Soupe au Pistou

Top and tail the green beans and cut them into small pieces, approximately 1 inch long. Shell the fresh navy and cranberry beans. You can also use dried beans, in which case you should halve the amount listed above and soak the dry beans overnight.

Dice the zucchini and the onion and peel and dice the carrots and the potato.

In a large kettle, add all the vegetables and beans and cover with 3 liters of cold water. Add salt and pepper and the bay leaf. Bring to the boil and simmer for 40 minutes, or until the beans are cooked. This is the traditional way of cooking the vegetables, but if you prefer your vegetables a little more crunchy, add them to the beans 20 minutes into the cooking.

At about 10 minutes before the beans and vegetables are done, throw in the pasta (or rice if you want it to be gluten free) and finish cooking.

Meanwhile, peel and crush the garlic cloves in a pestle and mortar and put them into a bowl. This can also be done in an electric blender. Add the chopped basil leaves. Add the tomato, peeled and chopped and slowly pour in the olive oil and add a pinch of salt and some fresh pepper to taste. You should have a well blended paste which is called pistou (the Provencal version of pesto).

Just before serving, add a ladle of the vegetable broth to the pistou paste and mix to combine.

Serve the soup and pass around the pistou and the grated cheese for each person to help themselves according to how much they want.

If you leave out the cheese, it is vegan and if you use rice instead of pasta it is gluten free.