Vegetable Soup with Pistou

Original Pistou soup is from Provenance, France. The vegetables may vary but squash or pumpkin, some root vegetables and beans are always used. This is my own version of the soup. I added some fresh ginger and garlic and gave it a nice kick of chilli. You can vary the vegetables to suit you but make sure you use chicken or vegetable broth (stock). I used homemade turkey stock.The best part of this soup is the pistou, without it, the soup will not taste as good. Have a great week!

I used potatoes, carrots and turnip, then added zucchini and green beans towards the end of cooking.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onion, bell and Jalapeño peppers, and cook over medium low heat for about 5 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook another 1 minute then add the turmeric, curry powder, salt and pepper to taste and cook for a minute.

Add the tomatoes and cook another 5 minutes. Add the carrots, potatoes and turnips and stir to combine then add the 7 cups broth (stock) and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.Add the white beans, green beans, zucchini and macaroni and cook another 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender and macaroni is cooked. Adjust the seasoning. Don’t overcook macaroni.

Vegetable Soup with Pistou

Difficulty: easy
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Preparation time: 15 minutes; Cooking time: 45 minutes; Serves: 6

Ingredients

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion chopped
1 medium bell pepper finely chopped
1 Jalapeño pepper chopped
1 inch root ginger grated
3 cloves garlic crushed
2 large tomatoes peeled and chopped
1½ cups diced carrots
2 cups diced potatoes
1 cup diced turnips
7 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 x 540ml (19fl. oz.) white beans
150g green beans, cut into short lengths
1 medium zucchini diced (about 1½ cups diced)
1 cup (100g) small elbow macaroni
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

For the Pistou

A large handful of basil leaves (about 40 basil leaves)
3-4 cloves garlic or to your taste
Coarse salt to taste
A good grinding of pepper
(60g, 2oz) Parmesan, freshly grated
4-8 tablespoons oil

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onion, bell and Jalapeño peppers, and cook over medium low heat for about 5 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook another 1 minute then add the turmeric, curry powder, salt and pepper to taste and cook for a minute.
Add the tomatoes and cook another 5 minutes. Add the carrots, potatoes and turnips and stir to combine then add the 7 cups broth (stock) and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
Add the white beans, green beans, zucchini and macaroni and cook another 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender and macaroni is cooked. Adjust the seasoning. Don’t overcook macaroni.
If at any point you feel the soup is too thick just add more stock.
To Make the Pistou: tear the basil leaves and pound them with the garlic, salt and pepper in a mortar. Add the parmesan in 3 batches, each time alternating with 2 tablespoons olive oil and continue pounding to a thick paste or to your desired thickness. Pour the pistou in a small bowl and serve as an accompaniment to the soup.

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