Winter Soup au Pistou
Serves: 6-8
Soup au Pistou is a French Provencal vegetable soup, usually served in the late spring and early summer with bountiful in-season vegetables (green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini and basil). Pistou is the French term for the Italian Pesto, pounding and grinding basil, pine nuts, garlic and salt in a mortar & pestle. It is said that this classic Provençal soup was created in the 18th century by a duchess in order to seduce a marquis. It’s Valentine’s Day and I wanted to woo my husband! So I made a winter style Soup au pistou using flavorful in-season veggies along with a “winter” Pistou made with walnuts and parsley. Watch out, this soup really works!
Soup au Pistou is a French Provencal vegetable soup, usually served in the late spring and early summer with bountiful in-season vegetables (green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini and basil). Pistou is the French term for the Italian Pesto, pounding and grinding basil, pine nuts, garlic and salt in a mortar & pestle. It is said that this classic Provençal soup was created in the 18th century by a duchess in order to seduce a marquis. It’s Valentine’s Day and I wanted to woo my husband! So I made a winter style Soup au pistou using flavorful in-season veggies along with a “winter” Pistou made with walnuts and parsley. Watch out, this soup really works!
Ingredients
- 3 garlic cloves, minced (1 tablespoon)
- ½ peeled red onion finely diced
- 20 sprigs of parsley, leaves only
- 6 ounces chopped tomato, drained
- 4 ounces roughly chopped walnut halves
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste
- 1 yellow onion (12 oz.), finely chopped
- 1 small leek, white & light green parts, cleaned and thinly sliced ( ¼ cup)
- 1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced (¼ cup)
- 5 garlic cloves, minced (1-1/2 tablespoons)
- 1 medium sized orange fleshed sweet potato, peeled and diced to ½-inch (1 cup)
- 1 small turnip, peeled and diced to ½-inch (1 cup)
- 2-3 medium sized carrots, cleaned and sliced in ¼”-inch rounds (1 cup)
- 1 small parsnip, cleaned and sliced into ¼-inch rounds (¼ cup)
- 1 celery stalk, sliced to ¼-inch pieces (¼ cup)
- 14 ounces. (½ of the box) no salt chopped tomatoes, reserve remaining tomatoes
- 6 cups vegetable stock (link to house veggie stock) (enough to cover vegetables by 2-inches)
- 1-14 ounce can no salt added cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup sugar snap peas or snow peas, strings removed, cut in 1/2
Directions
Place all the ingredients, (except the lemon juice), in a mortar & pestle and grind together to a paste. Alternatively, place all the ingredients (except the onion as it will get watery) in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the mixture until thoroughly combined. Add onion and pulse just a few times until incorporated. Add lemon juice to taste. Reserve.
- Heat a 5-quart pot over medium high heat for a couple of minutes or until hot. Add onion, leek, fennel and garlic to the pot, and dry saute for 1 minute, lower the heat to medium low and continue to cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until vegetables are starting to soften. If needed, add a little stock to prevent the vegetables from sticking to the pot.
- Add the diced sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnip, celery, tomatoes and stock. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked through and are tender when pierced with a paring knife.
- Add beans and sugar snap peas or snow peas and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes.
Ladle soup into pretty bowls and place a large dollop of pistou on top.
