A hearty winter soup that is great served with a dense rye bread or crusty sourdough.
Serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 parsnip, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon fennel seeds or ground fennel
pinch chilli flakes
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 x 400 gram tin crushed Italian tomatoes
½ cup pearl barley
500 grams crown pumpkin, peeled and diced 2 cm pieces
2 handfuls baby spinach
zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ cup pesto
Parmesan for grating
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
METHOD
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, carrot, parsnip, garlic, fennel and chilli flakes with a good pinch of salt. Cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft. Add the stock, tomatoes, barley and pumpkin and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil then simmer for 25 minutes until the barley is tender. Stir in the spinach, lemon zest and juice.
To serve: Ladle the soup into warm bowl and top with a spoonful of pesto and shaved Parmesan.
Pantry note: Pesto is available in the chilled section of the supermarket.
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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.