When Terence Feury was the executive chef of Fahrenheit, his clients would beg him for this Southern recipe. It turns the humble peanut into an elegant and unusual soup that's so simple to make. The dumplings aren't tricky either - but the soup works well without them.

Serves four to six.

1 yellow onion
2 ribs of celery
1 leek
1 jalapeño pepper
2 cups roasted Virginia peanuts
1/4 pound butter
2 liters chicken stock
4 ounces cream
Salt and white pepper to taste

Dice the vegetables into small pieces. In a six-quart pot, sweat the vegetables in butter until soft but not brown. Add the peanuts and cook for a few minutes. Add the chicken stock and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cream and bring the soup to a boil. Purée the soup and strain through a chinois (fine sieve).

For the dumplings:
6 ounces ground chicken breast
Chopped jalapeño
Chopped scallion
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the chicken meat with all the ingredients, roll into balls with bread crumbs on the outside and deep fry at 375 degrees. Use them to garnish soup.

(Make sure if you're serving this to guests that no-one has an allergy to peanuts.)
 
This recipe first appeared in the NorthWest Current newspaper. Photo Bill Petros/The Current.

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