Soupe Au Pistou

Soupe au Pistou is a vegetarian soup that is perfect for spring and summer. Let the vegetables that are in season guide you, and use whatever beans you have in the cupboard. It’s a choose your own adventure kind of soup from Provençal.

Spring can be tricky. It teases us. It makes promises of warmth and blossoms. It lets us down with wind and rain, storms or snow. It tests us. How much do we want to put up with? Will it ever be green and colorful again? What do we have to do to get to the other side?

Spring is a life lesson. Because no matter what it puts us through, Spring does come. Flowers bloom, the grass turns green again, leaves return to the trees. We must just keep going until we get there. Maybe we have to have a little more faith, look a little harder, nurture the seedlings a bit more. But if we let it, Spring can inspire us. Spring reminds us that things can start again. We can reinvent ourselves, plot new goals, shift our outlook. See the endless possibilities of renewal that this world has to offer.

So on those days when Spring tricks you, when you are ready for warm sunshine, but chilly rain is in the forecast, remember that even if it doesn’t quite feel like it yet, things are sprouting, things are beginning to take shape. Spring is a time of growth that isn’t always easy to get through. But keep trudging through the rain, because you are strong enough to do this and come out on the other side standing tall and soaking up the sunshine. You can plant your own flowers and watch them grow.

And if you need a little help along the way, make this Soupe au Pistou to keep you going. The bright flavor of the pistou will remind you that sunny days are just around the corner.

Soupe au Pistou is a classic French dish that has as many variations as your cupboard has crannies. It seems to be one of those recipes that is more of a gesture or a suggestion. An outline waiting to be filled in with your own custom bullet points (just like life!). The very thing that Jacqes Pepin refers to when he says you must take a recipe and make it your own each time, according to the ingredients you have, the time of year, the type of pan you use, etc.

I was inspired by Soupe au Pistou recipes from Buvette, Julia Child, and Anthony Bourdain for this version. I found almost no concensus except that pistou has no nuts of any kind in it. (Julia’s pistou has tomato in it!) I had a can of cannelini beans and a can of black beans, so I used them. I had spinach that needed to be used up, so I threw it in. Start with dried beans if you want. Choose your own adventure.

Related recipes: Beer Cheese Potato Soup with Bacon, Chicken Pot Pie Soup, New Year’s Day Soup.

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Soupe au Pistou

For the soup:

4 cups water

One 15 oz can of whole tomatoes, crushed by hand

1 can black beans

1 can cannellini beans

2 leeks, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced

2 carrots, diced

1 onion, diced

A few handfuls of spinach, kale or other hearty greens

Pinch of crushed red pepper

Salt and cracked black pepper to taste

For the pistou:

2 cups fresh basil

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano or Pecorino

1 garlic clove, grated

In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, sauté leeks, onion and carrot in olive oil until they begin to soften. Then add all ingredients except spinach. Simmer until flavors are combined, about an hour. Add spinach about 15 minutes before serving.

Meanwhile, make the pistou in a food processor. For a small amount like this, I use a mini food processor. Add the basil, cheese and garlic and pulse together, then add the olive oil in batches and pulse until it becomes a paste, or stream it in if you wish.

Remove the soup from the heat, serve topped with a big dollop of pistou, a drizzle of olive oil, and a bit more cheese on top.

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Soupe au Pistou

Soupe au Pistou is a vegetarian soup that is perfect for spring and summer. Let the vegetables that are in season guide you, and use whatever beans you have in the cupboard. It's a choose your own adventure kind of soup from Provençal. 

Course Appetizer, Main Dish, Soup

Cuisine French food, Provençal, vegetarian

About Soupe au Pistou, a classic French vegetable soup

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

Soup

• 4 cups water
• 1 can whole tomatoes 15 ounces
• 2 carrots diced
• 1 onion diced
• 2 leeks white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can cannellini beans
• 3 handfuls fresh spinach or one small box frozen cooked
• pinch crushed red pepper
• salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Pistou

• 2 cups fresh basil
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup Parmigiano cheese or Pecorino
• 1 clove garlic grated on a microplane

Instructions

Soup

1. In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, sauté leeks, onion and carrot in olive oil until they begin to soften.
2. Then add all ingredients except spinach. Simmer until flavors are combined, about an hour. Add spinach about 15 minutes before serving.
3. Remove the soup from the heat, serve topped with a big dollop of pistou, a drizzle of olive oil, and a bit more cheese on top.

Pistou

1. Make the pistou in a food processor. Add the basil, cheese and garlic and pulse together, then add the olive oil in batches and pulse until it becomes a paste, or stream it in if you wish.