White peas soup with braised shrimps

• 15 minutes to prepare • 30 minutes to cook • Serves 4

Jack and the Beanstalk

 

Sometimes I have the feeling we eat too much meat in this house.

It would be nice to replace meat with beans more often. Beans are indeed rich in proteins, healthy and relatively low-calorie.
The problem with them is that beans are not sexy, not juicy, definitely less attractive that steaks...

Therefore, I am always looking for another beans based soup to try. After chickpeas (you find it here), white beans are some of my favorites so I had to grab this recipe when I saw it on Cucchiaio's website.
With its creamy consistency and crispy braised shrimps, it's already a classic.

Here are ingredients for a 4-serving recipe:

 

400 g canned - already boiled - white beans
1 potato
1 onion
400 g shrimps
EVO oil
salt and pepper

1. Chop onion, peel and chop the potato. Then, pour two tablespoons of EVO oil in a pan and, when it is hot, braise the vegetables
2. Add canned white beans without draining them. Go on with the cooking for 20 minutes
3. Meanwhile, clean the shrimps
4. When the 20-minutes time has passed, check that the potato has softened. If so, add a pinch of salt and blend everything until you obtain a creamy soup. Keep warm
5. Heat a pan and, when it is hot, braise shrimps on it. It will take a couple of minutes for each side
6. Serve the beans soup with braised shrimps dipped into it. Add 1 tablespoon of EVO oil and freshly ground pepper on top

Nutrition Facts are detailed in the table below. Data is provided per serving.

"The beanstalk grew up quite close past Jack's window, so all he had to do was to open it and give a jump onto the beanstalk which ran up just like a big ladder. So Jack climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed till at last he reached the sky. And when he got there he found a long broad road going as straight as a dart. So he walked along, and he walked along, and he walked along till he came to a great big tall house, and on the doorstep there was a great big tall woman"
(from the novel Jack and the Beanstalk)