The French version of pesto, pistou is often stirred into soupe au pistou, Provence's vegetable and bean soup. In this dish, the vegetable soup ingredients and pistou are blended together into a flavorful puree that's topped with shrimp. To serve as a main course, add a side of orzo tossed with good-quality olive oil, salt, plenty of pepper, and some grated Asiago cheese.
Ingredients
Pistou:
Shrimp:
For pistou:
Step 1
Bring large saucepan of water to boil. Add basil leaves and simmer 15 seconds. Using strainer or slotted spoon, transfer basil directly to blender. Add 1 teaspoon coarse salt to water in same saucepan and bring to boil. Add carrots and cook 5 minutes. Add broccoli and cauliflower, and cook until all vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes longer. Drain. Using slotted spoon, transfer vegetables to bowl of ice water and let stand until cold. Drain well. Add vegetables, vegetable stock, cranberry beans, parsley, and 1/4 cup oil to basil in blender. Puree until smooth, occasionally scraping down sides of blender with rubber spatula. Transfer pistou to medium bowl, and season to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD:Pistou can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm in microwave before serving.
For shrimp:
Step 2
Pour 3 cups olive oil into heavy large saucepan, and add thyme sprigs. Attach deep-fry thermometer to side of saucepan and heat oil over medium heat until thermometer registers between 165°F and 180°F. Sprinkle shrimp with salt and pepper. Add shrimp to hot oil and poach just until shrimp are opaque in center, adjusting heat to maintain temperature between 165°F and 180°F, about 8 minutes. Transfer shrimp to paper towels to drain.
Step 3
Divide warm pistou among 4 or 6 plates. Top pistou with poached shrimp and serve.
Nutrition Per Serving
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Reviews (6)
Back to TopI religiously read the reviews on Epicurious so I want to thank all of you who reviewed this recipe for helping me make it much better than written. This is an excellent dish for anyone looking to have a special meal that's very low calorie and packed with veggies. Here are my modifications: For the Pistou, I roasted 10 whole garlic cloves, caramelized a small onion and about 10 mushrooms and then added the beans to the pan. So I had two pans on the stove: one poaching the green veggies, one caramelizing the onion, mushroom and beans, plus I deglazed that pan with a half bottle of white wine. I added all the veggies, onion and garlic to the blender with parsley, adjusted for salt and pepper, and it was fantastic. For the shrimp, I simply sautéed them with more fresh garlic, threw in lemon juice and wine to deglaze and added chopped parsley at the very end. We had with brown rice and it was a huge hit. You can use the Pistou as a healthy condiment for sandwiches and burgers too because you will probably have some left over. Don't be shy with seasonings and consider bumping up the basil quantity.
karenmarriner
Walnut Creek, CA
3/9/2016
Took advice of other reviewers and added roasted garlic. It was delicious and impressive. We had a lot of pistou left over which was great to integrate with other dishes or just use as a dip for bread. Just sautéed shrimp with olive oil.
cannedyou
Boston, MA
1/25/2014
The pistou recipe, as written, is subtle, and I agree it is improved with the addition of a couple of cloves of garlic. The olive-oil POACHED shrimp were sublime -- not fried, but poached! Excellent!
Anonymous
Avon, CT
4/9/2012
Bland. Very disappointing.
Anonymous
New York
9/6/2009
very bland. perhaps with lots more garlic this might have some flavor. maybe some carmelized onions would help. i also did not deep fry shrimp, but just sauteed them.
Anonymous
hinsdale, IL
1/6/2009
这是一个伟大的秘诀。很新鲜。我翻了一倍garlic, however. It was great served with french bread to dip in the sauce. I also didn't fry the shrimp, I just sauteed them in olive oil to make it even healthier. Very good for a summerr evening on the porch.
alisse73
Boulder, Colorado
3/2/2008
