• Creamy Cashew Carrot Soup

  Filed under Eatable, George's Book, George's Notes, Inn Season Cafe, Recipes
  Feb 12

  There is much to be said and appreciated about a cookbook which is stained with use.  The adventures of the favorite recipes continue from one generation to the next with splotches and smears of ingredients. I have a collection of cookbooks from my family, as well as many others, which have charmed me over the years with their dog-eared pages.

  

  With the computer revolution, things have changed.  A new generation stores many of their books and recipes on their hard-drives, not their shelves.  Tens of thousands of recipes can be found online with the click of a mouse.  I have a Twitter Feed which allows me to share vegan recipes from the world-wide-web with my followers on a daily basis.

  

  Many individual online recipes stand alone, without connection to their cultural background or the inspirations which influenced the chefs who created them.  It is different with an ebook, which is the entire book presented the way the author intended it.  I now offer my cookbook, Vegetarian Traditions, in an Ebook edition allowing me to share the most popular dishes from Inn Season Cafe anywhere in the world.  Some of the available formats are below.

  Vegetarian Traditions Kindle Edition

  Barnes & Noble Nook Edition

  iTunes iBook Edition

  Adobe Digital Editions/Sony Reader

  One of the timeless Inn Season Cafe recipes was Carrot Cashew Soup–still a favorite at the Royal Oak, Michigan cafe.  Warm root-vegetable soups in the winter can be a transcending experience, lifting us into a place of healing comfort.

  

  My earliest memories of carrots are of my father helping me to grasp scraggly green tops jutting out of the ground and pulling them to discover the bright orange tuber.  As a toddler, my father’s assistance was necessary, but I soon perfected the technique and all the carrots were harvested whether ready or not. This didn’t bother him at all; perhaps he sensed the budding of my life-long relationship to vegetables.

  

  Carrots are quite versatile, but often under-rated. They can be eaten raw or juiced for a vitalizing drink. They can be used in salads, soups and desserts, in addition to adding sweetness and substance to a multitude of vegetable dishes. I even use pureed carrots as a base for salad dressings, sauces and in a number of dessert dishes, not the least of which is carrot cake.

  

  Carrot Cashew Soup reveals the venerable carrot as an excellent base for a soup. When mixed with cashews and blended, it becomes a melt-in-your-mouth cream soup. Best of all–it is so easy to prepare!

  

  Carrot Cashew Soup

  Serves 6

  3 cups carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped

  1 teaspoon garlic, minced

  1 cup celery, chopped

  1/2 cup red onions,chopped

  1 bay leaf

  2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

  1 tablespoon dill weed, chopped

  1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

  1/4 teaspoon fresh ground white pepper

  1 tablespoon tamari

  1 teaspoon sea salt

  1/2 cup red bell peppers, chopped

  1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

  1 cup raw cashews

  5 cups water

  1/2 cup parsley leaves, finely chopped

  Preheat oven to 400 F. Mix all ingredients, except water and parsley. Transfer to a large casserole or roasting dish. Cover and bake for one hour. Allow to cool, add 1 cup water and puree in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a soup pot, add remaining 4 cups of water, stir, reheat and simmer for 10 minutes uncovered. Serve hot and top with a sprinkle of chopped parsley in each bowl.

  Recipe from the cookbook: Vegetarian Traditions: Favorite Recipes From My Years At The Legendary Inn Season Cafe

  By George Vutetakis
  1 Comment

One Response to “Creamy Cashew Carrot Soup”

1. Sandie said on February 13th, 2012 at 6:10 am

   George,
   The carrot soup recipe looks really yummy, and easy!
   I always enjoy reading your posts, and I especially like your references to your father, my amazing Uncle Sam!
   ~Sandie

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