Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

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

Add peppers and cook for 3–5 minutes. Add tomatoes, adding the first can entirely, then slowly adding as much of the remaining tomatoes can as you’d like to get desired consistency and pepper-to-tomato flavor ratio. 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.

Notes:
1. To roast peppers, cut off tops of peppers, cut in half, and take out seeds and 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.
2. To blend soup, you can use immersion blender or ladle soup into a regular 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 soup, which is not my preference here. If you have a lower powered blender, keep mixture in blender for a longer period of time to smooth out. Do not fill blender close to the top with hot liquid!