Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

Ingredients

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

½ yellow onion finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

4 red peppers roasted and coarsely chopped (see notes)

1-2 cans (28 ounce) crushed tomatoes

3 tablespoons half and half

Salt and Pepper to taste

Chopped rosemary to garnish

Preparation

In a large pot melt butter. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened and translucent.

Add peppers and cook for 3-5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes (add the first can entirely, slowly add as much of the second can as you'd like to get desired consistency and pepper to tomato flavor ratio) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let the soup simmer for about 30 minutes (uncovered).

Working in batches puree the soup in a blender. (see notes).

Return to pot, sitr in half and half, rosemary and any other spices. Simmer for 10 more minutes.

TO ROAST PEPPERS: Cut off tops of peppers, cut in half, and take out seeds/membranes. Place cut side down on baking sheet, under broil flame for 6 to 10 minutes or until blackened. Remove from oven and cover loosely with foil for 10 minutes. Peel skins off peppers when cool enough to touch. TO BLEND SOUP: You can use immersion blender or ladle soup into a stand up blender. I blend about ¾ of the soup and leave the other ¼ chunky because I like the texture. In my experience the immersion blender makes for a much chunkier textured soup, which is not my preference here. If you have a lower powered blender, keep mixture in blender for longer period of time to smooth out. Do not fill blender close to the top with hot liquid!