Bright flavors… are the first words that come to mind when I think of the soup that I want to tell you about today.
This soup is a layered trio of fresh, dried and pureed ingredients. It combines:
- seasonal baby vegetables,
- dried vegetables and herbs infused like tea in a vegetable broth,
- and a creamy “pistou” (basil, garlic and olive oil sauce, the French version of pesto).
It is meant to be a firework of colors and scents, a light seasonal soup that leaves you with a fresh taste and a clear mind – perfect for lunch or supper.
It is also a soup that can be prepared fairly easily at home with a few tweaks to the restaurant’s recipe.
If you are preparing this soup for a party of 4 or more, I would recommend dicing larger vegetables – for example rainbow carrots, celery, chioggia beets, fennel, leeks.
You can blanch them in either a vegetable broth or salted water for a few minutes. The thinner the julienne – the shorter the boiling time – the better for preserving the vitamins and each vegetable’s distinct taste.
Using a mortar and a pestle, puree a large bouquet of basil leaves (after separating the leaves from the stem and washing them) with 2 cloves of garlic and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Salt to taste. It would probably be faster to make pistou using a food processor, but the contact of the sharp blades on the basil leaves makes them taste bitter.
To serve, spread one teaspoon of pistou on the bottom of a bowl then pour the soup.
