Sunday, August 23, 2009

To Quote General McAuliffe, "NUTS!" Let The Culinary Throwdown Begin

It's time children for the next installment of Chef Troll's Culinary Throwdown!

The secret ingredient? PEANUTS!
The rules?
  • Create a dish that utilizes peanuts as an essential ingredient.
  • Create 3 such dishes, one entree, one desert, and one of your choice for consideration as the GRAND PRIZE CHEFMEISTER!
  • Post your creations and send an "I'm Up" comment here so everyone can go sample your dishes.

My personal peanut project is a random mix, not 3 courses meant to complement each other.

Let's start with desert ... a little dish I call, "School Teacher Hasn't Had A Paycheck Since June 12th Bananutty Surprise".




Here it is.
In the picture above, working from the plate up, we have a banana pancake and a scoop of Blue Bell Peaches and Cream ice cream, all topped off with a maple/peanut sauce.


The sauce consists of a little dark pure maple syrup from the frozen north combined with Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter. Zap it in the microwave to warm the ingredients and stir to mix.

A simple desert (or a bodacious breakfast) made with cheap, everyday stuff.


My entree continues the simple is good and affordable at the end of the summer theme.
What's in the bowl?
Well, rice of course. Complementing the rice is a straightforward, nofrufru stirfry of peanuts, chicken, red cabbage, garlic, green onion, and bell pepper.
The sauce coating it is a mix of teriyaki sauce, vinegar, wine, tabasco sauce, Black Widow Sauce (HOT!), and some cornstarch for thickening to a nice glaze.

It was deliciously simple, spicy, and good for ya' too. I love the way red cabbage holds up to the hot wok and retains a firm texture.


For my "your choice" entry, I give you Ada Marie's home made peanut brittle, produced on her granite countertop in her beautiful cypress log home. This brittle is thin and ... well, brittle, like peanut brittle should be. The peanuts are the star, not the sugar and you don't bust a tooth when you eat it.
It's amazing.
Full disclosure ... Ada Marie made this not me. That may not be allowed, so just to be safe, I include this one final dish. A dish I posted about back in 2005 and one I searched through my 1800 + posts to find for you.
This amazing, perfect, culinary combination of complementary flavors and textures ...
This southern tradition ...
This connection to my childhood ...
This snack, supper, lunch, breakfast, desert meal...
This pick me up, toss me back into the fray, fortitudinal food ...

THIS.

15 comments:

h said...

I'm UP. Will be back later to "judge" and see the other cheftestants. But your last dish brought back memories and is tempting to have my first Coke in 5 years!

threecollie said...

I love all things peanut and everything you made would get my hands down vote for number 1!
Alas, the boss can't eat them

Mockingbird said...

All excellent peanut recipes!
My first "Georgia Cocktail", Augusta, GA,Aug. 23, 1960!

When was yours?

Unknown said...

OMG!!They all sound delish!!!

Heff said...

I'm UP. That stirfry looks incredible. We'll have to try that dish !

moi said...

When I was a kid I used to drink Coke with peanuts all the time. And I grew up in a small, northern New Mexico town. Very interesting!

That peanut brittle looks perfect. I'm a fan of thin, not thick. What's the chance of Ada Marie coughing up her recipe?

Aunty Belle said...

Heh--these look delish! Wanna try yore stir fry.

I'se up! (finally)

cinbad122 said...

You are too funny.

LaDivaCucina said...

MMmmmmmm..that pancake looks insane!!! Maple syrup AND peanuts, yaay!

That brittle looks excellent too, yes, please see if you can coax the recipe out of Ada Marie!

I did a similar dish to your stir fry!

I'm up!

LaDivaCucina said...

Oh yeah that coke peanut thang? Never heard of it but I'm a Yankee!

h said...

That stir-fry sounds delicious and BONUS POINTS for knowing that stir-fry should NOT have a bunch of fru-fru stuff in it. And mega-points for Ada Marie for being one of the few people on Earth who make peanut brittle properly. It should NOT make you go into a sugar-coma, and it should NOT shatter teeth!

R.Powers said...

Troll,
Great stuff found under the bridge! The grits eggroll was genius. Go have a coke! 5 years?

3C,
I would really hate to not be able to eat peanuts. Poor guy.

Mockinbird,
How can you remember so exactly? LOL! I was only 2 when you were enjoying that cocktail.

Chris and Jon,
They were and the other contestants have some great dishes too!

Heff and Donna,
Superior as usual buddy. Your dishes are amazing.

Moi,
Me too, thin not thick. I'll check with Ada Marie.

Aunty,
Went by and those Atomic Nuts sound delicious with a cold beer nearby. Great job!

Cindy,
... you are referencing my final dish aren't ya big city girl!
LOL!

LaDiva,
Wow! Loved your authentic dishes! Wanting a tinroof sunday right now!

Troll,
Thanks! And Ada Marie does have the right touch when it comes to pulling brittle into thin, heavily laden with nuts, peanut brittle.
This was a fun culinary throwdown Troll, appreciate the chance to pick a topic and host your baby.
We await your judgement!

Kimberlee said...

Love the way you walk that delicate line between cutting edge and homespun tradition. It takes real talent to pull it off and you do it again and again!

cinbad122 said...

Yes I was and I still haven't tried it!

amarkonmywall said...

A revival of the peanuts and Coke! The chicken entree looks so good I'm making notes for my desktop recipe file. The brittle looks like perfection and reminds me that my father used to make peanut brittle, along with lots of other homemade candies- divinity, taffy and so on. For some reason I'm not drawn to the peanut butter/maple syrup sauce. They seem like two wonderful ingredients separately and not so great together. But then, I've never been a PB&J gal either.
Now that I've worked my way back, let me add that I wish you a great school year!