Green beans soup

Soup is a quintessential dish of where we come from. The process of making it is essentially always the same: one starts by boiling some vegetables or legumes, which are then pureed to form a broth, the basis of the soup. This puree is thinned down with water to reach the right consistency, and this is heated back to the boiling point. Some vegetables are then cooked in this broth - cabbage, spinach, whatever.

Green beans soup is a summer thing. You can have it even cold after the beach, it is delicious like that. Tomatoes are often used in making the broth, which gives it a nice acidity that makes the soup palatable when cold.

Alas, summer is still a long way to come where we are living right now. If we close our eyes and concentrate on the smell, maybe we can dream of a hot summer night!

Ingredients:
250 gr of green beans
4 medium potatoes
2 turnips
2 carrot
1 onion
1 garlic clove
2 small tomatoes, tinned ones are fine
olive oil
coarse salt

Peel all the vegetables except the green beans, chop them in small chunks (save for one of the carrots) and put them in a pressure cooker. Cover with water, add a few slugs of olive oil, close the lid, and switch off 10 minutes or so after the cooker has reached full pressure. Release the pressure by running cold water over the pot and, after removing the safety valve, open the cooker. With the aid of a blender, reduce the cooked vegetables to a creamy puree. Make sure everything is really smooth before moving on to the next stage. In the meanwhile, cut the other carrot in half lenghtwise, and then chop it in thin slices crosswise. Cut the extremities of the green beans and slice them at an angle to obtain 1cm stipes. Add water (preferably hot) to the puree in order to reach the consistency of a creamy broth, a bit more of olive oil, and salt to taste. When the broth comes back to the boil, drop the green beans and carrot in the pot. Simmer gently until everything is cooked but retains the shape and bite.