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Soupe au Pistou (French vegetable soup with basil)

This simple vegetable, bean, and pasta soup is traditionally based on seasonal summer vegetables and served with a punchy basil and garlic pistou.

Served with grated cheese, it makes an easy but satisfying lunch or dinner.

You can swap in whatever vegetables you have (e.g. green beans instead of broad beans) and adjust cooking times accordingly: add harder vegetables first and softer, quicker-cooking ones and any frozen veg later.

It's recommended that you read the blog post before starting the recipe.

Course Soup, Main Course, Lunch
Cuisine French, European
Keyword summer, seasonal
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 4
Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

For the pistou

  • 1 - 2 cloves garlic (skinned)
  • 1 large pinch salt
  • 3 large handfuls basil (leaves only)
  • 2 - 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

For the soup

  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 large onion (approx. 200g) skinned, cut in half and sliced
  • 1 stalk celery (finely chopped or sliced)
  • salt and black pepper
  • 3 cloves garlic (skinned and finely chopped)
  • 150 g tomatoes (skinned, de-seeded, diced)
  • 250 g potatoes, peeled or unpeeled (diced)
  • 200 g broad beans (fresh or frozen, weight after podding)
  • 300 g courgette (diced with any large seeds removed, weight is before prep)
  • 240 g cooked cannellini or haricot beans (approximately 1 standard tin, drained)
  • 750 - 1000 ml light stock
  • 50 g small dried pasta shapes (or broken linguine/spaghetti)

To serve

  • finely grated cheese (e.g. gruyere or Parmesan)

Instructions

Make the pistou

  1. Put the garlic in a mortar with a pinch of salt and pound until creamy (if you don't have a pestle and mortar, use a sturdy bowl and the end of a rolling pin).

    Gradually add the basil leaves and pound them into the garlic until thoroughly combined: you can pound until very fine or leave the basil in larger pieces.

    Add the olive oil a little at a time while stirring the basil and garlic mixture. Continue adding as much olive oil as you like to get your preferred consistency.

    Taste and add more salt if necessary.

    Transfer to a small serving bowl, then cover and set aside.

Make the soup

  1. Put the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.

    When hot, add the prepared onion and celery with a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper.

    Cook, stirring now and then, until starting to soften and colour, adding the garlic near the end.

    Stir in the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes until starting to break down a little.

  2. Add the potatoes along with another pinch of salt and more pepper and stir around for a couple of minutes.

    If using fresh broad beans, stir them in now and cook for a further 2 min. See end of next step if using frozen beans.

    Stir in the diced courgette and the drained cannellini or haricot beans and cook for 2 - 3 minutes to colour the courgette a little.

    Stir in the dried pasta.

  3. Pour in approximately 750 ml of the stock or enough to cover the ingredients.

    Bring up to a boil, then lower the heat simmer with a lid on until all the vegetables and the pasta are cooked, stirring now and then to ensure nothing's sticking to the bottom of the pot.

    If using frozen broad beans add them for the final 5 minutes or so.

  4. When the soup is ready, taste and add more salt or pepper if needed (bearing in mind how salty your pistou is).

  5. Divide the soup between bowls and serve.

    Put the bowl of pistou on the table along with the grated cheese so everyone can help themselves and stir into their soup.

  6. Soup can be stored in the fridge for 2 days.

    As pasta can continue to absorb liquid while the soup is stored, you may need to add more stock or water when gently reheating.

    Freezing not recommended as the texture of the courgette is spoiled.