Corn and red pepper chowder

I was feeling a bit under the weather, had some bright red peppers that needed using, and a bag of corn in the freezer... that means corn chowder! It totally cheered me up, it's hearty, summery soup which looks so pretty in the sunshine.

• 1 large onion, roughly diced
• 2 red peppers, chopped
• 1 carrot, diced
• 200g small waxy potatoes, chopped into bite sized chunks
• One 400g can or equivalent frozen sweetcorn
• 500 ml vegetable stock (ideally with Swiss Marigold)
• Sprigs of fresh parsley (optional)
• Natural yoghurt or sour cream (optional)

1. Reserve roughly a quarter of the sweetcorn.
2. Splash some oil into a large saucepan along with a knob of butter, and heat.
3. Fry off the chopped onions, then add the peppers and carrot for a few minutes until softened.
4. Make up your stock with boiling water and taste it to make sure it's tasty. The secret to any soup is a good stock.
5. Liquidise the remaining sweetcorn with a little bit of the stock, then add that and the rest of the stock to the pan. If it doesn't quite cover the vegetables add a splash more water.
6. Put on the lid and cook on a moderate heat until the potatoes are cooked (10-15 mins).
7. When it's ready, ladle chowder into bowls and garnish with a spoonful of natural yoghurt or cream, and a sprinkling of fresh parsley. Enjoy!

Variations

A handful of Quorn chunks adds protein to this dish.

Meat-eaters can use a good chicken stock and add flaked white fish.