Creamy Carrot Orange Soup with Cashews

I often think of this delicious soup on fall days.  When the weather is cooler and we have an abundance of fresh carrots. I first tried this soup many years ago.  The original recipe is from an old favourite cookbook, “The Silver Palate”.  This was a very popular cookbook  in the 1980’s, written by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins from a popular Manhattan food shop.  In the book, this soup is a starter, a simple soup with onions, carrots and orange juice.  From the first time I made,  I just loved it, along with the many excellent recipes in the book.

Orange and carrot is an elegant combination.  The orange adds so much to this soup.  It brightens the flavours and adds such a lovely fresh citrus taste that is superb with carrots. I used sweet mandarin oranges  but if you have only navel oranges available that should be fine.  Adding in cashews gives the soup a marvelous creamy texture and makes it silky smooth.  The cashews also add protein and healthy fat which balances the soup to make it a complete meal.

We have officially made Monday soup night in our house.  We have such a busy schedule on Mondays and we need to have an easy dinner that is healthy and satisfying before everyone heads out the door again.  With cooler autumn weather a warm hearty soup for dinner is ideal. Do you have busy days like this?  How do you manage your meals?

Soups is the theme for the Autumn collaboration with a group of terrific Canadian Food Bloggers.  Thank you to Diane from 365 Days of Healthy Recipes for putting it together this month.  If you need more soups in your weekly autumn menus check out all the delicious soups at the bottom of this post.

Creamy Carrot Orange Soup with Cashews

Serves 4-6

3/4 cup cashews

1 liter vegetable stock plus extra for thinning the soup if needed

2 medium onions, diced, about 2 cups

2 tablespoons oil

2 lbs carrots, trimmed and chopped

zest from 2-3 mandarin oranges

4 mandarin oranges, peeled and quartered, with seeds removed

salt

black pepper

Directions:

Soak cashews in water for about 1 hour.  Drain, rinse and blend with approx 1 cup of vegetable stock.  Blend until smooth and “cream” like.

Heat oil in large saucepan on medium heat.  Add onions and turn heat down to low.  Cover with lid and let cook until very soft and lightly golden brown, about 20 minutes.  Add carrots and 3 cups of stock.  Cook until very tender, about 30 to 40 minutes.  In a blender or food processor blend the soup until very smooth.  Add mandarin oranges and blend.  Add blended cashew “cream” and blend again.  Return to pot and heat, adding fresh ground black pepper and salt to taste. Serve with bread or Super Seed Crackers.

This soup freezes well.  Simply defrost, reheat and serve.  It also makes a good packed lunch in a thermos for school or work.

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