The best vegan soup and really the most delicious homemade potato soup you'll ever make. A plant forward dairy free Zuppa Toscana of your dreams. It starts with a flavor base of vegan Italian sausage seasoned with fennel, onion and garlic and lots of wilted kale finished with a silky cashew cream for the ultimate comforting broth. Must add to your weekly recipe rotation, the soup that must be passed down for generations to come! Mangia!
If using a powerful blender such as a Vitamix simply add the cashew pieces and water to the blender bowl and process until silky smooth. (If your blender is not that powerful plan ahead and soak the cashews in hot water for 20 minutes before processing).
1 cup raw cashew pieces, 1 cup water
The Soup
Preheat a heavy bottom soup pot over medium heat. Slice the vegan sausage into chunks and add them to the pot. Turn up the heat to hear the sizzle if need be. Cook the sausage until golden then transfer to a bowl and reserve for later.
3 links vegan Italian sausage
To the pot with the sausage drippings add the onion and red pepper flakes and saute until translucent. Stir in the garlic and cook just until fragrant taking care not to let it burn. Stir in the fennel if using and once fragrant add the white wine to deglaze the pan and pick up any brown bits left behind by the sausage. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a flat wooden spoon and cook until the wine has almost all evaporated.
1 yellow onion, 6 cloves garlic, 1 tsp red pepper flakes, 1 tsp fennel seeds or ground fennel, 1/3 cup dry white wine
Add in the potatoes, thyme, bay leaf and smoke paprika. Pour in the water (or veggie stock) and bring to a simmer. Add the nutritional yeast and a pinch of salt. Cook for about 10 minutes until the potatoes are soft but still hold their shape.
About 3 minutes before the potatoes are done add the kale. Stir and allow it to completely wilt into the soup. Stir in the cashew cream and simmer a couple more minutes.
4 cups Lacinato kale
Adjust seasonings to taste with salt and pepper and remove from heat. Ladle the soup into bowls, add some of the reserved browned sausage on top and serve hot.