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Provençal Vegetable Soup with Basil Pistou
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Source: https://recipheon.com/en/recipes/soups/provencal-vegetable-soup-with-basil-pistou
About this recipe
Fresh basil pistou brings its aroma to this Provençal soup with white beans, vegetables, and small pasta. Potatoes, zucchini, green beans, and ripe tomatoes make a hearty soup that remains brothy, with distinct pieces of vegetables. Here, pistou is an uncooked paste of basil leaves, garlic, and olive oil, without cheese or nuts. Add it only after turning off the heat to preserve the fresh fragrance that sets this soup apart from vegetables cooked with dried herbs. Use precooked canned cannellini beans so the soup takes about an hour and ten minutes, without any soaking beforehand. Add the small pasta only when the vegetables are almost tender. Have a pot that holds at least 6 l and a mortar and pestle ready for making the pistou. Serve six generous main-course portions as soon as you stir in the paste, before the pasta absorbs more liquid.
Ingredients
Vegetable soup
150 g raw onion, weighed after peeling
200 g raw carrots, weighed after peeling
300 g raw potatoes, weighed after peeling
300 g raw zucchini, skin on, weighed after trimming the ends
200 g fresh green beans, weighed after trimming the ends and removing any strings
400 g fresh ripe tomatoes, skin on, without the hard stem cores
480 g cooked canned white cannellini beans, weighed after draining and rinsing
100 g dry small egg-free durum wheat semolina pasta, such as ditalini, with a cooking time of 8–10 minutes
70 g extra virgin olive oil, divided: 20 g for the soup and 50 g for the pistou
2 l water for the soup, plus up to 200 ml water to thin it if needed
8 g fine salt, divided: 5 g at the start and up to 3 g for final seasoning
0.5 g ground black pepper
Fresh pistou
40 g fresh basil leaves, without stems
12 g raw garlic, weighed after peeling
Steps
Chop the onion, cut the carrots and potatoes into roughly 1 cm cubes, and cut the zucchini into slightly larger cubes. Cut the green beans into roughly 2–3 cm pieces and dice the tomatoes, keeping their juice. Drain the cannellini beans, rinse them, then drain again and weigh out 480 g. Rinse the basil leaves and gently pat them dry, and set aside the peeled garlic for the pistou.
Heat 20 g olive oil over medium-low heat in a pot that holds at least 6 l. Add the onion and carrots and sauté for about 8 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the tomatoes with their juice and cook gently for about 2 minutes, until they begin to release more liquid; the vegetables should not brown deeply.
AI-generated Add the potatoes and green beans, pour in 2 l water, and add 5 g salt. Increase the heat and bring to a boil with the lid on, allowing roughly 8–10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and leave the lid slightly ajar.
Simmer gently for about 10 minutes, then add the zucchini and cook for about 5 more minutes. The carrots and potatoes should be almost tender, with slight resistance when pierced with a fork, and the green beans should no longer have their raw firmness. If they are still firm, give them a few extra minutes before adding the pasta. Make the pistou in the next step while the vegetables cook.
Use a mortar and pestle to pound 12 g garlic into a paste, then add the patted-dry basil leaves in batches and pound until no whole leaves remain. Gradually pour in the remaining 50 g olive oil and work it into a green, slightly grainy paste. Set the pistou aside away from the warm burner; do not add it to the simmering soup at this stage.
AI-generated Add the dry egg-free pasta and cooked cannellini beans to the soup once the vegetables are almost tender. Simmer gently, without a lid, for 8–10 minutes, following the cooking time on the package, and stir along the bottom so the pasta does not stick. The pasta should be cooked but still firm to the bite, the vegetables tender, and the whole beans heated through. If the soup has become too thick, add up to 200 ml water from the stated reserve and return to a gentle simmer before turning off the heat.
AI-generated Turn off the heat and move the pot off the hot burner. Add the pepper, stir in all the uncooked pistou, taste, and season with the remaining salt as needed, using no more than the reserved 3 g. Do not boil the soup again after adding the basil: the paste should give it a fresh aroma, not cook in the broth for a long time.
Divide the soup among six large bowls and serve right away while the pasta still has some bite. If it sits longer, the pasta will continue to absorb liquid and the soup will become thicker.
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