🇫🇷 France · Provence, Nice
Soupe au pistouProvençal vegetable soup
A summer Provençal vegetable soup of fresh white and red coco beans, green beans, courgettes, carrots, tomato and small pasta, finished at the table with pistou, a paste of pounded basil, garlic and olive oil (with cheese).
Origin and history
A summer vegetable soup of Provence and the Nice area, built on the vegetables and beans of the season and finished with the pistou, the garlic-basil-olive-oil paste. Regional sources describe it as a long-standing dish shared by families, with no single official recipe, and note that opinions differ on its origin. It is close kin to the Ligurian minestrone with pesto.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 1 h 45 min
- Hands-on
- 45 min
Ingredients
- 600 g1.3 lb fresh shelled white coco beans (cocos blancs), or 250 g / 1 1/4 cups dried white beans, soaked overnight
- 1 onion, stuck with 2 cloves
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 leeks, white and pale green, sliced
- 250 g9 oz carrots, peeled, diced
- 100 g3.5 oz turnips, peeled, diced
- 300 g10.5 oz green beans (haricots verts or flat beans), cut in short lengths
- 400 g14 oz potatoes, peeled, diced
- 500 g1.1 lb courgettes (zucchini), diced
- 2 firm ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped
- 100 g3.5 oz (1 cup) macaroni or coquillettes
- 3 L3 qt water
- 6 garlic cloves, for the pistou
- 1 large bunch (about 60 g)1 large bunch (about 2 oz) fresh basil leaves, for the pistou
- 150 ml2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, for the pistou
- 60 g2 oz (1/2 cup) grated parmesan or gruyère, optional, in the pistou or at the table
- coarse salt and pepper, to taste
Method
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1. Put the white beans in a large pot with the water, the clove-studded onion and the thyme. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes if fresh (about 1 hour if soaked dried beans).
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2. Add the leeks, carrots and turnips and cook for 15 minutes.
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3. Add the green beans, potatoes, courgettes and tomatoes. Season with coarse salt and pepper and bring back to a boil.
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4. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the vegetables are tender and the soup has thickened.
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5. Add the pasta and cook for 10 to 15 minutes more, until it is just tender. Fish out the onion and thyme.
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6. While the pasta cooks, make the pistou: pound the garlic with a pinch of coarse salt in a mortar to a paste, add the basil leaves and pound until a green paste forms, then work in the olive oil in a thin stream, and the cheese if using it.
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7. Off the heat, stir half of the pistou into the soup in the pot, or into a warm tureen, just before serving. The pistou is never cooked.
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8. Serve in deep bowls, with the remaining pistou, grated cheese and grilled bread on the table.
Notes
- There is no single official version. The beans (fresh white and red cocos where they can be found), summer vegetables and pasta change with the season and the family. The constant is the pistou, stirred in off the heat.
- Out of season, use dried white beans (cannellini or Great Northern) in place of cocos, soaked overnight. Fresh basil is essential and cannot be replaced by dried.
- Pistou is the Provençal cousin of Genoese pesto but traditionally has no pine nuts. Some cooks leave the cheese out, others add it. The soup is related to the Ligurian minestrone alla genovese.
- Serve it warm or hot, as a starter or a main course. It is better the next day, but keep the pistou separate and add it when reheating.
- A rind of parmesan or a little pork or sausage is added by some families, but the soup is traditionally meat-free.
Adapted from ProvenceWeb: Soupe au pistou and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur tourisme: Recette de la soupe au pistou.
At the festivals
Served at 2 festivals in France.
Earlier editions
- August 01, 2026
- July 04, 2026
- July 01, 2023