Pistou Soup

A French-Italian classic. Make it with whatever vegetables happen to be in the shop/ your fridge. 

Serves: 4
Cost per person: 3.13 zl (57 UK pence, 0.73 Euros)

There are 3 elements to this recipe:

1. A simple pesto
2. A vegetable broth
3. Croutons

You'll need (for this version):

- a bowl of basil leaves
- 3 tablespoons of grates parmesan cheese
- olive oil
- black pepper
- salt
- 1 onion cut into 1 cm pieces
- 1 small carrot cut into 0.5 cm pieces
- 1 bulb of fennel trimmed and cut into 1 cm pieces
- 1 leek cut into 1 cm pieces
- 1/2 red pepper cut into 1 cm pieces
- 1 large (mild) red chilli pepper sliced
- boiled water
- 1 baguette


First off, the pesto sauce:

1. Pluck a bowl of basil leaves. Peel and slice 2 cloves of garlic. Grate around a tablespoon of parmesan cheese.

2. Whizz up in a coffee grinder or whatever with a good glug of olive oil and a pinch of salt. 

Ok. Pesto done - you can use this with other recipes too. Now for the vegetable broth.

1. Prep the veg

2. Olive oil in a pan on medium. Veg in.

3. Sweat down for around 5 minutes. Season. Grind in some black pepper.

4. Add some boiling water to cover the veg. Turn up the heat and cook aggressively for 4 minutes.

5. Add the pesto.

6. Simmer down on low for another minute. Turn off the heat.

Ok, the soup's done. Now for the croutons.

1. Slice a baguette fairly thin. Dip one side in olive oil. Lay on a baking tray. 

2. Put under the grill until crisp and golden.

3. Grate some parmesan

Now make the soup: put some croutons on top and sprinkle generous amounts of parmesan over the top. Enjoy!

Cost:

- basil - 4 zl

- veg - 5 zl

- parmesan - 2 zl

- baguette - 1 zl

- olive oil - 0.50 zl

Total: 12.50 zl

Serves: 4

Per person: 3.13 zl