CREAM OF CASHEW PEA SOUP

Cream of Cashew Pea Soup image

Provided by Brooks Headley

Yield Serves 6

Number Of Ingredients 11

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

Steps:

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.
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.)
Stir vinegar into soup; season with more salt and pepper and warm over medium-low until heated through.
Serve soup topped with scallions and potato chips.
Do Ahead
Soup can be made 2 days ahead. Let cool; cover and chill. Reheat over medium-low, thinning with water as needed until pourable.