Modified Soup Au Pistou

Me: We are having Soup Au Pistou and Pasta for dinner.
Hubby: But I am allergic to pesto.
M: It's not pesto, it's Pistou.
H: Say Wha...
M: Just eat it. It has no pine nuts.
H: Yummmm..
M: Thanks

I bought Ina Garten's Barefoot In Paris book and been wanting to try some recipes. I made a fresh batch of veggies broth yesterday and decided to make a soup. I found this Soup Au Pistou recipe in her book and since I am not a big fan of Saffron ( i do use it but not much) I decided to modify the soup a bit.
She adds saffron to this soup and I did not. I used vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. For making the pistou, I used sun dried tomatoes instead of tomato paste. She adds the pistou on top of the soup as garnish but I mixed it in the soup and it was yummmmm....

Ingredients:
Leeks - 1 roughly chopped
Celery - 1 stick roughly chopped
Potatoes - 1 cubed
Carrot - 1 large cubed
baby french beans - around 20 9 I used frozen)
Olive oil - as needed
salt and pepper - to taste
vegetable broth - 2 cups
water - 4 cups


To make the Pistou:
Fresh Basil leaves - 1 bunch
Sun dried tomatoes in oil - 1/2 cup
Freshly grated parmesan cheese - 1/2 cup
Olive oil - 1/4 cup

Grind the above ingredients to a paste or do it in a food processor for a coarse texture.

Procedure:
- Heat olive oil in a soup pot.
- Add the leeks and saute till soft.
- Add remaining veggies except beans, season with salt and cook till tender.
- Add broth, water and bring to a boil.
- Add the pistou and beans and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Top it with a little freshly ground pepper and parmesan cheese and serve.

Zucchini Pancakes or Cutlets

I am a big fan of Ina Garten. I am in the process of starting to collect her cook books and bought her "Barefoot Contessa At Home" couple of months ago. I made Zucchini pancakes from that book earlier and it came out good. It's a very simple recipe with grated zucchini, eggs, flour and stuff.

However, I made these yesterday without eggs as my mom doesn't eat eggs on Thursday's ( don't even ask;)). I added a 8OZ can of washed cannellini beans that I had on hand. I have to say it was very very good and was able to make V try one. he came back asking for more :).

Ingredients:

Zuchhini - 2 grated
Onion - 1 small chopped fine
Cannelini beans - One 8 Oz can drained and smashed (not puree)
Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp.
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp.
All purpose Flour - 1/2 to 1 cup
Baking powder - pinch (optional)
Salt and pepper - to taste
Oil - for pan frying

Procedure:

- Heat oil in a wide skillet
- Mix all the ingredients except flour.
- Add flour little bit at a time to get the Zucchini batter to a thick consistency. It should be thicker than usual pancake better.
- Make patties and pan fry them turning after 20 to 30 seconds on each side.

Serve hot with any hot and sour sauce.

The picture of these cutlets standing up has been taken with an inspiration from Jai and Bee's Sweet potato Crisps :).