creamy courgette herb soup

There is no explanation for what possessed me to buy a net bag of courgettes last time I went shopping. I have six plants in the patch and they are just about to come onstream. I must be mad.

Anyway, this is a delightfully rich tasting soup which is very low in fat and a good way of making use of garden excesses.

Finely chop an equal number of medium sized onions and courgettes. I used two of each and have enough soup for four...

Sweat the onions down in just a touch of oil, your choice and then add the courgette slices. Put the lid on the pan and leave over a low heat until the courgettes are very soft.

Early season courgettes are very different to the 'almost marrows' of later in the season. They're much denser and contain less liquid. At this time of year you'll need to add somewhere between 300 and 450ml of water to this quantity of soup to get a good consistency, but this will become less as the summer goes on until at the start of autumn you may need no water at all.

Start with 300ml and see how it goes. Let the soup cook for a few minutes more with the liquid added and then use an immersion blender to render it into a wonderful smooth puree. You may need to add a little more water as you go but it should be fairly thick, a thin soup will taste of nothing. Test for seasoning, it will need a pinch of salt.

Put the pan back on the heat to warm up again and as it reaches a simmer toss in a good handful of finely chopped fresh and dry green herbs. I used coriander and mint but parsley, basil, chervil, even a few sprigs of tarragon would all be good. Experiment.

I put some soya yoghurt on mine to make the pretty pattern but it was a little bit thick. If you want to do this I'd recommend you thin the yoghurt first very slightly with a drop of soya milk or water. Alpro isn't available anywhere in France I know about, this was part of a care package brought over by Mr. Stripey Cat.

Serve your soup with something crunchy to accentuate the unctuousness of the herby cream.