In the Provençal dialect, pistou means "pounded".
The sauce is derived from the Genoese pesto, which is traditionally made of garlic, basil, pine nuts, grated Sardinian Pecorino, and olive oil, crushed and mixed together with a pestle and mortar. The key difference between pistou and pesto is the absence of pine nuts in pistou.
Soupe au Pistou
Pistou is a typical condiment from the Provence region of France most often associated with the Provençal dish
soupe au pistou, which resembles minestrone and may include white beans, green beans, tomatoes, summer squash, potatoes, and pasta. The pistou is incorporated into the soup just before serving.
Gruyere cheese is used in Nice. Some regions substitute Parmesan Cheese. 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.
So, once this vegetable soup is made the addition of a spoonful of pistou [pesto] gives it a good kick up the rear, that certain ooomph often lacking in purely vegetable soups.
In the part of France we tend to visit, near Montelimar in the Drome department, right down through Northern Provence villages have a day in August when they all put to and have a communal meal, generally in the village square. This meal typically consists of [vegetarians look away for the next word] charcuterie, olives, soup au pistou, desert and cheese course. This is washed down with Cotes du Rhone or something very similar and, of course, some decent coffee.
The plan is for us to emulate this French tradition right here in our very own secret garden. As this is very much an experimental project tickets will have to be strictly limited to around forty adults. Children are very welcome although they may have to be catered for by their parents as the grown up meal may not be to their taste.
In the traditional method the soup itself is made by a band of crones which in our case will have to be WAGs from the tennis club. They chop, slice and shell various veggies and boil the bejesus out of them in large saucepans. Meanwhile the men check out the wine and, perhaps, the odd beer.
The whole thing depends upon a decent weather day. So long as the sun shines all will be well, honest.
Stonehouse tennis club on a fine August afternoon in 2015
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If you are having a go at this you will need:-
- a soup bowl
- knife, fork and spoon
- a glass
- bottle of wine [my personal preference would be a Cotes du Rhone Villages]
We do not intend charging for children as it is felt that most of them will not eat this sort of stuff. We suggest you bring a sandwich or something the children will like and we hope to set up a pique-nique especially for them.
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We are hoping to have some Fun and games from around 2.00pm and sit down for the serious stuff around 4.00pm. Who knows when it will all end ? I guarantee there will be lots of sitting around chatting and putting the world right.
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Tickets will be £10 per adult and they are strictly limited as we can only cater for a about forty people at this stage..
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à tout à l'heure !
adl...
