Courgette soup with lemon and basil

This is a really simple soup I came up with today. The ingredients were just what happened to come to hand, but I think the sharpness of the lemon goes really well with the smoothness of the courgette. And the basil gives it a bit of extra interest without overwhelming the other flavours.



Ingredients
olive oil
1 leek
3 medium-sized courgettes
600 ml of good quality stock
juice of 1 lemon
a good handful of basil leaves
salt

Method

1. Chop the leeks quite finely, and sweat in plenty of olive oil in a large saucepan. Cut the courgettes into smallish pieces, add to the leeks and continue to cook for 10 minutes or so.
2. Add the stock, bring to a boil, cover, reduce to minimum and cook for another 20 minutes.
3. Add the lemon juice, chopped basil leaves and about quarter a teaspoon of salt. Turn off the heat and allow to cool a little before liquidising. Taste and add a little more salt or lemon juice if required.

Not all lemons are the same. These rather ordinary looking ones were given to me by the mother of Sammy's schoolfriend, Martín, who has a lemon tree in his garden. They have lots more flavour and are much juicier than anything I have ever managed to buy, either in Spain or in the UK.