Soupe au pistou
The Provençal cousin of minestrone, with one important difference: the pistou is never cooked with the soup. Boiled basil quickly loses its fresh aroma and turns dull. So the pistou goes in at the very end, ideally by the spoonful in the bowl, at the table — the hot soup only warms it, and the scent of basil and garlic hits you with the first spoonful.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Dicing the vegetables 20 min
- Simmering 35 min
- Pistou 10 min
- Pasta 10 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneDice the vegetables evenly
Cut every vegetable into dice of about 1 cm. This soup is neither blended nor passed — the only thing holding it together is the uniform size of the pieces. Uneven dice makes it read as random scraps in broth.
Ingredients: 40 ml olive oil · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs leek · 2 pcs carrots · 300 g potatoes · 2 pcs courgettes · 250 g green beans · 300 g tomatoes · 400 g white beans · 1600 ml vegetable stock
A 1 cm dice — the only thing that unifies this soup.Soften the onion and leek
Sweat the onion and leek in the oil for 8 minutes over low heat, until soft but not coloured. This is a vegetable base, not a fry-up — browning would add a flavour this light summer soup does not want.
Ingredients: 40 ml olive oil · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs leek · 2 pcs carrots · 300 g potatoes · 2 pcs courgettes · 250 g green beans · 300 g tomatoes · 400 g white beans · 1600 ml vegetable stock
Add the firm vegetables and stock
Add the carrot and potato, pour in the stock and simmer for 15 minutes. The firm vegetables go first so everything finishes cooking at the same moment — that is the only reason for the order.
Ingredients: 40 ml olive oil · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs leek · 2 pcs carrots · 300 g potatoes · 2 pcs courgettes · 250 g green beans · 300 g tomatoes · 400 g white beans · 1600 ml vegetable stock
Add the soft vegetables and beans
Add the courgette, green beans, tomatoes and cooked white beans, and simmer another 12 minutes. Courgette collapses fast — added at the start it turns to mush and clouds the broth.
Ingredients: 40 ml olive oil · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs leek · 2 pcs carrots · 300 g potatoes · 2 pcs courgettes · 250 g green beans · 300 g tomatoes · 400 g white beans · 1600 ml vegetable stock
Pound the pistou in a mortar
Crush the garlic with the salt, add the basil leaves in batches and grind to a green paste, then work in the parmesan and oil. A mortar crushes the leaves and releases the oils; blender blades chop them and warm the paste, so the pistou darkens sooner. If you have no mortar, blend briefly, in short pulses.
Ingredients: 2 bunches basil · 3 cloves garlic · 80 g parmesan · 120 ml olive oil · ½ tsp salt
Mortar, not blender — the basil must not brown.Cook the pasta in the soup
Add the pasta and cook for the time on the packet. Here, unlike in Asian noodle soups, the starch is wanted — it thickens the broth slightly and binds the vegetables together.
Ingredients: 40 ml olive oil · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs leek · 2 pcs carrots · 300 g potatoes · 2 pcs courgettes · 250 g green beans · 300 g tomatoes · 400 g white beans · 1600 ml vegetable stock
Add pistou to the bowl, not the pot
Ladle out the soup and place a heaped spoonful of pistou on each portion. Boiled basil quickly loses its aroma, and that aroma is the entire point. Put the rest of the pistou on the table.
Ingredients: 2 bunches basil · 3 cloves garlic · 80 g parmesan · 120 ml olive oil · ½ tsp salt
A spoonful on top, stirred in at the bowl.
Before you start
The next day
The soup itself is better the following day, but the pasta softens overnight. If you plan to eat it over two days, cook the pasta separately and add it to the bowl along with the pistou.
Pistou versus pesto
Provençal pistou contains no pine nuts — the main difference from Ligurian pesto. Without the nuts the paste is bolder, more garlicky and less creamy, which suits soup well. The cheese varies across Provence, and some cooks leave it out altogether.
Starting from dried beans
Soak 200 g of dried borlotti or cannellini overnight and cook them separately. Add some of the cooking water to the stock — it is thick with starch and gives the soup a body that tinned beans lack.
