vegan cashew asparagus soup

Every once in awhile on the subway there are adds for the Boston Vegetarian Society and they usually include a good sounding recipe but I've never tried any of them. Today it is raining so it seemed like a good day for soup and I remembered that I'd seen a recipe for Cashew Cream Asparagus Soup by Tal Ronnen. I have asparagus and cashews so I figured I'd try it out with a few adjustments based on what I had on hand.

First - Cashew Cream 

soak 2 cups of cashews in water with a cover in the fridge over night 

the next day, drain and rinse the cashews, I put them in the food processor, just covered by water and blended until smooth 

The Soup 

olive oil

bunch asparagus

2 stalks celery

fennel heart (because I had it on hand)

onion

green goddess seasoning from Penzeys 

black pepper

4 cups water

bay leaf

1 cup cashew cream

2 cups fresh greens - spinach and arugula

salt

put oil in the pot and let it heat but not smoke

add the asparagus, celery, fennel, onion and seasoning and cook for about ten minutes

add four cups of water and a bay leaf and let simmer for half an hour

remove the bay leaves add one cup cashew cream and let simmer for another ten minutes

remove from heat and add fresh greens - I had some spinach and arugula in the garden that needed to be harvested so I used those and blended it all with an immersion blender

add salt to taste