In our house, peanut butter is a mainstay, and it’s been decades since we bought peanut butter that contains added sugar or oils. That means we have to give it a good stir when we first open it, but it’s just a habit you get into. We prefer our peanut butter completely natural: just peanuts and salt, all ground up together.
Personally, I only eat crunchy, too, and our favourite for decades, has been Adams Peanut Butter because it tastes like peanuts.
A quick breakfast in our household has always been toast and peanut butter with a glass of milk, but I also have a number of favourite recipes in which peanut butter plays an important role—other than that old favourite, peanut butter cookies.
Since peanut butter or peanuts and chocolate are terrific together, there are a number of dessert recipes where it stars, but I’ve also used it in salad dressings and sauces for both fish and meat.
It’s one of those things I’d have to have if I was stranded on a desert island.
So, when the people from Adams sent me some new recipes to try using peanut butter, I was all over it. They report that a recent poll showed that 72 per cent of Canadians like peanut butter best spread on toast or crackers, while 52 per cent of Western Canadians eat it for breakfast.
I’ve also take one of my favourite recipes using peanut butter out of my book, Jude’s Kitchen, to share with you. The book is available locally at Mosaic Books, Chapters, the B.C. Wine Museum, Calona Wines annd Quails’ Gate Vineyards, and it features wine pairings by renowned wine writer John Schreiner. I hope you enjoy it.
Indonesian Satay with Peanut Sauce
You can use it with beef, chicken or pork.
Meat Satay Marinade:
1 lb. (.5 kg) meat
1 tbsp. (15 ml) honey
2 tsp. (10 ml) soy sauce
2 tsp. (10 ml) cornstarch
2 tsp. (10 ml) minced ginger
Slice lean meat such as boned chicken breast or thighs; steak; or pork loin into strips just a few inches long, a half-inch wide, and a quarter-inch thick.
Combine marinade ingredients and stir well, then add meat and mix together thoroughly so meat slices are all coated with marinade. If there doesn’t seem to be enough, add a spoonful or so more soy sauce.
Marinate for just an hour or overnight, before threading onto skewers.
Grill on a hot barbecue a few minutes on each side, turning to cook all four sides. Don’t overcook them until they dry out.
Greasing the skewers lightly first will reduce the chance of the meat sticking to them. If using wooden skewers be sure to soak them in water first.
Serves 4-6.
Curry Peanut Sauce:
1 onion
1 garlic clove
1 tsp. (5 ml) butter
1 tsp. (5 ml) curry powder
3/4 c. (175 ml) crunchy peanut butter
1 tbsp. (15 ml) soy sauce
1 tsp. (5 ml) brown sugar
1 1/2 c. (375 ml) water
Chop onion finely and mince garlic clove.
Melt butter in a small pot and add the onions and garlic, sauteing over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent.
Add curry powder and stir well, adding crunchy peanut butter, soy sauce and brown sugar and combining well.
Add water and bring the whole mixture to bubbling. Simmer for 10 minutes or so.
Serve alongside the skewers as a dip.
Re-heats well.
Pear & Spring Mix Salad with Peanut Dressing
This recipe from the Adams Natural Peanut Butter people is yummy, but don’t hesitate to use chunky peanut butter, like I did, instead of creamy.
Seasoned rice vinegar just has a little sugar and salt in it, so you’re fine to substitute plain.
I only used half the sesame oil. Use it to your own taste. I think you could substitute apple for the pear, if you like, depending on what’s available locally.
Dressing:
1/3 c. (75 ml) creamy peanut butter
1/4 c. (60 ml) seasoned rice vinegar
2 tbsp. (30 ml) sesame oil
2 tbsp. (30 ml) water
1 1/2 tbsp. (22 ml) sugar
2 tsp. (10 ml) Asian chili garlic paste
1 tsp. (5 ml) fresh ginger, grated
Salad:
5 oz. (140 ml) spring mix salad greens
2 medium-sized, ripe pears
2 medium-sized green onions
1/4 c. (60 ml) crumbled feta cheese
1 medium-sized carrot
2 radishes
1/4 c. (60 ml) toasted walnuts
Combine all dressing ingredients until smooth.
Toss cleaned and dried salad greens into a serving bowl.
Peel and slice the pears into matchsticks; thinly slice the green onions; crumble the feta, shred the carrot and thinly slice the radishes into the greens. Add the walnuts.
Drizzle with dressing and toss just before serving.
Serves 4.
