Soup: Soupe au Pistou (Vegetable Soup with Basil and Garlic)

By blum099

Ingredients

• 2 medium leeks, white and tender green parts finely sliced crosswise
• 6 oz. sweet onion, finely sliced
• 6 oz. carrots, peeled, split, woody core removed, finely sliced
• 12 oz. potatoes, peeled, quartered lengthwise, sliced
• 10 oz. pumpkin-type squash, seeded, peeled, coarsely diced
• 1 lb. (before shelling) fresh white beans (or the equivalent of precooked dried beans)
• ~ Bouquet garni: celery branch, parsley, bay leaf, thyme
• 2 1/2 qt. water
• ~ Salt
• 6 oz. fresh green beans, tips snapped, cut crosswise (a handful at a time) into approximately 1/2-inch lengths
• 2 or 3 2 or 3 small, firm zucchini (about 8 ounces), cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 cup short or “elbow” macaroni
• Pistou
• 4 large garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 packed handful fresh basil leaves and flowers
• ~ Salt
• ~ Pepper, freshly ground
• 1 cup Parmesan, freshly grated
• 1 medium-sized, firm, ripe tomato, peeled, seeded, and cut into pieces
• 1 1/4 cups olive oil

Preparation

Step 1

Steps

Add leeks, onion, carrots, potatoes, squash, white beans, and the bouquet garni to salted, boiling water and cook, covered, at a light boil for about ½ hour. Test the beans for doneness and, if necessary, cook a bit longer, or until they may be crushed with little resistance while remaining still completely intact. Add the green beans, zucchini, and macaroni, and cook another 15 minutes until the pasta and green beans are done but not mushy.
While the soup is cooking, prepare the pistou: Pound the garlic, basil, salt, and pepper to a paste in a good-sized mortar, using a wooden pestle and alternating between pounding and turning with a grinding motion. Work in some cheese until you have a very stiff paste, then add about one third of the tomato, pounding and grinding to a paste, more cheese, a bit of olive oil, more tomato, and so forth, the final addition of cheese bringing the consistency to that of a barely fluid paste. Add the remainder of the olive oil slowly and progressively, turning the while. It will not produce a genuine emulsion and should not.
Serve the soup boiling hot, with the mortar of pistou at the table. Each diner stires a small ladleful (1 or 2 tablespoons) into his soup.
Notes

A quart-sized marble aïoli mortar is perfect for making the pistou. Use a wooden bowl if nothing else is available