Spicy potato soup with preserved lemon

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and chilli and sauté gently for about 10 minutes until softened. Stir in the cumin, coriander and paprika and cook gently for a few more minutes.

Meanwhile, scoop out the pulp from the preserved lemon and discard any pips; set the rind aside. Peel the potatoes and cut into large chunks (you’ll need to scoop them out of the soup later). Add the lemon pulp and potatoes to the onion and pour on the stock. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are completely tender.

Scoop out the pieces of potato and place them in a colander. Purée the rest of the soup in a blender until smooth, then return to the pan. Pass the potatoes through a ricer, or rub through a sieve, back into the soup and stir to combine (if you purée potatoes in a blender, they tend to go a bit gluey). This is meant to be a thick soup but add a little more stock or water if it seems overly so. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed and reheat gently if necessary.

Chop the preserved lemon rind into little dice. Ladle the soup into warm bowls and top each portion with a scattering of diced preserved lemon rind and a dollop of yoghurt. Add a dusting of paprika and a grinding of pepper. Finish with a trickle of extra virgin olive oil.

This soup also works very well with parsnips instead of

potatoes (and parsnips can be puréed along with the rest of the soup, rather than being mashed separately). Or you might prefer to use a combination of the two.