At the height of winter, it’s always nice to have a few go-to soup recipes. An especially hearty one with a healthier twist is this vegan clam chowder, inspired by the classic New England Clam Chowder. It’s sure to warm you up!

Serving Size: 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup roasted cashews
• 1½ cups non-dairy milk
• 3 tablespoons vegan butter
• 12 oz oyster mushrooms divided
• 1 medium sliced leek and 1 medium sliced carrot
• 1 pound potatoes cubed
• 5 cloves minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon miso paste 
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ cup dry white wine (or sub vegetable broth)
• ¼ cup flour (sub gluten-free all purpose flour)
• 4 cups water 
• 1 lemon to juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Fresh parsley for garnish
• Optional: Sourdough bread bowl (or sub gluten-free bread bowl)

Directions

1. Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add cashews and let soak.
2. In a large pot over medium heat, add 1 tbsp of the vegan butter and 4 oz of oyster mushrooms, stirring about 8 minutes until brown and crispy. Add ¼ tsp salt and stir. Remove mushrooms from pot and set aside. 
3. Add remaining 2 tbsp of vegan butter to pot. Add remaining 8 oz of mushrooms and sliced leeks. Stir about 5 min until leeks soften and mushrooms start browning. 
4. Add carrot, minced garlic, thyme and ½ tsp salt. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes Add miso paste and stir in. 
5. Add dry white wine to deglaze. Use spatula to scrape up browned bits from the bottom. Cook out the alcohol, about 2 minutes.
6. Add flour and stir through. Cook 1 minute until mixture thickens. 
7. Add water 1 cup at a time, stirring between each. 
8. Add bay leaves, potatoes and ½ tsp salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes until potatoes are cooked.
9. Drain cashews and transfer to a high-speed blender along with non-dairy milk. Blend on high until smooth and set aside.
10. When potatoes are cooked, remove bay leaves and add the cashew cream and lemon juice. Season, and top with chopped parsley and the reserved oyster mushrooms.

This recipe was adapted from Sweet Simple Vegan at www.sweetsimplevegan.com. Wendy Fink is lead editor of Desert Health.

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