Summer Minestrone with Garlic Prawns
Photography Aaron McLean.
Serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon chopped thyme
1 small leek, thinly sliced
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced, feathery fronds reserved
200 grams round green beans, sliced on the diagonal
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup edamame beans or peas
2 medium zucchini, diced
1 x 400 gram tin cooked cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Prawns
20 large raw peeled prawns
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
To serve
4 tablespoons basil pesto
Parmesan cheese for shaving
METHOD
Soup: Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, garlic, thyme, leek and fennel. Season well, cover and cook gently until just tender.
Add the green beans and cook for 2 minutes, followed by the stock. Season, bring to the boil and add the edamame beans or peas, zucchini and white beans. Simmer until all the vegetables are just tender but still with a little bite.
Prawns: Toss the prawns with the olive oil and garlic and season well. Heat a sauté pan and cook the prawns for 1-2 minutes each side until just cooked through.
To serve: Ladle the soup into wide shallow soup bowls. Top with 5 prawns, a spoonful of pesto, shavings of Parmesan cheese and the reserved fennel fronds.
Pantry note
Edamame bean: (pronounced “ edd-a-MAH-may’) these Japanese soy beans come in bags frozen and/or podded. In the pod, they make a delicious snack when blanched and salted. Available from Asian food stores and some supermarkets.
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In Dream Escape, we journey from Japan and Morocco to Italy, India and beyond, sharing recipes inspired by travel, heritage and comfort. We celebrate the champions of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards, explore the stories and recipes of chefs shaped by their cultural roots, and warm up with everything from West African soups and slow-braised lamb to porchetta, butter chicken and beef noodle soup. Alongside destination menus, Scandinavian sweets and cosy pub classics, Chrisanne Terblanche shares her favourite street-side dining spots in Bangkok, while Yvonne Lorkin explores red wine varietals. This issue, we invite you to slow down, turn the pages and escape through food.