Broccoli Cheddar Chowder with Peanuts

With peanuts and crushed red pepper, this broccoli cheddar chowder with peanuts is delightful.  It's the first dish I think of making when I bring home fresh broccoli.

Broccoli cheddar chowder with peanuts is a light full-meal deal.

First, clean your broccoli.  Of course, you can use a bag of frozen broccoli, but veggies lose 20 percent of their vitamins in freezing.  I soak in salt water for at least ten minutes any fresh veggie in the cabbage family.  You can make several stalks stand up in a large bowl so that the florets are totally submerged.

A salt water soak removes pests that can hide in cabbage-family plants.

Next, saute a medium onion in 3 tblsp. canola oil.  When the onion is a little transparent, stir in 3 tblsp. flour to make your roux.  Cook that until it gets a light caramel color--about 10-15 minutes at low temperature.

Back to the broccoli.  Rinse each floret as you tear it off the stalk.  You can then peel the stalks with a potato peeler or knife and cut off the lower inch or more of each stalk.  I then slice the stalks and even remove the smaller stalks attached to the florets.  All stalks get cooked 5 mins. before the florets go into the water.  You need to bring 1/2 c. of water to a boil and add a chicken bouillion cube, stir, add stalks, wait 5 mins., add florets, cook another 5-10 minutes or until broccoli is done.

Back  to the roux.  Remove skillet from stove while you slowly add 1 c. milk while stirring well.  Add 2 more cups of milk (a total of 3 c.), return skillet to burner, and cook and stir occasionally, scraping sides and bottom of skillet until white sauce thickens.

While your white sauce is thickening,  grind peanuts for at least 1/4 c.  If you don't have a grinder, you can mash them on a plate, but see how finely my grinder does the job.

I use my grinder for orange and lemon rind and all nuts.

I can grind those peanuts to a paste so that they get distributed throughout my broccoli-cheddar chowder with peanuts and flavor it nicely.  The peanuts become part of the sauce, instead of chunks in it.  You'll see how important the creamy, oily paste is when we make my three different ethnic banana cakes.  Stay tuned.

When your sauce is thick, add the crushed or ground peanuts, 1/8 tsp. of crushed red pepper, a dash of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste.  Now add your already cooked broccoli undrained and 1 c. shredded cheddar, and heat through.  I like sharp cheddar.  Sometimes I use pepper jack instead of cheddar.  (Instead of broccoli-cheddar chowder, we could call it broccoli-jack chowder.)

Don't forget the crackers!  Who doesn't like crackers with cheese?  Broccoli cheddar chowder with peanuts will become your favorite all-American soup.  It's the best thing since canned beer.  Wait, I'm getting an idea!