Chowder, hmm, conjures up memories of the clam chowder I had in San Francisco years ago.

For the uninformed (and you have every reason to be as it isn’t a popular term if you live in South Africa) it is in this case basically a soup made from whole corn kernels.

As the title suggests it has a bit of bite with the chilli, whose effect can be somewhat dulled by excluding the seeds and just using the chilli flesh itself.

Preparation was quick and fast, largely in part to my new I.O.Shen 21cm Chef’s Knife, courtesy of Yuppiechef.

I can’t believe how much time it saved having a quality knife. I’ve been using a cheap, serrated pairing knife thus far and this has made such a huge difference in firstly finely chopping, secondly in the speed of preparing ingredients. I know that the I.O.Shen might be a bit hefty on the pocket, but get the best quality Chef’s knife you can afford, you won’t regret it!

I hope that in time I’ll get even faster as I develop my knife skills and speed, I’m being overly cautious at the moment as I REALLY prefer my fingers on my hands and not in my meals.

I used the lovely spring onions I picked up at the Earth Fair Market on Saturday and they tasted great, mixed in some corn, a bit of thyme (out the garden of course!) and a couple other veggies, not forgetting my lovely Nomu Vegetable Fond.

All in all a quick, easy 20 minute meal and one of our favourite soups thus far. My wife still feels the Pea soup is the best, followed by this one, I prefer this to the Pea soup, but I guess the verdict is still out.

Overall though very impressed and perfect for today’s cooler/rainy weather lunch.