Creamy Roasted Asparagus Soup with Potatoes, White Beans, and Spinach

This soup is wonderful for a casual Sunday dinner or simply prepared for a busy week ahead. Rich and thick with beans and potatoes, it’s deliciously satisfying without being a bit heavy.

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

2 pounds fresh asparagus, rinsed and trimmed
1 large onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 14-ounce can salt-free navy or other white beans, drained and rinsed
1¾ pounds unpeeled red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed clean, trimmed, and divided (1 pound diced in ½-inch cubes, and ¾ pound left whole)
6 cups vegetable broth
½ teaspoon black pepper
Dash of salt-free Cajun or Creole seasoning
2 cups fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped
¼ cup raw cashews

Oven

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Place asparagus spears on a nonstick roasting pan or baking sheet. Sprinkle with seasonings. Roast uncovered for 10 minutes or until just tender-crisp.
Remove from oven. When cool enough to handle, carefully cut spears into 1”-long pieces.

Electric Pressure Cooker

Into a large electric pressure cooker, add onions, garlic, beans, and one pound of the diced potatoes. Add the broth and the seasonings plus about two-thirds of the roasted asparagus.
Lock the lid in place. Select high pressure for 20 minutes.
After cooking is complete, use the quick release method to release pressure. When valve drops, very carefully remove lid. Mix in the chopped fresh spinach.
In a high-powered blender, blend the cashews with about 2 or 3 cups of the soup until smooth and creamy. Return blended mixture to soup pot and stir well.
Add in the last third of the roasted asparagus.

Microwave

While the soup is cooking in the pressure cooker, prepare the remainder of the potatoes. Scrub well and poke each one several times with a fork or knife for steam to escape while baking.
Place potatoes on a microwave-safe plate and microwave on full power for around 5 minutes. Depending on size of potatoes and your microwave power, cooking time may vary, so please adjust as needed.
When cool enough to handle, roughly chop microwaved potatoes. Add to the pot of soup.
Serve hot.

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Vicki Brett-Gach

Vicki Brett-Gach is a plant-based culinary instructor, certified personal chef, master vegan lifestyle coach, and author of The Plant-Based for Life Cookbook: Deliciously Simple Recipes to Nourish, Comfort, Energize, and Renew, published by Brooklyn Writer’s Press. She is Forks Over Knives plant-based certified and has earned a certificate in plant-based nutrition through the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. She is trained in dietary therapy for reversing common diseases and is a graduate of Dr. McDougall’s Starch Solution certification program. Vicki also holds certificates in wellness counseling through Cornell University and in culinary coaching through Harvard Medical School and The Institute of Lifestyle Medicine. Vicki coaches individual clients across the country and teaches plant-based cooking classes to groups of all sizes, always focused on making eating healthy easy. Stay connected through Vicki’s blog, AnnArborVeganKitchen.com for new recipes as soon as they are published.

Website/Recipe Blog: https://annarborvegankitchen.com/blog/