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French Classics

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Top tips for soupe au pistou

When it’s made well, soup is a balanced, hearty and healthy meal that’s extremely versatile.
Soups can be served either hot or cold and are traditionally eaten with bread, croutons,
grated cheese and fresh herbs as accompaniments.Soups can be classified into two main
groups: clear soups and thick soups. Clear soups typically have a flavoured stock or broth
as the base, while thick soups contain some kind of thickening agent like flour, eggs, butter
or cream. Interestingly, a chunky vegetable soup like soupe au pistou is still classified as a

clear soup until you blend it and can no longer see the individual elements.

10 tips for the soupe

1. Soak the beans
If you’re planning to add dry beans to your soup (as you would with soupe au pistou), soak
them in cold water for 24 hours prior to cooking them. Doing this helps them to cook more
quickly and evenly, and also helps keep the beautiful colour and flavour of the beans locked
in. Once dry beans have been soaked in water, they’re called rehydrated beans.

2. Save the salt until last
It’s never a good idea to cook rehydrated beans (or any legumes such as lentils or chickpeas)
in salted water. Salt prevents them from softening and cooking, and they’ll take hours to
reach the point where they’re edible and delicious. So, be patient and save your seasoning
until right at the end when the beans are nice and soft.

3. Slice rather than crush the garlic
For soupe au pistou, slice the garlic into thin slices rather than crushing it into oblivion. This

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