Cream of Cashew Pea Soup

From the kitchen of Carly

Creamy cashews melt into caramelized onions and bright peas for a soup that's rich without cream. Malt vinegar adds welcome tang, while red pepper flakes provide gentle heat. Silky, satisfying, and surprisingly light.

Prep
n/a
Cook
n/a
Total
n/a
Servings
4
Difficulty
medium

Ingredients

4 servings

  • 11/4 cup olive oil
  • 12 large onions, finely chopped
  • 12 celery stalks, chopped
  • 14 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
  • 12 cups raw cashews
  • 12 tablespoons raw or light brown sugar
  • 11 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 12 pounds frozen sugar snap or green peas, thawed
  • 11 tablespoon malt vinegar
  • 1Thinly sliced scallions and crushed potato chips (for serving)

Instructions

  1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-low. Add onions, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring often and adding a splash or so of water if the bottom of pan gets too brown, until golden brown, 30–40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add cashews, sugar, red pepper flakes, and 3 cups water and bring mixture to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are very soft and losing their structure, 10–15 minutes.

  2. Blend one-third of sugar snap peas with one-third of vegetable mixture in a blender, adding some cooking liquid from vegetable mixture as needed to thin, until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Press purée through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium saucepan; discard solids. Working in 2 batches, repeat with remaining peas and vegetable mixture, adding water as needed if you run out of cooking liquid. If soup is still very thick, thin with water until you get a velvety, pourable consistency. (You should have about 7 cups soup.)

  3. Stir vinegar into soup; season with more salt and pepper and warm over medium-low until heated through.

  4. Serve soup topped with scallions and potato chips.

  5. Soup can be made 2 days ahead. Let cool; cover and chill. Reheat over medium-low, thinning with water as needed until pourable.