Soupe au pistou

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EL Alamein
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Soupe au pistou

Post by EL Alamein »

Anyone ever make this? It's essentially a vegetable soup with pesto in it.

Made it tonight as a starter course. It was surprisingly good. The wife loved it but, surprisingly, the one child who tried it did not. The irony of that is that my wife did not like vegetables until she married me while the child who tried it has loved vegetables since an infant.

Recipes vary in France so many are different yet alike in that they all use a pesto. Seems to make the soup. Made a big batch according to the recipe so will be taking this for lunch and subing it for a vegetable course for the adults until it's gone.

If you like a good vegetable soup I highly recommend it.

Chris
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drmoss_ca
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Re: Soupe au pistou

Post by drmoss_ca »

Our basil didn't grow this year, but I still have bottles of home made pesto in the freezer from last year. Surprisingly useful to cook with as well as being eaten on bread.
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fallingwickets
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Re: Soupe au pistou

Post by fallingwickets »

Chris, when you get a chance please post a link.

thanks

clive

Im not a good cook, but i am a brilliant recipe jockey. if a recipe calls for three grains of tibetan black salt, that is what i will go and buy before starting the dish! This to say that i cannot tell you guys the amount of times a recipe turns out to be a disaster because the author was slack or not caring enough to make sure the recipe works. mark bittman put out a tuna casserole recipe this past week that turned out to be so bad that even i am struggling to finish it...the disaster came in the amount of bread crumbs required (1/4 cup) with the instruction to bake until cheese is melted and crumbs are golden brown ( 15 minutes)...well 15 minutes wasnt nearly enough time to brown the top and by the time i called it quits on trying everything else was bone dry! A good cook would have seen the disaster happening from a mile away...us recipe jocks just have to suffer along until the dish is empty :D :D :D

clive

p.s. panko probably would have alleviated the problem somewhat
de gustibus non est disputandum
ShadowsDad
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Re: Soupe au pistou

Post by ShadowsDad »

On the breadcrumbs... you might also keep fried breadcrumbs in a container in the refrigerator. These are made by frying b'crumbs in oil or butter until they are golden and crispy. Do NOT use high heat and don't walk away from them. As the water is driven off from them they will become golden and beyond golden rapidly; they will burn easily so stay there and turn them more than you think it requires. They will keep in a covered dish in the refrigerator indefinitely. They can be used as a topping for that tuna casserole (in all likelihood) but I find them my favorite buttery topping for cooked veggies. Since they are already crisp they just require warming. On hot veggies I just sprinkle them on and the hot veggies do the warming job.

I find that a stick of butter and enough of my homemade breadcrumbs to soak up the butter is enough to fill my dedicated container for them. Sorry, I can't give proportions since I never measure but go by eye. Go easy on adding the breadcrumbs to the melted butter/oil because if you add too many you'll need to add more butter or oil. You can wind up chasing your desired proportions over and over.

Did I mention to not use high heat? You'll understand after the crumbs start to brown and the pan soaks up the heat, getting hotter with nothing to carry that heat away. The breadcrumbs have little water in them to start with.

I never use the stale and old commercial breadcrumbs but make my own. The last ones I made were made with Thomas' English muffins from the day old bread store. But I've also used bagels, and yes, bread.
Brian

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EL Alamein
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Re: Soupe au pistou

Post by EL Alamein »

Clive, the one I used is in an old French cookbook I have. Unfortunately there is no link to that specific recipe (I looked). The good news is there's about a million ways the French make it. Seems every locality has their own variation. To that point the very cookbook I used had two different recipes from Provence, France on how to make it and they were slightly contradictory to one another. My guess is you can't go wrong with any of them. Ce la vie.

I will take some time to type it out and post it here. Hope that's ok. In the meantime here is a link to David Lebovitz's recipe which gets high accolades:

https://www.davidlebovitz.com/soupe-au- ... up-recipe/

I have not made this version but it looks tempting and similar to what I made. I am reading his book "My Paris Kitchen" in between pages of "Diamonds Are Forever" and I've made one of his recipes and based on that one I am pleased with his work.

Chris
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fallingwickets
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Re: Soupe au pistou

Post by fallingwickets »

Brian and Chris....THANK YOU both for the great advice and help/ Chris, no need to be typing recipes...I'll try the one you posted and go from there. Thanks again, gents

clive
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fallingwickets
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Re: Soupe au pistou

Post by fallingwickets »

made the pistou yesterday....actually got to use a le creuset pestle and mortar that ive had in the cupboard for years but for reasons unknown i have not used until now.

Anyway, the soup is really very very tasty and not counting stripping thyme and chopping it up, it is very easy to make.

Thanks

clive

https://ibb.co/tmybZWn

https://ibb.co/X81r5St

forgot to take a pic of the soup plated, but theres plenty of leftovers for that!
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EL Alamein
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Re: Soupe au pistou

Post by EL Alamein »

Clive, glad you liked it!

Chris
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