Soupe au Pistou

Aix-en-Provence Tourism’s selected soupe au pistou combines fresh beans and diced vegetables with a garlic, basil and tomato paste. Small coquillettes and three grated cheeses finish this thick Provençal soup.

White and red beans are shelled, while flat green beans, courgettes, potatoes, leeks and celery are diced. These ingredients boil together in salted water to make the soup base.

The tomatoes are blanched and peeled separately during the soup’s cooking. Garlic and basil are pounded in a mortar before the tomatoes and a gradual addition of olive oil produce a paste.

The paste joins the vegetable pot before the end of cooking. Coquillettes then enter the boiling soup, and Gruyère, Parmesan and hard Edam are added once the pasta is cooked.

The complete soup is served very hot and fairly thick. Its beans, vegetable pieces and small pasta shapes sit in a broth flavoured by the fresh garlic-and-basil preparation and the three cheeses.