Yellow Split Pea Corn Chowder with Kale

Yellow Split Pea Corn Chowder with Kale

adapted from Love and Lemons

This wonderful summer soup comes together very quickly and is a great way to introduce kale to a skeptic! It can be pureed as much as you like, I prefer about half blended but still able to taste the individual ingredients. The cooked kale is added in after it is blended, but if you prefer, you could add in any cooked or roasted veggie or green.*

Serves 5

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup diced yellow onion

2 stalks celery, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

6 cups vegetable stock

1 cup yellow split peas, rinsed

1 medium baking potato rinsed and chopped into bite size pieces

kernels from 4 ears of fresh corn

¾ tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

¾ cup cashew cream (recipe below will make more than enough)

2 cups cooked kale *

Cashew Cream 

¾ cup raw cashews (soaked for 2 hours unless you have a high speed blender)

2/3 cup water

¼ tsp salt

In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and a few shakes of salt and pepper and saute until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic to the pot and cook for one more minute stirring constantly to avoid burning the garlic. Stir in the broth, peas, potato, corn, paprika, additional salt and pepper, and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for about 60 minutes or until the peas and corn are tender. 

While the soup is simmering make the cashew cream:

Combine the cashews (drained if you soaked them), fresh water, and salt in a blender on high speed until creamy and smooth. Set aside ¾ cup for this recipe. (Save the extra cashew cream to make a homemade salad dressing by adding some fresh lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper)

When the soup is finished simmering, partially puree it by using an immersion blender. (If you do not have an immersion blender. Take about half of the soup and use a blender to make it smooth, then pour it back in to the pot with the remaining soup. Be careful not to fill the blender more than half way with hot soup because it will expand.) Stir in the reserved cashew cream and cooked kale. Adjust with salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy!

* Instead of the just kale I have also sauteed a bag of Trader Joes' Cruciferous Crunch and added to the soup in the end. This is a wonderful mix of kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, green and red cabbage that works wonderfully in this soup and is an easy way to bump up the nutritional value.