Ingredients

1 13-to-15 ounce can of artichoke hearts, drained
1 13-to-15 ounce can unsweetened coconut milk (we use the Thai Kitchen organic coconut milk from Costco)
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast (a/k/a “nooch”)
Filtered water
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Dash of lemon juice (optional)

Canned Artichoke Hearts

Directions

Dump the drained artichoke hearts, the coconut milk (save the can!), the salt, pepper, nutritional yeast and, if you are using it, the lemon juice, in a high speed blender like a Vitamix. Now fill the can from the coconut milk with water, and add that to the blender. Stir it a little and taste it (yes, before it’s blended) to determine whether you like the level of coconut flavor, or would like it be less evident. We wanted the coconut flavor to take a back seat to the other ingredients, so we added a second can of water to the mix, which made it a lighter (thinner) soup, but still delicious. This is up to you.

Turn your blender on, and bring it to full speed.

Blend the bejeezus (yes, that is a technical cooking term) out of it until it is nice and smooth and creamy.

At this point you have two options: you can let it keep blending, and let the friction of the blending itself heat up your soup, or you can turn the blender off and pour the soup into a pot and heat it on the stove. Or, if you are so inclined, you can heat it up in the microwave (ok, so you actually have three options).

Once warm, taste it and adjust the salt and pepper to taste.

Variations

This soup makes a nice base to which you can add other things. Some things that you may wish to add include:

Spinach
Once the soup is blended, add a half a can of canned spinach, or a cup of cooked spinach, and blend it again for just a few seconds (you don’t want to puree the spinach, you want it to be bits of chopped spinach).

Water Chestnuts
If you’re in the mood for a tasty contrast in textures, chop up some canned water chestnuts and throw them into the soup just before you heat it.

Green Chiles
Reader Colleen Alley suggests adding a can of mild green chiles, saying that “It’s a delicious combo!” Thanks, Colleen!

Of course, for either of the two above variations, do not heat your soup by the blender method, or it will puree your spinach or water chestnuts. For either of these, you will need to heat your soup in a pan or the microwave.