Roasted Butternut Squash Coconut Split Pea Soup with Spicy Cilantro Cashew Oil

I have had a couple of gigantic butternut squash haunting my countertop for waaaay tooooo loooong. They just stare at me and want to be used, and I am not sure why I haven’t yet- after all, butternut are one of my favorites. I love the flavor, the texture, the fact that it is insanely filling and yet still good for you- all of it.

And funny enough, even bigger of a fan than me is Pia. An 8 year old advocate for Butternut Squash Soup making if there ever was one.

In fact, Pia and I split a huge bowl of the stuff at a restaurant in Staurday in addition to our entrees. We both love it so much that we couldn’t resist ordering it despite the fact that we both wound up leaving a lot of our lunch (that butternut squash is filling!!) So the next day when Pia was like “I sure wish we had some of that soup to eat” I knew it was time to put those long standing counter warmers to good use.

But after I was almost done, I noticed that I had made the soup to brothy for Pia’s liking. So I went and rummaged around in the pantry and came back with the yellow split peas (just like the green variety- only yellow!) Pia (and the rest of my family) are HUGE split pea fans so I just went and dumped them in. I also added some rich coconut milk for good measure. And just when I was like- oh wow, this is really good- I had to give it a final kick.

The Spicy Cilantro Cashew Oil is a great finishing touch to something already wonderful- it’s just a little added kick and richness- it also make the finished bowl quite pretty. Enjoy!

Roasted Butternut Squash and Split Pea Soup with Spicy Cilantro Cashew Oil

Author: Heather Christo

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

Serves: 8

Ingredients

3.5-4 pound butternut squash
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, rough chopped
8 cups vegetable broth
1 cup split yellow peas
1 cup unsweetened canned coconut milk
Kosher salt
Spicy Cilantro Cashew Oil
½ cup toasted cashews, chopped
¼ cup oil
¼ cup fresh cilantro, minced
1 tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
pinch kosher salt

Instructions

Preheat an oven to 425 degrees.
Using a large, sharp knife, split the squash in half. Clean the seeds from the center and cut off the stem. Rub the squash halves in the olive oil and place them cut side down on a baking sheet.
Roast the squash 30 minutes or until the skin is golden. Remove from the oven and set aside until the pumpkin is cool enough to handle.
While the squash is roasting, add the oil and the onion to a large soup pot. Sprinkle it with salt and cook until the onions are soft and translucent over medium heat, about 5-7 minutes- it is ok if the onions brown a little bit.
Next make the Spicy Cilantro Cashew Oil by combining all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
When the squash is cool enough to touch, peel the skin away from the cooked pumpkin and discard. Scoop or cut the squash from the pan and add it to the soup pot with the onion.
Add the vegetable broth and place a lid on the soup pot. Let it simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes.
Puree the soup on high (in batches) in the blender until it is very smooth. Add back to the pot and heat gently before adding the split peas. Add a lid and turn the heat to low, simmering the soup about 20 minutes until the peas are tender. Stir in the coconut milk and season to taste with kosher salt. Return to a simmer and serve hot with a generous drizzle of the Spicy Cilantro Cashew Oil.