Roasted Hazelnut Sauce with Scattered Mushrooms and Hazelnut Pieces

The Daring Cooks July challenge was to use nut butters in a savory recipe, sponsored by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. As of a week ago, there were already so many amazing dishes posted (many Asian themed) that I knew I couldn’t compete with them.The most impressive was a dish posted by Australian food blogger Audax Artifex: Crisp Waterchestnut Sardines Stuffed with pinenut and macadamia nut butter, served with Green Thai cashew butter AND with homemade seaweed noodles. Incredible! So, I decided to stay away from competing in Asian flavors and use nut butters in a Mediterranean sauce and an African style soup.

First, I made a roasted hazelnut cream sauce for pasta (seen above on cheese ravioli). I thought the earthiness of mushrooms went well with hazelnuts, so I blended half of the mushrooms into the sauce and scattered the rest on top. The sauce was deep and rich and savory. There really is nothing like the taste of roasted hazelnuts, is there?

A Kelly Family Favorite: African Peanut Soup

Then, I reworked a family favorite of ours: African Peanut Soup. This is a hearty, rich vegetarian soup that fills you up with just a small bowlful. I made my own peanut butter for this, and was amazed at how intense the flavor was compared to store-bought peanut butters. I just roasted the peanuts first then whirled then with some EVOO and sea salt.

Thanks, Daring Cooks Margie and Natashya for a fabulous challenge!

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