With the weather warming up, here’s one refreshing way to enjoy soup during sunny days.
Local chef Dan Olson, co-owner of Railtown Catering, is sharing his recipe for a seasonal chilled green gazpacho.
In this soup, the sweetness of heirloom tomatoes and the spice of jalapeño are balanced with creamy burrata, with blackened shrimp as an optional touch for both taste and presentation.
This dish is just one of several in Railtown’s Mother’s Day Picnic Package ($199, serves four people), which includes devilled eggs with pimento cheese and chives, fancy tea sandwiches, spring vegetable salad, house-smoked salmon, and upside-down cake with blackberries and lemon cream.
If you want to impress your mother with your cooking skills for Mother’s Day (May 9), here’s the recipe.
Green Gazpacho
100 grams yellow tomatoes
1 cucumber, deseeded and cut into chunks
3 spring onions, chopped
1 jalapeño, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 small green pepper, deseeded and quartered
2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled
cilantro, small bunch
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
500 ml vegetable stock, cold
50 grams baby watercress (save a few leaves to garnish)
sea salt
2 burrata, broken into large chunks
Put all the ingredients, except the burrata, in a bowl.
Mix and then blend in batches in a food processor.
Pour through a sieve then chill for at least 2 to 3 hours or overnight. Taste and season if needed.
To serve, pour the chilled gazpacho into four small bowls, then scoop some chunks of burrata into each.
Top with the blackened prawns and reserved watercress leaves, then drizzle with more olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.
Blackened shrimp
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano dried
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 ½ lbs shrimp uncooked, peeled
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic minced
cilantro
lime
Combine the chili powder, paprika, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, brown sugar, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Dump the mixture over the shrimp and mix well. Set aside to marinate for 30 minutes.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high. Arrange the shrimp in a single layer and cook for 2 minutes. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the garlic, stir, and cook for 30 seconds. Finish with cilantro and lime.
Leila Kwok 
