Happy Friday! Here we are at the last French Fridays with Dorie recipe of July already. Does anyone else feel like this summer is flying by?
This week we made Provençal Vegetable Soup. Soup seems like an odd thing to make in the middle of summer, but this one is chock full of summer vegetables.
What vegetables are in this soup? Here is the long list: onion, garlic, carrots, potato, green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, and fresh corn. Add to that some pasta and cannellini beans, then top with pesto, basil, and Parmesan cheese. For an all-veggie soup, this one is quite hearty!
I was able to use several herbs and veggies from our garden: rosemary, potato, tomatoes, and basil. Even the pesto came from last year’s garden.
Now, we’ve been having some hot weather here in Reno. We had a couple weeks over 100°, and soup really doesn’t sound appealing when it is that hot out. Thankfully, early this week we had a patch of cooler weather, and the day I made my soup it was a little cloudy and rainy, with a high of *only* 85°.
We loved this soup! To me, the pesto really makes the soup. Even though the corn is non-traditional, we felt that it really added a nice flavor and texture. This soup is a winner for sure. Maybe I’ll make it again in the Fall when the weather is a little cooler?
This post participates in French Fridays with Dorie, and online group cooking our way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table. If you would like to try Provençal Vegetable Soup, I highly recommend getting this wonderful book!
From Scratch 
Yeah, the sweet corn and pesto were definitely flavor highlights! Glad you had a bit of a cool down to enjoy this one!
You are right, the pesto is the highlight of the soup! I enjoyed this too!
Apparently Mother Nature knew that we all needed a little break from the heat so that we could make soup. How thoughtful of her;-)
Your reaction to this soup was exactly the same, without the pesto it wouldn’t have been that special and the corn was the stand out flavor and texture to me too.
We loved this soup too. And you are right don’t skip the pesto or Parmesan.
I think many people were surprised with this recipe. It really turned out
delicious. We enjoyed every spoonful.
I was surprised by this recipe too, but it was super delicious. I agree about the pesto, and corn is always a welcome addition – adding some great texture and flavor. Yours looks delicious!!
we really felt that the pesto made this soup too! : ) glad you enjoyed it! We ate ours at room temperature and it was great, especially given our 98 degree evening!
I really enjoyed the flavor added by the pesto! It was a perfect summer soup! Glad it was a hit in your house! Have a great weekend, Karen!
I love that you were able to use some of your own vegetables and herbs in this. I was surprised how much I liked it. In addition to the pesto, I thought the corn and tomatoes made this one special. Hope it’s cooled off.
Okay, I will try again. We lived in Las Vegas for ten years before I moved back here last year after my husband died. I feel your pain with the Reno weather. We were in the 100’s most of the summer and the 100’s and teens many days. Ohhhhhh, that was steamy. It would have been hard to make soup, even as good a soup as this, in that kind of heat. Eighty-five degrees? Why that’s almost winter! Your soup looks delicious and I am glad you all enjoyed it.
Thankfully Reno is not nearly as bad as Las Vegas! But still, the Seattle-raised girl in me still struggles with the heat.
Yes, this summer is happening way too quickly.
85 is a hot day here 🙂 I am glad it was a “little” cooler for you when you had to make this one…
I’m glad you hit a patch of cooler weather when you made this. I picked this one because of the summer vegetables, but our mild weather here (most of the time) kept me from thinking about what it might be like making this elsewhere.
I finally posted about it this week, so am making the rounds of everyone’s posts now.