Soupe au Pistou by Richard Olney

Richard Olney's Soupe au Pistou
from The Gourmet Cookbook
edited by Ruth Reichl
(Houghtlin Mifflin, 2006)
Serves 6 (about 12 cups)

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Richard Olney, a native lowan, spent nearly 40 years in the French countryside living a life most Americans just dream about. From his rustic perch on a hillside near Toulon, he wrote and edited more than 35 books on food and wine. His most influential book, Simple French Food, was published in 1974 and caused an entire generation of American chefs to reconsider the way they cooked. This recipe from that book, for vegetable soup with pistou — a condiment that is essentially the French version of Italy's pesto (without nuts) — helps explain what all the fuss was about. This soup is thoughtful, unpretentious, and highly adaptable to seasonal produce or the contents of your larder.


convert		Ingredients
		For the soup
1		celery rib
3		fresh parsley sprigs
2		fresh thyme sprigs
1		Turkish bay leaf or 1/2 California bay leaf
10 cups		water
3/4 pound		potatoes
2		medium leeks (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced
1		medium onion, thinly sliced
2		medium carrots, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
3/4 pound		butternut or other winter squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 pound		fresh white beans in the pod, shelled, or 1 1/2 cups drained cooked white beans, rinsed if canned
6 ounces		green beans, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 small		zucchini (1/2 pound total), cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 cup		elbow macaroni

		For the pistou
4		large garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup		fresh basil leaves (not packed), preferably with blossoms
1/4 teaspoon		salt
		Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (about 2 ounces)		finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1		firm but ripe medium tomato, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
1 to 1 1/4 cups		olive oil

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Method

Make the soup
1. Tie together celery, parsley, thyme, and bay leaf with kitchen string to make a bouquet garni. Bring water to a boil in a 5-quart pot.

2. Meanwhile, peel potatoes and quarter lengthwise, then cut crosswise into thin slices. Wash leeks well in a bowl of cold water; lift out and drain. Add potatoes, leeks, onion, carrots, squash, fresh white beans, if using, and bouquet garni to pot and simmer until beans and squash are tender but still hold their shape, about 30 minutes.

3. Add green beans, zucchini, macaroni, and cooked white beans, if using, and simmer until macaroni is just tender, about 15 minutes. Discard bouquet garni.

Make the pistou
1. Mash garlic, basil, salt, and pepper to taste in a mortar with a pestle, alternating between pounding and turning with a grinding motion, until mixture forms a paste (or finely chop basil and garlic, then mash in a bowl with salt and pepper, using back of a spoon).

2. Work in enough cheese to make a very stiff paste, then add about one-third of tomato, pounding and grinding (or mashing) it into the paste. Gradually work in remaining cheese and tomato, along with enough olive oil to make a barely fluid paste. Then gradually work in enough additional oil for pistou to become a sauce.

3. Serve soup with mortar (or bowl) of pistou on the side, to be added to taste by each person.

Note: The oil in the pistou mixture will separate, so you will need to stir it each time before spooning it out.

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