Pistou

Basil, garlic and oil with no nuts in it, and the cheese handed round at the table rather than pounded in.

Not vegetarian — contains parmesan whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

• 4 large bunches basil, leaves only, about 100 g
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 150 ml olive oil
• 1 tomato, peeled and seeded, optional
• grated parmesan or gruyère, to pass round

Method

1. THERE ARE NO PINE NUTS IN THIS AND THE CHEESE IS HANDED ROUND RATHER THAN POUNDED IN. Basil, garlic, salt and oil, and that is the whole list. Nuts make it thicker, sweeter and heavier; cheese pounded into the paste turns it gritty and, in soup, makes it curdle and sink in strands instead of dispersing. Pass the cheese at the table and each bowl gets it fresh.
2. THE BASIL IS BRUISED, NOT CHOPPED OR BLADED. A blade cuts cell walls cleanly and the oil that carries the smell goes into the air; a pestle crushes them and the oil goes into the paste. It is also why a blitzed basil sauce goes black within the hour and a pounded one stays green for a day.
3. THE SALT IS AN ABRASIVE, not just seasoning. Coarse salt pounded with the garlic first does the work of shredding the basil, which is why it goes in at the start and not at the end.
4. AND IT IS NEVER COOKED. Stirred into hot soup off the heat, or spooned on at the table. Simmered, the smell is gone in a minute and what is left is oily garlic water.
5. Basil leaves picked, washed and DRIED COMPLETELY. Water stops the paste coming together.
6. Garlic and coarse salt pounded in a mortar to a smooth paste.
7. Basil added a handful at a time, pounded and ground against the sides until each lot is dark and broken down before the next goes in. This takes 6 to 8 minutes and there is no shortcut.
8. The tomato pounded in now if using, which loosens it for soup and makes it milder.
9. The oil poured in a thin thread, stirred with the pestle rather than pounded, until it is a loose paste that just holds together.
10. Tasted for salt. It should be aggressive on its own -- it is going into something.
11. Used the same day for the best of it. It keeps three days under a film of oil in the fridge, going darker and milder.
12. For soupe au pistou: a spoonful stirred into each bowl at the table, with the cheese passed separately.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes