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By Root 986 0

boll weevil had killed King Cotton, farms lay fallow, and down-and-out southern farmers were desperate. The peanut was their salvation. And George Washington Carver of Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute was their savior. He devoted his life to proving the value and versatility of this lowly legume. For despite common belief, the peanut is more pea than nut.

Today, four types of peanuts are grown: Runners (54 percent of them are churned into peanut butter)…Virginias (plump and sweet, the roaster’s choice)…Spanish (small “snacking” nuts also commonly used in candy)…and Valencias (little redskins roasted in the shell).

Peanut trivia abounds: Two presidents grew peanuts (Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter, who still owns a Georgia peanut farm); astronaut Alan Shepard carried a peanut to the moon; and a good schmear of peanut butter on the lips of Mr. Ed is what kept everybody’s favorite TV horse talking back in the 1960s.

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LIGHTLY CURRIED PEANUT BISQUE

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

Completely different from the peanut soup that precedes, this one is the creation of Lisa Ruffin Harrison, a gifted home cook whom I interviewed back in the 1980s for a Bon Appétit article on James River plantations. I photographed at Evelynton, where Lisa grew up. “This soup is a kind of African variation on the Virginia original,” Lisa says. “It should have a blend of spicy ethnic flavors and I prefer it with a good dose of cayenne,” she adds, explaining that she loves to update old southern recipes. “The walnuts take the candy-bar sweetness out of the peanuts.” So do pecans, which Lisa says she now prefers to walnuts.

3 tablespoons butter

2 medium celery ribs, trimmed and coarsely chopped

1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon curry powder

½ teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon ground coriander

1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/8 teaspoon ground hot red pepper (cayenne)

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

¾ cup firmly packed chunky or creamy peanut butter

5 cups rich chicken stock or broth

½ cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts

½ cup heavy cream

½ teaspoon salt, or to taste

Garnishes

½ teaspoon sweet paprika

¼ cup coarsely chopped roasted unsalted peanuts

2 tablespoons finely snipped fresh chives

6 tablespoons mango chutney (optional)

1. Melt the butter in a large, heavy saucepan over moderate heat. Add the celery and onion and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes or until limp and golden. Blend in the curry powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, and black pepper, then cook and stir 1 minute more.

2. Add the peanut butter, then gradually mix in the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, adjust the heat so the soup bubbles gently, and simmer uncovered, stirring now and then, for 20 minutes or until the flavors “marry.” Add the pecans and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes more. Remove the soup from the heat and cool for 10 minutes.

3. Purée the soup by churning in batches in the food processor or in an electric blender at high speed. It will still be lumpy. Note: For a silky soup, force through a fine sieve.

4. Return the soup to the pan, add the cream and salt, set over moderate heat, and bring to a simmer. Taste for salt and adjust as needed. Or, if you prefer, refrigerate the soup for up to two days. When ready to serve, reheat the soup or serve cold.

5. Ladle into heated (or chilled) soup plates, and sprinkle each portion with paprika, peanuts, and chives. Then, if you like, top with the mango chutney.

ROYAL SWEET POTATO SOUP

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

“Royal” doesn’t refer to “royalty” but to Alabama-born Walter Royal, one of the South’s most dedicated chefs. Barely out of graduate school, Royal headed to North Carolina’s Fearrington House near Chapel Hill to work with his idol, Edna Lewis. He later became sous chef at Ben and Karen Barker’s Magnolia Grill in Durham, and he is now executive chef at the Angus Barn, an immensely popular restaurant near Raleigh. Royal likes to improvise with what the South grows best, in this case sweet potatoes. For the North Carolina SweetPotato Commission, he created a soup