AMV recipes: Margaux’s pistou soup

All year long, we share our team’s favourite recipes here. A delicious way to meet the AMV members.

Photos: Margaret Jaszowska

Margaux Bergassoli has been working at American Vintage for almost 10 months. Today, this influencer and press relations assistant shares her favourite family recipe with us.

“This was my grandmother’s recipe. It reminds me of the little kitchen in her lovely cottage in the Vallon des Auffes port in Marseille. It’s not a quick dish to make. It’s a meal that’s meant to be shared, one that takes time, but it’s delicious. We often prepared it together for birthdays, big family get-togethers and special occasions.”

Ingredients (for 6 people)

250 g white beans
250 g red speckled beans
250 g flat green beans
2 small courgettes
1 large onion
3 potatoes
2 bunches basil
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 handful small macaroni or broken-up spaghetti
Garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil


1 — Prepare all the vegetables and remove the basil leaves from the stems, then rinse them all in cold water.
2 — Heat up enough salted water to cover the vegetables.
3 — Add the red and white beans, as well as the onions. Cook for 30 minutes over low heat, then add the green beans, potatoes and courgettes. Allow the preparation to thicken.
4 — After this time, add the pasta, turn off the heat and cover the pot.
5 — To prepare the pistou sauce: mix the basil leaves with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 to 3 cloves of garlic and three-quarters of the crushed tomatoes. Salt and pepper. Optional: add parmesan.
6 — Mix the pistou sauce into the soup.
7 — Serve hot or at room temperature, with parmesan and grated cheese.

A tip when making this recipe at home: “The more parmesan and garlic you add, the better the pistou sauce will be!”

AMV Journal is a space dedicated to encounters, discovery and travel. Every week, explore the musts, portraits and inspirations of American Vintage and its creation studio.