This might at first seem an odd choice for a soup, but then again, a lot of folks think chilled soups are odd anyway. Still, in the summer, when even reluctant fancies turn to Spanish gazpacho or French vichyssoise, you should consider this intriguing and delicious combination of flavors. I always think of it as African in origin, but who knows how many places it’s been since there?

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
½ cup smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon celery salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 cups tomato juice

Heat the oil and sauté the onions until softened but not brown, then stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from heat. In a bowl, stir the milk gradually into the peanut butter until the mixture is smooth, then add the celery salt and pepper. Add this slowly to the onion mixture. Return the pan to the heat and simmer, stirring often, until soup thickens. Stir in the tomato juice. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving in a tureen or in individual soup bowls. Serves 6.

I don’t know about you, especially if you don’t hail from the Deep South, by I had an aunt who wasn’t really an aunt. She was actually my father’s fraternity housemother in college. By the time I came along, she had reached “member- of-the-family” status enough to keep me with her at the frat house for days at a time all through childhood. I especially loved homecoming, when the cute coeds wearing corsages called me the “little freshman.” Once I’d grown up a bit, I also especially loved Mimi’s spin on traditional Country Captain, made from boiled or roasted chicken, mayo turned yellow by curry powder and all.
1 roasted chicken (available at Spec’s)
½ cup chicken broth
1 can cream of mushroom soup
½ cup fresh sliced mushrooms
1 teaspoon curry powder
½ cup mayonnaise
Grated cheddar cheese
Unseasoned bread crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Steamed white rice

Cut all the meat off the roast chicken, discarding skin and bones. Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and combine in a casserole with the broth, soup, mushrooms, curry powder and mayonnaise. Cover with the cheese and breadcrumbs, brushing lightly with the butter. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve over steamed rice. Serves 6-8.

The first time my daughter asked me to think about making “dessert hummus,” I thought she was nuts. I make a lot of hummus in my life, from caramelized onion and tomato to black bean and corn to spicy roasted red pepper, but none of it tastes at all like dessert. Turns out, if you can set your preconceptions aside, there is something to this strange idea. This recipe makes a nice dessert with Graham crackers, or an even nicer breakfast.

1 cup pecan pieces

1 can chick peas (garbanzos), drained

4 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

4 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons whole milk

1/3 cup chocolate chips

Graham crackers

Pour about half the pecans into a food processor or blender, then pulse until the nuts are almost powdery. Add the drained chick peas, peanut butter and honey, processing until a smooth, thick mixture forms. Add more honey to taste, along with the vanilla, almond, salt and milk. Blend until incorporated. Adjust milk to your preferred consistency. Transfer to a serving bowl and fold in the remaining pecan pieces and chocolate chips. Serve with Graham crackers for dipping, or spread hummus on the crackers. Serves 6.

Everybody loves Buffalo chicken wings, that great sports-bar feeder invented years ago at the Anchor Bar – in Buffalo, NY, where else? And just about everybody loves those sweet-hot soy-garlic-ginger chicken lettuce wraps served in Chinese restaurants. It required only some evil genius – no, not me this time – to combine the two crowd-pleasing, self-constructed foods for maximum flavor and fun.

1-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

2 pounds ground chicken breast

1 teaspoon lemon pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon Creole seasoning

½ teaspoon celery salt

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper

About 1 cup Buffalo wing hot sauce

1 head iceberg lettuce, turn into full leaves

1 cup crumbled bleu cheese

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and stir in the celery, cooking about 2 minutes. Add the chicken, breaking it into small chunks with the spoon and stirring to cook through. Add a little more oil if necessary for browning. Season while cooking with Creole seasoning, lemon pepper, garlic and onion powders, and crushed red pepper. Pour on the wing sauce and stir to coat chicken evenly. Transfer to a bowl and serve with lettuce leaves and bleu cheese for wrapping at the table. Serves 6-8.

My recipe for peach shortcake was inspired by one I tasted and photographed (not in that order) in a restaurant in Austin, though it definitely grew from there. The restaurant plated this already-wonderful dessert atop raspberry sauce, so I’ll throw that in too. The recipe, by the way, is a favorite from my brand-new ebook, “Peaches: A Celebration of America’s Sweetest Season,” published by Bright Sky Press.

Raspberry Sauce:

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

3/4 cup butter

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

8 to 10 medium peaches

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a blender, combine raspberries, sugar and lemon juice. Puree until smooth, then strain mixture through a fine sieve to remove seeds. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a mixing bowl. Stir in brown sugar; cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. In a small bowl, whisk egg with milk. Add milk and egg mixture to dry mixture; stir with a fork until blended. Turn two round cake pans upside-down and grease bottoms. Spread half the dough on each bottom to within about 1/2-inch of edge. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden. Serve atop raspberry sauce.

Peel, slice and sweeten peaches with about 1 1/2 cups sugar, or to taste. In a small bowl, whip cream with sugar and extract until stiff. Place one shortcake on a plate, top with about half of the peaches and whipped cream. Top with second shortcake and remaining peaches and whipped cream. Serves 6-8.

