Carrot and Cashew Soup

Directions

1. In a soup pot or heavy saucepan, heat the oil and butter. Add the chopped onion, sliced garlic, and chopped ginger, and a large pinch of kosher salt. Over medium heat, sweat the mixture until the vegetables are soft, but not browned. Add the 3 cups of stock and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the pot, and simmer the soup until the carrots are very tender. This will take about 15 minutes, but depends on how thickly you have sliced your carrots.
2. Take the pot off the stove and carefully transfer the mixture to a blender container. Add the cashew butter and the 1 cup of carrot juice to the blender. If you are using harissa add a little jot of it now. Cover the lid of the blender with a towel and puree the carrot mixture until uniformly smooth. You may have to do this in batches.
3. Rinse out the soup pot and strain the carrot mixture, through a fine sieve, back into the pot. Reheat gently and taste for seasoning. Add additional carrot juice, if needed, to achieve the consistency you prefer. Add hot sauce for more spice, a few drops of rice vinegar to balance the sweetness of the soup, and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Serve the soup, piping hot, garnished with your choice of green herb, and some of the toasted cashews. Store any leftovers in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 days. You may need to add more stock or carrot juice when re-heating the soup.
5. *I used a special blend of cashew butter, seasoned with harissa. You can find it in the Food52 store (Eliot's Adult Nut Butters)