Red onion and pepper chowder
 
The word chowder comes from the French word chaudiere meaning kettle or cauldron and has come to be the word for a thick hearty soup.  As the ingredients are very much local it seems a good soup to serve for lunch with crusty bread and a cheese board to follow.
 
Feel free to alter the proportions of the vegetables , using whatever is fresh at the time but the red onion and yellow pepper are the key to this tasty soup.
 
Serves 4
 2 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, finely diced
1 clove of garlic
2 sticks of celery finely sliced
1 large carrot, diced
1 large yellow pepper, deseeded and diced
1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
1 green pepper, deseeded and diced
3 small new potatoes, scrubbed and chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
600ml vegetable stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley for garnish

1. Heat the oil in a large pan or casserole and gently fry the onions and garlic until soft
2. Add the celery, carrot, peppers cover the pan and cook for about 10mins until fairly soft
3. Add the potatoes, tomatoes, thyme, bay leaf and the stock
4. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer fro 34 – 40 minutes or until the vegetables are very tender.  Mash the potato in the pan to give the soup a thicker texture.
5. Season to taste and serve garnished with parsley

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