It’s been many years now since I first tasted the “national dish of Brazil” during a too-quick visit to Rio de Janeiro, overdosing not only on new flavors but on a new language, the Brazilian spin on Portuguese, which always works like Spanish except when it doesn’t. I remember person after person telling me how Mamas used to make this time-consuming wonder for their families – but now, they all offered sadly, Mamas don’t have time and families eat feijoada in hotels on Sundays. My sadness at this fact soon was the equal of theirs - except that at least in Rio, hotels really do serve mighty serious feijoada.

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch chunks

1 pound dried black beans, rinsed

1 pound smoked sausage, such as kielbasa, cut into 1-inch pieces

One 8-ounce smoked ham hock

1 large onion, chopped

2 dried bay leaves

2 cloves garlic

2 cups long-grain white rice

Salt and pepper

1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Pickled jalapeño slices for serving

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook, turning, until browned, about 8 minutes. Add 8 cups water, the beans, sausage, ham hock, 1/2 cup onion, the bay leaves and garlic and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the beans are tender, about 2 hours; add water as needed to keep the beans and meat submerged. During the last 30 minutes of cooking, in a large pot, bring 4 cups water and the rice to a boil. Lower the heat, cover and simmer, undisturbed, until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.

During the last 20 minutes of cooking, in a large skillet, heat the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil over medium heat. Add the remaining onion and cook, stirring, until browned, about 15 minutes. Transfer 1 1/2 cups of the cooked beans to the onions and mash; stir into the stew and cook for 30 minutes longer. Discard the bay leaves and garlic cloves, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with parsley. Serve over the rice and top with the pickled jalapeños and orange slices. Serves 10-12.

Like their brethren elsewhere, Texas cooks sometimes get in a rut. For instance, we love blackeyed peas, and we love grits. Yet we so seldom think of cooking them together. This side dish, inspired by versions encountered years ago in the Bahamas, works especially well when you’re fixing brunch.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

½ green bell pepper, chopped

¼ cup chopped bacon or salt pork

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon thyme

1-2 drops hot pepper sauce

½ pound dried blackeyed peas

4 cups water

2 ½ cups grits

1 teaspoon salt

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, bell pepper and bacon or salt pork, stirring until bacon has started to crisp. Add tomato paste and simmer 5 minutes. Add the thyme and hot sauce. Add the blackeyed peas and water, bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Add the grits and salt, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes. Lower the heat and cover, simmer until most liquid is absorbed, 15-20 minutes. Serves 6-8.

If you were a pilot for Chalk’s International, the late and legendary seaplane airline, and waiting for your scheduled flight from Nassau to Miami or Ft. Lauderdale, what would you have for breakfast? If you were smart, you’d go Bahamian with this favorite island combo – as I watched two Chalk’s pilots do with gusto many years ago.

Johnnycake:

¼ cup butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

2 eggs, beaten

Boil Fish:

2 pounds grouper of other white fish

2 cups water

6 potatoes, quartered

2 onions, quartered

¼ cup butter

1 lime, sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Hot pepper to taste

To make the Johnnycake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugar. In a separate bowl, sift together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt, then add ¼ of that mixture to the creamed butter. Add the rest alternating with milk, stirring. When all is mixed, fold in the eggs. Pour or spoon in a buttered 9X9-inch baking pan and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool. Cut fish into 4 serving sized portions. Bring water to a boil in a saucepan and add all ingredients. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add more water if necessary. Increase heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Spoon fish, potatoes and vegetables over a square of Johnnycake in a large bowl. Serves 4.

We forget sometimes that, since jellies are made by making a solid from a liquid over heat, heat can make them liquid all over again. And that’s the simple science behind turning your favorite Texas jalapeno jelly into the perfect glaze for game hens, hams and a whole lot of other things.

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon pepper

1 tablespoon dried basil

½ tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

6 (1 ½-pound) Cornish game hens, rinsed

2 stalks celery, each cut into 3 pieces

1 onion, sliced

1 orange, cut into 6 wedges

6 jalapeno peppers

1 cup jalapeno jelly

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons brandy

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, stir together salt, lemon pepper, dried basil, garlic powder and onion powder. Rub olive oil on all surfaces of hens, then season with the blend. Fill the cavity of each with a piece of celery, slice of onion, an orange wedge and a jalapeno. Place on baking sheet with plenty of room in between. Roast in the preheated oven until the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees on a meat thermometer, about 1 hour. While the hens are cooking, transfer the jelly to a saucepan with the butter and brandy. Heat slowly until jelly has liquified. Brush hens with warm glaze during the final 15 minutes of cooking. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and loosely tent with aluminum foil. Let rest 10 minutes before serving. Serves 6.

I have to thank Texas chefs (and bacon!) for teaching me to love Brussels sprouts. That’s the way they invariably made these pint-sized cabbages, till one day I realized they tasted like nothing but bacon – and that I really, finally, loved the taste of Brussels sprouts. I haven’t cooked them with bacon since.

1 pound Brussels sprouts

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

Creole seasoning

Slice the Brussels sprouts in half and partially cook in salted boiling water until crisp-tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. Heat the oil and butter together in a saucepan and add dry Brussels sprout halves, letting them brown on one side before turning with a spatula or tongs. Cook until golden flecked with brown. Season to taste with Creole seasoning. Serves 4.