American Foie Gras

THAT'S WHAT A French friend of our calls it. I'm talking about Peanut Butter.

We eat a lot of peanut butter in this family and when we first arrived it didn't take long to realize that the French don't share our love of brurre de cachuete. In this part of France it is possible to find peanut butter in local stores and big supermarkets, but the price is quite high. A small jar can set you back nearly 5 Euros. For the first couple of months we relied on friends and family to send us large jars Skippy in the mail (or in their suitcases when they visited) and bit the bullet when we ran out and bought the small jars from our local stores. But several months ago Kerri finally suggested that we just try to make some ourselves. How hard could it be.

Julia, our 9 year old daughter, decided she wanted to be the one to try to make the first batch. We went to the store and purchased several bags of peanuts and some vegetable oil. Julia and Kerri then whizzed-up the peanuts and oil in a small blender until it was a nice peanut buttery consistency. The first couple of batches were good, not great. But after Julia perfected her recipe we are now at the point where we prefer our homemade peanut butter to anything you can buy in the store. ulia usually makes at least one batch every week. And considering how cheap we can get peanuts, it's a financial positive as well -- you can make enough to fill one of those small jars for about €1.50.

Give it a shot -- here's our recipe (you should even try this if you live in the US -- it's better and healthier than what you buy in the stores!)

• 500g peanuts (salted)
• 6-8 T oil (this is really up to you -- more or less depending on how you like it)
• pinch of brown sugar (optional -- you could also use another sweetener)

That's it. Start by blending the peanuts; then add the oil in small amounts until you have the creaminess you desire. If you like crunch peanut butter begin adding the oil before the peanuts are too blended. Since the peanuts are salted, there is no reason to add more salt.

We've been making our own 'American foie gras' for about 6 months now. I don't know why I haven't mentioned it before.

CJS