Adapted from “French Feasts,” by Stephane Reynaud (Stewart, Tabori & Chang). The original recipe calls for fresh white beans, but they are very hard to come by this time of year. Instead, use good-quality canned beans, or dried beans that you have already soaked and par-cooked yourself. “Pistou” is the French answer to pesto sauce. Serves 6.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups white beans
3 cups green peans
1 1/2 cups snow peas
2 medium potatoes
2 medium carrots
3 medium onions
1/3 pound spaghetti
Salt and pepper
PISTOU SAUCE
1 bunch basil
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup olive oil
Directions
Rinse the white beans and trim the green beans. Peel the potatoes, carrots and onions. Cut all the vegetables into a small dice and place in a pot. Cover them with twice their volume of water, bring to a boil and cook gently for an hour.
Break up the spaghetti, add to the soup and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the pistou sauce. Combine the basil, garlic, pine nuts and parmesan, and crush with a mortar and pestle until the mixture forms a paste. Then gradually pour in the olive oil. (You can add the flesh of two blanched and peeled tomatoes to this mixture if you like.)
Season the soup and serve with pistou sauce.
