Courgette and lemon soup

Starter: serves four. Total time: 20 minutes

This textured soup is fast and furious, and yes, if you can't get fresh peas or can't be fagged to pod them, use frozen. But don't cheat on the stock. The vegetables should still have plenty of texture, so heed the cooking times; courgettes turn into sad old slush if you overcook them

700ml strong fresh chicken or vegetable stock, seasoned with sea salt and black pepper
3tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
1x225g maincrop potato, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
700g courgettes, trimmed, halved and thinly sliced
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
150g peas (ideally fresh)
40g coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Juice of ¹/2 lemon
Freshly grated Parmesan to serve

Bring the stock to the boil in a medium-size saucepan.
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and sweat the onion for several minutes until soft and translucent.
Add the potato, courgettes and lemon zest, and then cook for 2-3 minutes longer.
Pour over the boiling chicken stock and simmer for six minutes, adding the peas and parsley halfway through.
Transfer a third of the soup to a food processor and whizz briefly to break the vegetables up.
Return to the saucepan, add the lemon juice and taste for seasoning, it needs plenty.
Serve in warm bowls, accompanied by the parmesan.