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soupe au pistou

Soups & potages

Soupe au Pistou

From Éditions Larousse

Beans, garden vegetables and fine pasta make a generous soup from the south of France, substantial enough for a meal on its own. It’s the mixture of vegetables that makes it so delicious: carrots and turnips, green beans, courgettes and tomatoes. Basil, garlic and olive oil are pounded into a fresh pistou and stirred in at the end. Add the Parmesan and serve, with the basil and garlic perfuming the hot broth.

Prep
30 min
Cook
2 hr
Published total
2 hr 30 min
Serves8
Jump to recipe ↓Éditions Larousse ↗

Ingredients

Soup

Pistou and finish

Method

  1. Soak the dried beans for 12 hours, then drain. Put them in a large pot with 2.5 litres cold water, salt and the bouquet garni. Bring to the boil and cook 1 hour 30 minutes.
  2. Trim the green beans. Cut the courgettes into thin rounds. Peel the carrots and turnips and cut into small dice.
  3. Add carrots and turnips to the pot and cook 20 minutes. Add green beans and courgettes and cook another 10 minutes.
  4. Peel the tomatoes, add them with the vermicelli and cook another 10 minutes.
  5. Pound the basil and peeled garlic in a mortar, gradually loosening with 4 tablespoons olive oil.
  6. Stir the pistou into the soup and season with pepper. Add the Parmesan and serve.

Equipment

Large soup pot; Mortar and pestle; Knife and chopping board

Notes

  • Start ahead: the dried beans need a 12-hour soak before cooking. This is additional to the published preparation and cooking times.
  • Vegetables: keep the order in the Method, with carrots and turnips first, green beans and courgettes next, then tomatoes and vermicelli.
  • Pistou: pound the basil and garlic together, gradually adding the 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir it into the soup at the end, then add the Parmesan and serve.
  • Cooking time: the published cooking time is 2 hours, but the stages in the Method add up to 2 hours 10 minutes. Allow for the longer time, as well as the bean soak.

Photos

1 photo
Soupe au pistouServingSoup with basil pistou

Soupe au Pistou

Recipe photos

About this dish

Pistou takes its name from the Provençal pistar, meaning to crush or pound. Basil, garlic and olive oil come together under the pestle, making the fragrant condiment that gives this vegetable soup its name.

This is the cooking of the Midi, the south of France: a mixture of garden vegetables made into a meal in its own right. Beans and pasta give the soup substance, while the uncooked pistou brings a fresh, pungent finish. A large pot, plenty of vegetables and a mortarful of basil and garlic make an inviting meal to share.

This Larousse version starts with dried beans and a bouquet garni, then builds the soup in stages. Carrots and turnips have longer in the broth; green beans, courgettes, tomatoes and vermicelli go in later. The pistou is stirred in at the end, followed by Parmesan. The original recipe makes enough for eight.

Recipe and cooking notes adapted from Éditions Larousse.