Pistou soup with olive oil

Huile d'olive de Haute-Provence PDO
Intense flavour
Soupe au pistou à l'huile d'olive
Photo credit: Céline de Cérou
Pistou soup – every Provençal family has its own recipe and adds its own special touch! Here’s our take on it, made with PDO olive oil from Haute-Provence. Bon appétit!
A PDO
Preparation
30 min
A PDO
Cooking time
1h15
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Regional cuisine Main course Vegan Vegetarian Gluten-free Summer

Ingredients

A PDO
For 4 personnes
For the soup:
  • 2 c. à soupe Haute-Provence olive oil PDO
  • 1 onion
  • 3 tomatoes
  • 800 g semi-dry beans to be shelled ((400 g, shelled))
  • 3 carrots
  • 5 potatoes ((400 g))
  • 200 g green beans
  • 2 courgettes ((650 g))
  • 3 sprigs of thyme
  • 1 feuille bay leaf
  • 100 g small pasta shapes (such as coquillettes, macaroni, ditali)
  • 1 bonne pincée of salt
  • 3,5 to 4 litres of water
For the pistou:
  • 2 bouquets basil
  • 3 gousses garlic
  • 60 ml Haute-Provence olive oil PDO
  • 1 large ripe tomato

Tip

Choose PDO olive oil from Haute-Provence (intense flavour) for its dominant aromas of raw artichoke, accompanied by notes of grass, banana, fresh almond and apple.Or choose another intense-flavoured olive oil: PDO olive oil from Aix-en-Provence, PDO olive oil from Nîmes, PDO olive oil from the Vallée des Baux-de-Provence, PDO olive oil from Provence, a French olive oil of the Picholine variety, Petit Ribier, Aglandau, Salonenque…

Instructions

Prepare the soup:
  • Peel and finely chop the onion.
  • Peel the tomatoes, remove the seeds and cut them into cubes. Shell the semi-dried beans and rinse them.
  • Wash the thyme and bay leaves.
  • Peel the carrots and potatoes, wash them and dice them.
  • Trim the green beans, wash them and cut them into 4 or 6 pieces, depending on their size.
  • Peel the courgettes, leaving half the skin on, and cut them into pieces.

  • Pour the Haute-Provence olive oil (PDO) into a casserole dish. Heat it up, then fry the onion for 5 minutes until golden. Add the tomatoes, leave to simmer for a further 5 minutes, then add the shelled beans, thyme, bay leaf and diced carrots, and top up with water. Cook for 45 minutes, simmering gently.

  • Next, add the diced potatoes, courgette and green beans, and cook for a further 10 minutes. Add the pasta and cook until the pasta is done (5 minutes for coquillettes, 7–8 minutes for macaroni). Once cooked, season to taste.
Meanwhile, prepare the pistou:

  • Peel and deseed the tomato, then blend it until smooth. Crush the garlic and basil with a pestle, then gradually add the PDO olive oil from Haute-Provence, emulsifying as you go, and stir into the tomato.

  • Once the soup is cooked, add half the pistou and serve.
  • Put the remaining pistou into a bowl.
  • Why not serve a bowl of grated Gruyère or Comté?
  • You could chop up a few basil leaves to use as a garnish.

Tip

Choose PDO olive oil from Haute-Provence (intense flavour) for its dominant aromas of raw artichoke, accompanied by notes of grass, banana, fresh almond and apple.Or choose another intense-flavoured olive oil: PDO olive oil from Aix-en-Provence, PDO olive oil from Nîmes, PDO olive oil from the Vallée des Baux-de-Provence, PDO olive oil from Provence, a French olive oil of the Picholine variety, Petit Ribier, Aglandau, Salonenque…
We recommend...

For this recipe, we recommend using PDO huile d'olive de Haute-Provence (intense flavour) for its dominant aromas of raw artichoke, accompanied by notes of grass, banana, fresh almond and apple. Don’t have any? You can also use any of these PDO olive oils: Aix-en-Provence, Corsica – Oliu di Corsica – tree-harvested, Nîmes, Provence or Vallée des Baux-de-Provence. 

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