You are going to love this Spring -Perfect soup!

Decadence without cream.  That was the challenge today in assembiling a pea soup made here with frozen peas- since I know they are far easier for you to find- that is chilled and perfect for Spring and Summer.  Rich enough to be a meal, this soup traditionally has the distinct ingredient I can not eat- heavy cream-  as a major component.

Can you substitiute cream made from soaked cashews and have the same results?

Yes.  And today’s very simple soup is all about that, along with the sunshining freshness of peas!

First of all, on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet- and I believe Paleo as well- the use of canned stock and broth is prohibited.

Before I make this, I put a few carrots, a few celery stalks, and veggies that I will need to toss soon from the fridge (peppers, shallots, whatever is there) and an onion into a big pot and simmer it with a healthy few pinches of sea salt and black pepper for a few hours.  That’s a very quick veggie broth.  We can get far more elaborate, but for the sake of making this dish, this is fantastic.

If you have no restrictions on your diet, feel free to use a quality store-bought organic broth.

The rest of this dish is disarmingly simple. I suggest soaking the cashews for a few hours, so if you make your veggie broth you may want to soak the raw cashews at the same time.

Chilled Pea Soup

1 big leek, chopped

2+ tbs of grass fed butter

a 1 lb bag (pretty standard size)  bag of shelled fresh organic frozen peas (Or  about 3 cups of shelled fresh English Peas)

3 cups of veggie broth

Mint for garnish- and stir some in fresh, too!

salt and pepper to taste

+ Cashew Cream (how-to below!)

To make the soup:

Chop up the leek into fine circles (chop along it into thin pieces) and sautee in a big soup pot in the butter (substitute oil if you want to make this vegan).  Move it aroud in the pot for a few minutes until it gets softer and more clear looking. Then add in peas frozen (I literarlly toss straight from the freezer), 3 cups of broth (give or take) and let that simmer for about 20 minutes.  Check on it.  Add a bit of salt to taste.  Let it simmer until peas are cooked.  I let mine go for 30 mins. You can do about 20 mins or so with fresh peas.   Let this cool off of the hot burner.  Blend it up in a blender (or with an immersion blender).   Put it in the refrigerator for a bit to chill.  Add the cashew cream to each bowl to taste (I do a very heaping tablespoon or so and stir it up… and garnish with fresh mint!

Cashew Cream 

Soak 2 cups of cashew pieces for several hours (not longer than overnight or they will sprout!)

Water (see below for how-to)

Pinch of sea salt

Drain the water from them and put them in a food processor, a high speed blender… or a regular blender.  Blend for at least a minute high speed, adding just a bit of water (the smallest about you need to blend) and a bit more as you go to get the consistency of heavy cream. Add water very gradually. *Note: this is tough in a non-high speed blender at times so pause, scrape down sides and then resume blending often and see how you do!  Strain through a fine sieve if you use a traditional blender so if you want to get the cashew pieces out that have not blended.

Store this for a few days… you can stir a few spoons full into each bowl of soup as you serve it for maximum yum factor.

You can also add the cashew cream to fresh fruit, salad dressings and just about anything you like to be creamy.  I’ll likely do another fun sweet treat with this batch to inspire you to put it to good use!

Enjoy! xoxo Dana

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