Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Provencal Vegetable Soup with Pistou

This is a simple vegetable soup from Provencal region of France.It is a simple blend of vegetables -seasonal to be exact- and pasta.Now there are several versions for this some with just vegetables,some with beans etc.This version with pasta is very simple yet luxurious as it uses no spices apart from pepper but has secret ingredient of saffron in it.This soup -any version-is normally served with Pistou -a pesto like blend -and is also known as Soupe au Pistou.

Ingredients:
Onion: 1 big
Carrot: 1 big
Potato: 1 big
Leeks: 1 thick
Green Beans: 10-12

Small Soup Paste/Macaroni/Spaghetti : 1/4 cup
Veg Broth:3 cups+

Salt
Pepper
Saffron: 2 pinches or 1 tsp

Preparation:
Chop onion finely.Peel and chop carrot and potato and beans into bite sized cubes.You can leave the peel as such if you like.Chop the white part of leek finely.The leeks have sand even inside them and so wash till clean before and after cutting.Also the green part of the leek is to be discarded and light green can be included.

Heat olive oil in a soup pot or pressure cooker or a thick bottomed pan.Add chopped onions and saute on low-medium heat till transparent.Add the chopped carrots,potatoes and leeks and little salt and pepper and saute for about 5 minutes till everything mixes well and starts to cook.Add vegetable broth(homemade or storebought) and pinches of saffron and let it simmer till done for about 15-20 minutes partially covered.Add the chopped beans and pasta(I used macaroni) and let it simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes until the pasta cooks and the soup thickens.Adjust the salt and pepper.Serve as such topped with parmesan cheese and pistou or add spoonful of pistou in each bowl and also serve pistou as a side.


Pistou
Tomato Paste: 2tbsp
Basil leaves: around 15
Parmesan Cheese:2 tbsp
Garlic :1 clove
Olive oil: tbsp

Blend all the ingredients together.The ingredients can be adjusted as per taste and you can also checkout the original recipe by Ina Garten here .Mix spoonfuls into the soup and also serve alongside.This is a pesto like preparation or we can say it is 'French Pesto made with tomato and basil'.


I served soup with pistou alongside and also mixed a little in a bowl and also without pistou.All the ways it is delicious.The saffron definitely adds flavour to the soup and enhances it.This provencal vegetable soup with pistou is my entry to No Croutons Required hosted this time by Lisa and the current theme is Vegetable Soup.

26 Comments:

Lisa Turner said...

Thanks for this entry! Lovely images too.

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

i wonder where you get all these unique recipes from? looks delicious.

Sunshinemom said...

I made a resolution of culinary travel around the world but you seem to be zipping across the globe!!

Soup looks tasty and so does the pistou - I don't think I will look much further for my odyssey. Just pop in and pick up something from you:)

Vijitha said...

Looks so yummy!

Unknown said...

nice recipe sweatha iam going to try this now for my lunch i think that will helpfull for me

Anonymous said...

drooling..what a lovely idea..you rocks yaa.

jayasree said...

Yummy soup. Can make for a meal by itself.

Cham said...

Soupe au pistou was my favo (potage we call it!) Looks delicous as usual CL

Priya Suresh said...

Soup looks delicious..this provençal vegetable soup is one of my fav n have a long story behind this soup...Healthy soup..

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow warm, comforting and refreshing...

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

What avery exotic sounding (to me anyways) soup. If it has pasta in it, then I know its good!

Unknown said...

Looks super healthy. And pistou is surely a great idea - never tried it but definetely something I'd add to my to-do list

Sunanda said...

Soup Look delicious and healthy too..

Unknown said...

looks so yummy :))

soma said...

Lovely soup. The saffron does add its Big Bit. I saw that when I made the Harira. Love it.
Soma(www.ecurry.com)

Yasmeen said...

I love the simplicity in your choice of meals,Ms.Global Cuisine:)

Deepthi Shankar said...

wow girl, from where do you get all these recipes?? yummy soup again

Vibaas said...

That's something new to me. Looks yummy :)

Indian Khana said...

Wow everywhere I see soup...this one is very gud...we do make something very similar...

Vijitha said...

arey yaar! i was jus kiddin abou veggies (dont take me wrong) cos whenever we wanna have chicken/mutton briyani. we need to cook somethin for the veggies. so its lot of work!!!

Nithya Praveen said...

you really come up with new things...looks awesome!

anudivya said...

I do like Ina Garten's recipes at times, But I think I like yours better... :)
Looks nice girlie. Way to go.

Navita (Gupta) Hakim said...

great pistou...synonym for pesto i guess n love the fork marks on it...pretty pretty!

Anonymous said...

This is my kinda soup :) hearty and delicious! Just lovely.

PG said...

lovely! Would have loved to have this soup of yours. And what a delicious pistou!

Beyond Curries said...

Very recently I saw Ina Garten preparing a soup and pistou. I love your vegetarian version. Will try it definitely.

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