Pistou

Summary

Pistou is Provence's much-loved answer to pesto. Pistou is a cold sauce made from cloves of garlic, fresh basil, and olive oil.

Contents

The Provençal love to quarrel about soupe au pistou.

Typically added to a vegetable-rich soup, pistou has had a long history. The Roman poet Virgil described a sauce made by crushing herbs in a mortar with garlic, salt and olive oil. Over time, the sauce morphed into the heady Genoese pesto, which then morphed into pistou in Nice.

The Provençal also spend a lot of time discussing versions of the soup. Traditionally, it includes a homemade broth, fresh white beans, green beans, potatoes and macaroni. A recipe by Patricia Wells adds pumpkin; one by Richard Olney calls for carrots. Cooks in Provence often vary the pasta, too (some use vermicelli). Robert Lalleman, the chef at the esteemed Auberge de Noves in Avignon, enriches his recipe by sautéing pasta in butter before mixing it into the soup.

Pistou sauce, or just pistou, is a cold sauce made from cloves of garlic, fresh basil, and olive oil. Some more modern versions of the recipe include grated parmesan, pecorino or similar hard cheeses. Traditionally, the ingredients are crushed and mixed together in a mortar with a pestle, (pistou means pounded in the Provençal language). It is often confused with pesto with which it shares some of the same ingredients, the key difference being absence of pinoli (pine nuts), from pistou. It is a typical condiment from the Provence region of France that can be served with pasta dishes or as a spread for bread. But it is most often associated with the Provencal dish Soupe au Pistou, a minestrone like summer soup that includes white beans, green beans, tomatoes, summer squash, potatoes, and vermicelli. These ingredients can be left out or replaced as long as the soup's golden rule about summer vegetables is followed. Some recipes incorporate the pistou into the soup just before serving. Others recommend offering the sauce at the table to be added after the soup is served.

Some regions, especially those closer to the Alps, substitute Swiss cheese in the place of parmesan. Whatever cheese is used, it is preferred that it not be a "stringy" cheese, so that when it melts in a hot liquid (like in the pistou soup, for instance) it does not melt into long strands.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistou
2. http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/frances-best-pistou

1. http://www.foodea.com/recipes/pistou-french-vegetable-soup