Soups
Soupe au pistou (vegetable soup with basil and garlic)
La soupa au pistou
Soupe au pistou the Niçoise way — fresh shelling beans, green beans, zucchini and small pasta, finished with basil, garlic and olive oil pounded in a mortar.
Published · Updated
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 1 h
- Total
- 1 h 40 min
- Serves
- 6
- Difficulty
- Easy
Method
Put the shelled beans and the whole peeled onion in a large pot with the water and the olive oil. Bring to the boil, skim, and simmer for 20 minutes. Do not salt yet.
Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut them into small dice. Top and tail the green beans and cut them into 2 cm (¾ in) pieces. Dice the zucchini without peeling them.
Peel the tomatoes (plunge them into boiling water for 30 seconds first), remove the seeds and chop them.
Add the potatoes to the pot, season with salt and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the green beans, zucchini and tomatoes and simmer for another 15 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender. Remove the onion if you like.
Add the pasta and cook for the time given on the packet, usually 8–10 minutes. Add a little boiling water if the soup becomes too thick.
While the soup cooks, make the pistou. Pound the garlic with the coarse salt in a mortar until you have a smooth paste.
Add the basil leaves a handful at a time and pound until they are reduced to a coarse green paste.
Work in the olive oil a trickle at a time, then the cheese if using.
Take the soup off the heat and let it stop bubbling. Stir in the pistou, or serve it at the table for everyone to add to their bowl. Season with pepper and serve at once.
Tips
- Never boil the soup once the pistou is in — the basil darkens and the garlic turns harsh.
- Out of season, use 250 g (1¼ cups) dried white and borlotti beans, soaked overnight and pre-cooked for about 1 hour before starting the recipe.
- The soup is even better reheated the next day. Keep the pistou separately and add it only when serving.
Watch it being made
How to Make Soupe au Pistou (Provençal Vegetable Soup) — America's Test Kitchen (YouTube). The player loads only when you press play.
A summer soup
Soupe au pistou — la soupa au pistou in Niçois — is the great vegetable soup of summer in Nice and throughout Provence. It is made when the markets are full of fresh shelling beans, young zucchini, green beans and ripe tomatoes, and it is finished at the last moment with a spoonful of pounded basil and garlic. A close cousin is eaten across the border in Liguria, where minestrone is served with pesto; the two cuisines have long shared their ingredients and habits.
The soup is thick with vegetables and pasta, and it is eaten hot, warm or even at room temperature on a hot evening. Like most country soups, there is no single fixed recipe: each family adjusts the vegetables to what the garden gives.
Pistou, not pesto
The word pistou comes from the Provençal verb for pounding, and it refers to the sauce rather than to the basil itself. In Nice it is simply basil, garlic and olive oil crushed together in a mortar. Many cooks add a little grated cheese — Parmesan or an aged Gruyère — while others leave it out. What pistou does not contain is pine nuts, the ingredient that sets Genoese pesto apart.
Use a mortar if you have one. Pounding bruises the basil and releases its oils in a way a blade cannot, and the garlic becomes creamy rather than chopped. It takes no more than five minutes.
Choosing the ingredients
- Beans: fresh shelling beans are the heart of the soup. In Nice, white beans and red-speckled beans are often used together. Dried beans are fine outside the season if soaked and pre-cooked.
- Basil: choose large-leaved, fragrant basil and pick the leaves just before pounding. Discard thick stems.
- Garlic: new-season garlic is milder; with older garlic, remove any green shoot in the centre.
- Olive oil: a good extra-virgin oil, since it goes into the pistou uncooked.
Variations
The soup changes with the season and the cook. Carrots, leeks, a piece of pumpkin or a little cabbage are common additions, especially later in the year. Some families add a piece of salt pork at the start for a richer broth. The pasta can be replaced with a handful of rice, or left out altogether for a lighter soup.
Serving
Bring the pot to the table with the mortar of pistou beside it, so that everyone can stir in as much as they like. Extra grated cheese can be passed around. Soupe au pistou is a meal in itself; follow it with a simple salade niçoise in summer. For other soups of Nice, try the humble garlic and sage aïga boulida or a mussel soup with saffron.
Questions & answers
What is the difference between pistou and pesto?
Pistou is made from basil, garlic and olive oil, sometimes with a little grated cheese. Genoese pesto adds pine nuts and always contains cheese. Pistou is used above all to finish this soup.
Can I make the pistou in a food processor?
Yes, but pulse briefly and add the oil at the end. A mortar crushes the leaves instead of cutting them, which gives a creamier pistou that stays greener.
Can I freeze soupe au pistou?
The soup without the pasta freezes well for up to 3 months. Add the pasta when you reheat it, and make the pistou fresh.
