• 1/2 cup arame (or hijiki)

• 4 cups water or vegetable stock

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 2 cups diced russet potatoes

• 1 teaspoon sea salt

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 cup diced yellow onion (about 1/2 onion)

• 1 cup diced carrot (about 1 medium carrot)

• 1 cup diced celery

• 4 garlic cloves, pressed or minced

• 4 cups shiitakes, stems removed, chopped small (about 8 ounces)

• 1/2 cup macadamia nuts

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

• 1/4 cup minced Italian parsley

We like to use a large (4-1/2-quart) skillet for making this soup but any medium pot will also do the trick. Cut the veggies small to speed up the cooking process and keep the flame on low so that you can start the thicker veggies cooking while you're chopping the others, adding them into the skillet as you go.

Serves 4 to 6

1. Soak the arame in 3 cups of water and set aside.

2. Heat the oil, potatoes, salt and pepper over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally while chopping the other veggies. Have one cup of water on hand and add small amounts to the pan as needed to prevent the potatoes from sticking and burning. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and shiitakes as you go and keep stirring occasionally until all of the vegetables are soft and tender (about 3 to 5 minutes after the shiitakes are in), and turn down the heat to low.

3. Place the macadamia nuts in a blender and slowly blend while adding in 2 cups of the arame soak water (see note). Blend on high for as long as necessary to grind the macadamias into a milky liquid.

4. Add 1-1/2 cups of the sautéed vegetables to the blender along with the soy sauce, and nutritional yeast. Blend for another 20 seconds or until creamy.

5. Pour the blended mixture back into the sauté pan or pot and add the parsley, arame and remaining arame soak water over medium-low heat, stirring until thoroughly heated. This is a thick soup, heating too long and/or reheating will require you to add a little more water to thin it out.

Note: When making nuts into milks like this one (unstrained), you need to add the water as slowly as possible to make sure that the nuts blend up well. This will be different for all types of blenders. Too much water will make the nuts (especially macadamia nuts) bounce around in the water and not grind up enough, resulting in chunky milk. Adding the water very slowly in the beginning allows the nuts to form a nut butter consistency, then you can add the remaining water a bit more quickly and you'll have creamy milk.

Variations: Although the shiitakes lend a very "clam-like" consistency to the soup, you may substitute cremini or other mushrooms when necessary.