Survival Soupe

 

It’s been hot here recently but the days are noticeably shorter and nights noticeably cooler. 

It’s time for us to get some grapes from Michigan or from a truck from California to make wine again in our garage. That means we need to move the juice from last year that has been maturing in the aging vessels we have in the basement. I didn’t bottle that juice earlier because I didn’t feel it was anywhere near ready, and there was no reason to rush. Miraculously, they have been tasting better recently, just in time. Em wrote about this last week in On Projects - this is my follow-up post, about a dish to fuel project-doing.

I needed a few pairs of hands to help lift heavy tanks and keep the bottling process moving swiftly along. I invited all my wine-loving friends and offered to feed everyone. I thought back to when Em and I made potato and squid stew (detailed in her post “squid for 30”) as a way to feed a small crowd. 

Hot soup in summer doesn’t always feel fitting, but these dog days are perfect for soupe au pistou. Pistou is similar to pesto, though traditionally it is made without nuts. The soup celebrates the bounty of the harvest, typically including freshly shelled haricot beans, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, garlic and carrots, newly pulled from the earth. It is similar to Italian minestrone. I think of it as ratatouille in soup form. It also often includes some sort of small pasta, like a minestrone. I didn't include the pasta - instead I ate it with a big slice of Bennison’s Bakery miche, to soak up all the liquor that lingers at the bottom of the bowl. Each bowl is topped with a spoonful of pistou, which you then stir in yourself. 

My spiritual understanding of soupe au pistou, which may or may not be true to the French tradition of it, is to use whatever you have that reflects the summer season, and to liberally replace with preserved ingredients where you don’t have a fresh option. The freshness of the pistou is really the height of lightness that defines the dish, and if you need canned or dried ingredients otherwise, it's not so bad. So, for instance, I used canned tomatoes because our tomatoes were not quite ripe yet. I used dried white beans because I could not find fresh shelling beans of the right size. On the other hand, I did use lots of fresh herbs and kale, and new carrots, red onion, leeks, eggplant and zucchini from the farmer’s market. People also often include pumpkin or fall squash, and different hearty greens like swiss chard. 

I learned a few lessons from the aforementioned squid stew that I brought to this recipe. It’s beneficial to cook in smaller batches, or, if you don’t feel like using a bunch of pans as I did this time, you need to be patient, cooking things in stages, making sure each vegetable gets cooked enough but not too much. I spent all day Saturday before serving this on Sunday slowly adding the elements of the soup, tasting and seasoning often, building it up. I was doing other things around the house, ad it was nice and easy to just have the big pot going on the stove. Second, chopped garlic is awesome for this. I’ve gotten in the habit of only ever using pureed or crushed garlic, but it’s worth it to take the time for even just a rough chop of a few bulbs for this soup. 

We ate the soup that day of bottling wine and many more days beyond then. It is acidic and garlicky, yet settled in my belly happily, neutrally. It felt wonderfully nourishing - a complete meal to fuel busy days in pursuit of whatever project. It fed my partner Dave and I the whole week leading up to our wedding. “It kept us alive,” Dave said today. “Without the pistou, I’d be dead.” 

Pistou* 

Makes about 1.5 cups

*This is not really a pistou recipe, it’s a maybe a pesto recipe that even then breaks many rules. It is very different from my early summer pesto - detailed in an earlier blog post. For that pesto I used a Vitamix and a lot more water than I do here. That one makes an almost mousse-like, airy, light green pesto. I prefer the deep emerald hue and piecey-ness of this one for the soup. For this I use a food processor. But don’t be afraid to let the food processor run for a while, the sauce still needs to be broken down and fused together quite a bit. You can also use a mortar and pestle, it’s a very nice method as well. 

1 clove garlic 

5-6 large handfuls of basil leaves, about 4 cups 

Optional: 1 small handful parsley and mint or other tender leaf herb

⅓ cup pepitas 

⅓ cup panko or you can also use plain pretzels or saltines 

⅓ cup coarsely chopped parmigiano reggiano 

2/3 cup very good olive oil (we have beautiful Lamoresca, it’s worth it.)

⅓ cup cold water 

Drop that clove of garlic in and blitz it up. Add the herbs and blitz, then add each following ingredient, blitzing between, until you reach the oil and water. Drizzle in the oil and water, alternating between them. Taste and make sure you like the texture and seasoning. Season or add panko or pretzels to bulk up the sauce, or thin with more olive oil and water. Keeps well stored in fridge for 2 weeks. Remove from fridge and bring to room temp before serving. 

La Soupe 

Makes about 4 quarts, 10 or so entree portions 

Cooking time: 5 hours over low heat 

This soup is best made the day before eating, so the flavors can fuse. It can take a good bit of long, slow heat, as you see in the cooking time. 

Ingredients: 

¼ c olive oil 

2 tablespoons butter 

2 Leeks, halved then sliced into ⅛” half moons, soaked in cold water and rinsed thoroughly to remove any sand

1 Red onion, chopped

5 cloves of garlic, chopped  

2 stalks celery, chopped 

4 Carrots, halved then sliced into ⅛” half moons 

3 zucchini, halved then sliced into 1/2” half moons

1 medium eggplant, peeled, halved, then sliced into ½” half moons 

2 tablespoons chopped marjoram or oregano 

2 quarts water (or chicken or veg stock, water is traditional) 

400 ml dry white wine 

1 can peeled whole tomatoes 

1 bunch kale or other hearty green, chopped 

Salt and pepper to taste 

For the beans: 

2 cups dried or 1.5 c freshly shelled small white beans. I used Alubia Blanca from Rancho Gordo 

I didn't bother to soak the beans, there are many opinions about this but this is my preference. 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add beans and some aromatics if you feel like it (I tossed in some bay leaves, thyme and black peppercorns i had to later fish out) and cook, covered, at a medium-low simmer, for 1 hour. Set aside. 

Melt the butter in the bottom of a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Add leeks and cook until melted. Then add red onion and cook until softened (don’t have to be totally translucent). As you add the rest of the ingredients, use the olive oil and the white wine as liquids to keep things from sticking to the pan. Toss in garlic, celery and carrots, and cook for about 20 minutes on medium-low heat. Add herbs, zucchini, eggplant, water and any remaining wine. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, then cover and cook at a low simmer for another several hours.

Continue cooking and reducing (cooking uncovered) if you want a thicker soup. Add beans to soup before putting the soup away for the night, reheat next day with beans in soup. 5 minutes before serving, bring soup to a simmer. Add greens and cook uncovered for 5 minutes. Serve with a spoonful of pistou on top, and a drizzle more of olive oil. 

Pour boire, to drink: 

I had this for lunch a lot with a big glass of water, but one night added a glass of wine at dinner. Bobinet Poil de Lièvre (hair of the hare) is a wonderfully simple wine -  unfussy, crisp chenin blanc. I love how unassuming this wine is, like this rustic vegetarian soup. Poil de Lièvre has enough acidity to match the tomatoes, and adds a little more salt and roundness to the finish of the soup.