Day 3 - Soupe au Pistou

I took two years of French in high school and a couple more in my earlier college days. The gorgeous, intricate language and delicious carb-y food fueled my desire to learn about and visit France. For school potlucks, I made eclairs, earning me the "most popular when it comes to food" title. While IN France, I gorged on delicious baguettes and amazing espresso. The country's food (at least, the veggie friendly sorts) hold me in its grasp, beckoning me to recreate it and take a vegan spin on the dishes I wouldn't touch in their normal state.

If I must be honest, I had never heard of soupe au pistou until I searched for traditional French recipes for MoFo. The word pistou I recognized, but only because of J. Scone's post on this delicious sounding dish. As I read the ingredients, I thought "oh, this sounds like minestrone! But with pesto! WIN."

I used Wolfgang Puck's recipe, seen here. It's vegan minus the crouton thingies he's got going on, but Grand Central stepped up and held up nicely in the hot soup. 

(this photo is awful. Pretend that it's not)

And it was. My husband gives it two thumbs up. He actually said, "I like this better than your minestrone, which I love. So, make it more."

I cut the recipe in half to make three generous servings. It's almost gone.