Provencal vegetable soup with pistou

Dice half a pound each of carrots, celery, potatoes and onions.

Fill the biggest pot with water, add a tablespoon of salt and the vegetables and the beans.

Bring to a boil on high, then turn the heat down and cook 40 minutes.

Canned beans are soft already and he judges they went in too early, so he picks them back out and holds them.

Combine the broken spaghetti, the diced French green beans, the crumbled stale bread, saffron threads and pepper in a bowl with the white beans.

After 40 minutes, when the vegetables have softened, add the bowl and more salt and slowly boil 15 minutes.

Mash four cloves of garlic, plus three smaller ones, in a bowl.

Add the tomato puree, the basil and a quarter cup of Parmesan.

Blend to a paste with a wooden spoon, then beat in the olive oil drop by drop.

Julia has the pistou made in the soup tureen with the soup poured over; he instead pours half a pint of the soup gradually into the pistou, mixes, and stirs it back through.