Recipe: Vegan Parsley Soup (Gluten Free)

Here we are: The previously mentioned parsley soup recipe! As I said before, this soup was born out of a desire not to waste a half a bunch of fresh parsley. Parsley is (at least relatively) cheap, but throwing food out is wasteful and extravagant in ways I don't want to be. It was too limp for a garnish anymore. I needed to find a new way to use it.

I went looking for parsley soup recipes, thinking that soup was the easiest way to handle a limp green with such tiny leaves. Hardly any of them were vegan and the vegan recipes I saw were incidentally so and promoted as a good way to "cleanse" yourself--extremely low calorie, among other things. That is not my style.

Fortunately, I found a guide I thought I could follow and adjust to my own purposes and situation at WikiHow. That wasn't a website I expected to go to for recipes, but it really broke down the important elements. I read several other recipes and got the gist, and it did seem like blanching the parsley as the first step was important, so I included that step even though it seemed a little fussy.

This is good soup. It looks spring-like but the ingredients aren't especially spring-like, really. You can get them easily all year long. And the taste--deep, earthy, and creamy--doesn't really suggest spring to me, either. That's not to say you couldn't eat it in the spring. Make your own rules! But for me, this is just as easily a late summer/fall-into-winter soup.

I made a point of thickening this without any flour or anything, so it's gluten free. Croutons are a lovely garnish and mine are not gluten free, but you can easily substitute something that is, if you like, or just eat it without a garnish. (I'm not yet prepared to be totally free of gluten.)

Vegan Parsley Soup
Serves: 4

1/2 bunch parsley, thoroughly washed
1 1/2 tablespoons vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 large stalk celery, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
3 cups of your favorite chicken broth substitute (for me that's Better than Bouillon No Chicken)
Scant 1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight and drained
1/3 cup potato flakes (optional)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil parsley for 1 minute and immediately remove from the water. Rinse thoroughly in cold water, then dry in a salad spinner.

When the parsley is dry, chop it roughly, stems and all. Set aside.

Melt butter in a stock pot. Add onion and celery and cook over medium heat, stirring, until softened but not browned. Add salt and pepper halfway through the vegetable cooking time.

Add broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

Add peas and prepared parsley. Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes.

Transfer soup to a blender with the soaked cashews. Thoroughly blend the soup.

Return the blended soup to the pot and reheat. If using, add potato flakes and stir until thickened. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with croutons, if desired.