Soupe au Pistou

Method

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1. Warm the oil in a large pot and sweat the onion and leeks over low heat for 10 minutes without letting them colour.

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2. Add the carrots and potatoes and cook 5 minutes, stirring.

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3. Pour in the stock, add the tomatoes, bay, thyme and salt, and simmer 15 minutes.

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4. Add the green beans and courgettes and simmer 8 minutes more.

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5. Add the tinned beans and the pasta and cook until the pasta is just done, about 8 minutes. Remove the bay and thyme.

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6. While it cooks, pound the basil, garlic and coarse salt in a mortar to a rough paste — a pestle bruises the leaves and releases oil in a way a blender blade does not.

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7. Work in the olive oil a little at a time, then the cheese. It should be loose enough to swirl.

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8. Take the soup off the heat and let it stand 5 minutes so it is hot but not scalding.

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9. Ladle into bowls and add a generous spoonful of pistou to each, stirring it in at the table.

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Chef’s Tips

• Pistou off the heat, in the bowl. In the pot it turns black within minutes.
• A mortar beats a blender here — the texture and the colour are both better.
• Cut every vegetable to the same dice so a spoonful gets a little of everything.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the usual stand-in when you are out of fresh garlic — it will not caramelise the same way, but it carries the flavour.

Pairing Suggestions

• A chilled Provençal rosé
• Crusty baguette
• A wedge of Gruyère

Storage & Reheating

Refrigerate the soup up to 3 days; make the pistou fresh. The soup freezes 2 months without the pasta.

Common questions

Nutritional Highlights

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list. Treat these as an estimate — brands and cuts vary.