Soupe Au Pistou From Nice Recipes

PROVENCAL VEGETABLE SOUP: SOUPE AU PISTOU

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the leeks and saute just until they start to turn translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and saute about 1 minute more. Add the carrots and celery and continue sauteing until the vegetables deepen in color but have not yet begun to brown, 3 to 4 minutes more. Pour the stock into the pan, bring it to a boil, and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Sprinkle in a generous pinch of salt.
• Tie the peppercorns, thyme, and parsley in a square of cheesecloth, securing it with kitchen string. Add this bouquet garni to the pan. Stir in the beans, zucchini, summer squash, and tomato. Continue simmering until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the Pistou: Put the garlic and tomatoes in a blender or food processor with about 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Begin processing. With the machine running, add the basil leaves, and then pour in enough extra-virgin olive oil to make a smooth, thick, but fluid paste. Transfer about 2/3 of the paste into a serving bowl to pass alongside the soup.
• Make the Goat Cheese Croutons: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Brush the bread slices with olive oil and arrange them on a baking sheet. Bake until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove them from the oven and turn on the broiler. Spread 1 side of each crouton with goat cheese and put it back on the baking sheet. Broil until the cheese is warm and slightly bubbly, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
• When the soup is ready, stir the remaining pistou into the saucepan, ladling some of the hot broth into the blender or processor bowl to swirl and rinse any pesto clinging inside into the pan. Remove and discard the bouquet garni. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning with a little more salt.
• Ladle the soup into individual heated serving bowls. Float a crouton in the center of each bowl. With a spoon, drizzle a little more pistou over the crouton and soup in each bowl. Serve immediately, passing more pistou alongside for each person to add, to taste.

SOUPE AU PISTOU

Steps:

• Drain the white beans and combine with 2 quarts water in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil. Skim off any foam, then add half the onion, half the garlic and the bouquet garni. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes. Add salt to taste.
• Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet, and add the remaining chopped onion and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until tender, about five minutes. Add the leeks and remaining garlic. Stir together for a few minutes, and add the tomatoes. Cook, stirring, until the tomatoes have cooked down slightly and the mixture is fragrant, five to 10 minutes. Stir this mixture into the soup pot, add all of the remaining vegetables except the green beans, and bring back to a simmer. Cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes to an hour. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
• While the soup is simmering, blanch the green beans for five minutes in salted boiling water. Transfer to a bowl of ice-cold water. Drain and set aside.
• To make the pistou, mash the garlic with a generous pinch of salt in a mortar and pestle. Remove it and set aside. Grind the basil to a paste in the mortar, a handful at a time, then add the garlic back in and mix together well. Work in the olive oil a tablespoon at a time, then stir in the cheese.
• Add the pasta to the simmering soup about 10 minutes before serving, and cook until cooked al dente. Add pepper, taste and adjust salt. Stir the blanched green beans into the soup and heat through. Serve, adding a spoonful of pesto to each bowl for guests to stir in. Pass additional Parmesan for sprinkling.

SOUPE AU PISTOU FROM NICE

Steps:

• Place vegetable stock in a large saucepan, add zucchini through tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.
• Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat and simmer 20 minutes.
• Add green beans through pasta and cook about 10 minutes longer until pasta is tender.
• Adjust seasonings if necessary.
• Whisk together pesto and sundried tomato paste.
• Ladle soup into 4 bowls and stir a spoonful of the pesto mixture into each.
• Pass around grated Parmesan to be sprinkled on soup, if desired.

SOUPE AU PISTOU

Steps:

• Put the beans, potatoes and tomatoes into the boiling water.
• Season with salt and pepper and boil over a hot fire.
• When the vegetables are almost cooked, add the vermicelli and finish cooking gently.
• Make the aillade: In a blender, blend the garlic, basil and grilled tomato until thoroughly smooth.
• Add 3 tablespoonfuls of the liquid from the pistou (soup).
• Pour the pistou into a tureen, stir in the aillade and top with some grated Gruyere (Swiss) cheese.

SOUPE AU PISTOU

Steps:

• For the stock:
• In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat oil over medium heat; stir in ingredients. Cover. Cook until vegetables are soft, about 30minutes. Add 8 cups water. Bring to a boil. Lower heat; simmer for 45 minutes. Strain, reserving broth and half the vegetables. Skim fat. Discard thyme and bay leaf. Puree reserved vegetables in a blender. Stir into stock.
• For the soup:
• Heat oil in the same pot. Sauté onion, garlic, carrot, celery, and herbs. Add reserved broth, tomatoes and beans. Bring to a boil. Lower heat; simmer 30 to 45 minutes. Ladle into bowls; drizzle with pesto or oil.

SOUPE AU PISTOU

Steps:

• 1. Place the green beans, carrot and potatoes in a large saucepan. Add 8 cups water and 2 teaspoons sea salt, bring to a boil and cook, covered, until the carrots are nearly tender through, a bout 12 minutes. Add the zucchini, the fresh beans (if using), and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Add the cooked dry beans (if using), and let cook until heated through, 3 to 4 minutes, then add the angel hair pasta and cook until it is al dente, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the soup from the heat.
• 2. While the soup is cooking prepared the pistou. Crush the garlic cloves with the salt in a mortar and pestle until they are a rough paste. Add the basil leaves and crush them with the mortar and pestle until they mix with the garlic into a rough paste. Slowly add the oil to the basil and garlic until you have a thick, deep green sauce.
• 3. To serve, divide the soup among six warmed shallow soup bowls. Serve the soup with the pistou and the cheese alongside.