The Good Earth Peanut Company

Recipe #18 Contest Winner

Peanut Salad Cream

1/2 cup raw Virginia peanuts

3/4 cup peanut butter (any kind you trust is just fine: creamy, chunky, processed, or natural -- it's all good!)

6 T lime juice

4T rice vinegar (plain, not the flavored varieties)

3 T. soy sauce

2 T sesame oil

2 t hoysin sauce (in a pinch, use apricot preserves instead)

4 gloves of fresh garlic

2 green onions (scallions)

1/2 to 1 whole, small serrano or jalapeno pepper (more or less to taste)

an inch of fresh ginger, peeled (more or less to taste)

1. Toast the peanuts in a 350-degree oven for about 4 minutes. Take care not to burn them! When cooled, chop 'em up.
2. Toss everything else into a blender, and blend 'til thoroughly mixed and creamy.
3. Add chopped Virginia peanuts.
4. Use on green salads, chilled pasta salads, warm noodles, steamed veggies -- even as a sammich spread.
5. Makes about a pint.

I suspect this would stay fresh for a couple-few weeks in the refrigerator. I wouldn't know; in my house, I'm making this stuff all the time!

Ann Elise Wort

The Judges

Daniel Rogov

Daniel has been writing about food and wine for more years than he will admit in public. For the last twenty years he has been the Wine and Restaurant Critic for the Israeli Daily, Ha'Aretz. Rogov also contributes regularly on dining and wine to several European newspapers and magazines; and is an advisor to Hugh Johnson's "Pocket Wine Encyclopaedia" and contributes to Tom Stevenson’s “Wine Report”. His own book “Rogov’s Guide to Israeli Wines has just been published by Toby press and can be ordered through Amazon or Barnes and Nobles. He also maintains Rogov's Ramblings, an internet site devoted to wine, gastronomy and travel.

Jenise Stone

Jenise is a an avid foodie and accomplished cook from Los Angeles who contributes to the Food Lovers Discussion Group, an internet bulletin board devoted to food chat, recipe sharing and friendship.

Robin Garr

Robin Garr has been involved in wine appreciation online since the mid-1980s, serving as a manager of CompuServe's Wine Forum for nearly a decade before the evolution of the World Wide Web. He created the Wine Lovers' Page in 1994 as one of the first independent wine-education Websites, and has presided over its growth as the largest, most popular and most highly awarded wine destination on the Internet. He began its Wine Lovers' Discussion Group, the first Web-based interactive community for the intelligent and civil discussion of wine online, in 1996; and he launched his popular E-mail newsletter, The 30 Second Wine Advisor, at the start of 1999.