Soupe au pistou, Karen Homer, French Soup Recipe, French Pistou Soup.

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French Food Recipes from Karen Homer I am lucky enough to have a friend with a flat in St Maxime – just across the water from St Tropez - it’s not quite the provencal farmhouse of my dreams but with abundant market produce and local rosé a stone’s throw away it is good enough. When I visit I take with me the recipes of Richard Olney, the legendary American food and wine writer who made his home in Provence and championed the local cooking with landmark cookbooks such as The French Menu Cookbook and Simple French Food. Another favourite of mine is Olney’s book Lulu’s Provencal Table, inspired by the recipes of his friend, Lulu Peyraud, the mistress of Domaine Tempier with its wonderful Bandol wines, whose simple family style of cooking is all the things I admire most: local, seasonal and full of the finest natural ingredients. When I visit St Maxime, along with the fresh fish and vegetable market there are plenty of small shops selling other local delicacies: grassy green olive oil, lavender and local honey, things I can take home to recreate some Provencal dishes. Luckily, particularly in high summer English markets are as heavy with scent and promise as those in the south of France. Bunches of pungent basil and jewel-red tomatoes at the peak of ripeness are as common here as they always have been in the olive-oil eating countries of Europe. In this spirit I am making a soupe au pistou or lamb shank soup. You can make this as substantial or light as you like. I am only using one large shank, just enough to flavour and thicken the broth then I remove the bone, strip the meat and return to the pot just before serving. As long as you include beans of some description, summery vegetables like fennel and courgette, tomatoes, and the all important basil and garlic ‘pistou’ you can play around with this soup/stew as your mood (and the contents of your fridge) dictate. The pistou sauce is the make or break for this dish – a familiar combination of basil, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil it has different names in different countries – pesto being the most familiar. And it is by far the best made the traditional way in a pestle and mortar. This most basic of kitchen utensils is one of my most used. It doesn’t have to be posh (though large and marble would be nice) simply functional. Enjoy releasing those wonderfully sensual aromas as you pound the nuts into the basil, pour yourself a glass of Bandol rosé and close your eyes for a moment and dream you are sitting outside a provencal farmhouse. Read more on Karens Blog www.acookslibrary.com		Soupe au Pistou

		Soupe au Pistou (Serves 4)
		For the lamb: 1 large or 2 small lamb shanks Braising vegetables: 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 stick celery, 3 cloves garlic, 2 bay leaves, sprig of parsley, sprig of thyme. 1 litre chicken stock salt and pepper olive oil For the body of the soup: 300g shell beans (haricot, coco or borlotti) 200g green beans 1 bulb fennel 1 large carrot 1 onion 2 small courgettes 3 ripe plum tomatoes 2 tbsps chopped parsley olive oil salt and pepper For the pistou: 2 tbsp pine nuts, 3 garlic cloves, large bunch basil, 100ml extra virgin olive oil, Salt.

		Season the shanks ahead of time and leave in the fridge. Warm the oil in a heavy-based casserole and brown the shanks. Add the braising vegetables, a splash of wine and the chicken stock. Cook about 3 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone in a medium hot oven or on the hob. Remove from the broth and set aside. If using fresh podded beans cook in plain water until tender and set aside. (Drain and rinse tinned beans well). Blanch the green beans briefly and chop in 1cm lengths. Pour 2-3 tbsps of olive oil in a heavy-based casserole or saucepan. Add the diced fennel, carrot and onion and a little salt and pepper and allow to gently soften without colouring. Peel and seed the tomatoes and chop. Add to the pan. Add the broth and allow it to reduce for about 15 minutes (taste it for seasoning and depth of flavour, boil vigorously if you want a stronger broth). At the very end of cooking add the shell and green beans, diced courgettes, chopped parsley and the meat from the lamb shanks. Cook 5-10 minutes then serve with pistou. For the pistou, pound the pine nuts and garlic with a pinch of salt until well broken down then begin to add a few basil leaves and a splash of olive oil alternately, pounding as you go until you have a smooth paste. Add the rest of the oil and check for seasoning. Karen Homer is a London-based ex-fashion writer turned food writer whose passion is for fresh, seasonal food, bought at local markets and cooked and enjoyed by friends and family. To read more features and inspirational recipes, along with anecdotes about family life and trying to encourage eating the ‘slow food’ way, log onto: www.acookslibrary.com If, like the French, you enjoy fashionable clothes as much as gourmet food you might like Karen’s previous books: Things a Woman Should Know About Style and Things a Woman Should Know About Shoes.



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