Warm your soul with the comforting flavors of Pistou Soup, a traditional Provencal dish bursting with fresh vegetables, aromatic herbs, and savory broth.
Pistou soup is a vibrant and flavourful Provençal dish, celebrated for its fresh ingredients and aromatic charm. This hearty vegetable soup features a medley of seasonal vegetables, such as tomatoes, green beans, courgettes, and potatoes, simmered to perfection in a savoury broth. The star of the dish is the pistou, a fragrant blend of fresh basil, garlic, and olive oil, often enriched with grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese. Added just before serving, the pistou infuses the soup with its distinctive, herby aroma, creating a comforting and delicious bowl that's a true taste of Provence. Perfect as a light meal or a starter, pistou soup captures the essence of southern French cuisine with its simple yet exquisite flavours.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 150g green beans
- 2 courgettes
- 2 potatoes
- 2 carrots
- 3 ripe tomatoes
- 1 white onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 100g pasta such as coquillettes or other small pasta shapes
- Fresh basil leaves for the pistou
- Extra virgin olive oil for the pistou
- Grated Parmesan cheese for the pistou
- Freshly ground salt and pepper
A propos
Pistou soup is a Provençal speciality. It is made from seasonal vegetables such as green beans, courgettes, tomatoes, potatoes and white beans, cooked in a broth. What sets it apart is the addition of a sauce called 'pistou' at the end of the cooking process.
Pistou is a kind of pesto, but without the pine nuts or cheese. It consists mainly of fresh basil, garlic, olive oil and salt. It is usually mixed into the soup just before serving, giving it a fresh, fragrant flavour.
Pistou soup is often served with bread, grated cheese and sometimes even an extra touch of pistou on top for extra flavour. It's a comforting dish full of flavour, perfect for enjoying seasonal vegetables.
Preparation
1. Making the pistou: Start by preparing the pistou. In a mortar and pestle, crush the peeled garlic cloves with a few pinches of salt and the basil leaves until you have a paste. Gradually stir in the olive oil to bind the sauce and add the grated Parmesan. Set this mixture aside.
2. Prepare the vegetables: Remove the stalks and cut the green beans into chunks. Wash and dice the unpeeled courgettes, potatoes and peeled carrots. Mash the tomatoes: plunge them into boiling water for a few seconds, then into cold water to remove the skin easily, and crush them (*Mashing: technique used to remove the skin from tomatoes). Finely chop the onion.
3. Cooking the vegetables: In a casserole dish, fry the chopped onion in a drizzle of olive oil without browning. Add the other prepared vegetables, cover with water (around 1.5 litres) and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, season lightly with salt and simmer for around 30 minutes.
4. Adding the pasta : Add the pasta to the soup and cook for the time indicated on the packet.
5. Finishing: When all the ingredients are cooked al dente (*Al Dente: Italian term meaning that the soup is cooked to perfection when the pasta still holds together a little under the tooth), adjust the salt and pepper seasoning if necessary.
