I tried (I really did) to find the contributor of this interesting soup, but I could not. The recipe is from the Texas Peanut Producers Board by way of the “Taste and Tales from Texas” cookbook. Because our state also produces a lot of peanuts, especially in the lower part — and this is a good recipe — I am sharing it with you.
Everybody likes soup. It can be the first course of a meal — or, if it is a hearty soup served with corn sticks, cornbread, a roll or whatever, it can be the whole meal. If you want to add a dessert, that will be all right also.
Many soups can be started in the morning if you have a job away from home, then finished in the evening. If you’re at home all day or on Saturday (Sunday morning, you will be at church), make a big pot of soup.
Most cooks make vegetable, chicken or beef soup, but peanut? Try this one for your next Sunday Dinner, then thank the Texas peanut growers, who described it as “delicious.” (I don’t know where the “colonial” part is from.)
Colonial Peanut Soup
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons roasted peanuts (chopped) for garnish
Melt butter in saucepan over low heat; add onion and celery. Sauté until tender. Add flour and mix until well blended.
Stir in chicken broth and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and strain broth.
Stir peanut butter, salt and lemon juice into strained broth until smooth.
Serve in mugs garnished with 1 teaspoon of chopped peanuts.
From the Editor:
It is our unhappy task to announce that Juanita Garrison, after nearly 15 years of dispensing wit and farm-fresh wisdom along with hundreds of recipes for delicious meals, has decided it’s time to retire from writing her “Sunday Dinner” column.
Some of the recipes came from Juanita’s own kitchen, but many also came from you, our faithful readers, who sent them in. You enriched your recipes with warm memories of how those favorite dishes came into your homes. Thank you for your contributions. Juanita tells us that talking with her “recipe donors” over the years has been one of the great joys of writing her column.
Many of the recipes from “Sunday Dinner” are preserved in a book, “Sunday Best,” which you can find at CourierPublishing.com. You may also continue to browse several years’ worth of “Sunday Dinner” columns at our website, BaptistCourier.com, by clicking on the “Opinion” tab and then clicking on “Recipes.”
In addition to recipes, Juanita often used this space to talk about the importance of being a good host. She once wrote: “The things your guests will remember will be your hospitality, the good food (whatever it is and however it is served), and your friendship and love — not if the curtains have been recently laundered. Be generous and hospitable. The Bible says so.”
Thank you for your generosity and hospitality, Juanita. You will be missed.