see the simple peanut soup recipe below) (as I mentioned above, I used the whole 16 oz jar of peanut butter. I poured the oil off, then got the rest out with a rubber scraper)

What you do

• If using homemade peanut paste (snipped because I used the below instructions)
• If using peanut butter: Combine all ingredients except the peanut butter and simmer over medium heat until everything is tender. Reduce heat, add the peanut butter and simmer for a few minutes more. Stir often. Soup should be thick and smooth.

Simplest Peanut Soup (which I'll try next time, though I did add the cream listed here)

The simplest Peanut Soup recipe calls for two parts chicken stock, two parts shelled peanuts, and one part milk or cream. (I ended up adding a bit more) Start by roasting the peanuts in a baking pan in a hot oven, or on the stove in a large skillet, turning often. Remove the skins from the peanuts and mash them with a mortar and pestle, mince them with a knife, crush them with a rolling pin, or use a food-processor. (Or you could use one part peanut butter, preferably natural and unsweetened.) Combine the peanut paste with the chicken stock in a saucepan and simmer for thirty minutes to an hour. Season with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and sugar to taste. Stir in milk before serving.

Like I said, a little vague. I don't know if my deviations mean the soup has lost its African identity. If anyone has experiences in this area they'd like the share, please do.

When I first tasted the soup, it burned my mouth for about fifteen minutes. If you've eaten spicy food with me, you'll know that doesn't happen too often. So, I had to cut the heat a bit.

This meant, first of all, more cream than originally called for. If I'd been thinking, I would have added that last, but dairy was the first thing I thought off. It was still OMG spicy, so I went for some acid that wouldn't curdle the cream and the rest of the tomatoes went in. To cut it even further, I added a teaspoon of honey that has Meyer lemon juice in it. This was much better, though all the heat was now at the end of the mouthful. 

I really wasn't sure what to do about the texture. "Thick and smooth" to me means blending, so out came the immersion blender. 

While I was making the soup, there were chicken breasts in a water bath getting the sous vide treatment. I had originally planned to use a habanero and some acid for a marinade, but with the soup so hot, I just added salt, black pepper, and half a lemon's worth of juice to the chicken and put the breasts in their vacuum bags with a lot of fresh parsley

Once I cooked the soup down, unpacked the chicken, and made the rice, my guinea pig (thanks Scott!) and I made an interesting discovery: The lemony chicken tasted delicious when dipped in the soup. Well, it was more like a sauce, really, and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it needs more protein elements? Chunks of vegetables instead of the minced? This calls for more research and experimentation after I eat the leftovers. 

Regardless, it was delicious and I'm happy to say I've got a ton of leftovers. It could be used for a poaching liquid or I could put it in a vacuum bag for sous vide. 

Question? Comments? Other thoughts? Please let me know!

Quick Tips: Taming Floaty Sous-Vide Bags

So I found my sous-vide bags floating. I was cooking frozen shrimp, you see, and when I got the vacuum tight, the cheap-o bags kept being punctured. We needed to find a way to weigh the bags down, and it being pretty late at night, my options felt a bit limited. Skipping the shrimp was Not an Option.

Oh, and I didn't want to just plonk down random metal pieces because they might leach into the water and I couldn't quite trust the bags to not have punctured. So I just vac-sealed some salt — make a small bag, pour some salt in, and vacuum seal. That worked well enough I made another bag. You can buy some weights from Amazon, or some fancy pie weights from Sur la Table or something, but this was quick, cost me pennies and I didn't even have to put on pants.