What’s Cooking Wednesday: Sausage and Peppers
To be perfectly honest, I didn’t love sausage when I lived in the States; here in Calabria is a whole other story, though, and one of my favorite ways to prepare salsiccia is with peppers and onions in tomato sauce.
P had never had sausage prepared this way before I came along, but it’s been one of my family’s favorites from back when my grandmother made it — and it has quickly become one of P’s favorites as well.
And you want to talk about easy? There are only five steps!
A couple notes before we dig in:
I prefer using sweet sausage, red onion, and red and yellow peppers:
Peppers and onions ready for sauteeing
You are, of course, welcome to play with various combinations that may include spicy sausage and green peppers. Here our sweet (“dolce”) sausage tends to have a little kick with peperoncino, so don’t be afraid to add a little hot pepper even if you’re using sweet sausage; mostly it will just heighten flavors if you don’t use too much.
Also, I like to make extra sausage and sauce so we can have it with pasta the next day — the first day we usually do the sausage and peppers on hard rolls (sausage and pepper hoagies for those of you who know what a hoagie is). This is why I use two cans of tomato sauce; if you only want to use this for one meal, one can is probably plenty. This is definitely one of those sauces, though, that tastes even better the next day, so I highly encourage making enough for leftovers.
Sausage and Peppers
Sausage and peppers ready to simmer
- Sausage links
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 large or 3 medium peppers, julienned
- 1 large onion, julienned
- 1 large clove of garlic cut in half
- 2 cans of tomatoes/tomato sauce
- Salt to taste
1. In a large nonstick pan on medium to high heat, brown sausage (about 10-15 minutes).
2. Remove sausage from pan and set aside. Turn down the heat a bit and add the olive oil, peppers, onion, and garlic. Saute until peppers and onions soften, at least five minutes.
3. Return sausage to pan and add tomato sauce, using about a quarter cup of water to rinse out the can (add that water to the pan as well). Add salt as desired.
4. Cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally, until tomato sauce tastes ready to you. This will take at least 15-20 minutes, but could take longer depending on your tastes. If you like a thicker sauce, be sure to take the lid off the pan at some point, which I do after about 15 minutes.
5. Serve sausage on hard rolls with plenty of sauce, peppers, and onions *or* serve with pasta (we prefer penne with this).
Buon appetito!
12 Beans of Wisdom to “What’s Cooking Wednesday: Sausage and Peppers”
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
Calabria Guidebook
Recipes
I’d love me some sausage right now! Even though it’s fattening and will clog my arteries…
Everything in moderation 🙂
Sometimes I grill sausage and peppers.
I love the variety of sausages here.
Off to have some right now!
Buon appetito!
Oh yes…suasage and pepper hoagies! with enough leftover for pasta…what could be better.
We never did this with pasta back in the States — I think my family was pretty stuck on the “normal” spaghetti sauce to really go outside the box. I’m sure my grandmother would’ve loved it if it was just her, though 🙂
I made this last night, but took a little easier route and just baked it in the oven at 400F about 45 minutes. Delicious!!
Mmmm have never baked it, but I imagine it’s yummy as well! I do a sausage and peppers with potatoes baked, though 🙂
Is P not from Calabria? Or is the recipe not italian .. I get confused with you two 🙂 🙂 No just read it , doesn’t sound Italian to me , not with Rolls ….
I wonder what type of sausage I could use in the UK .. ?
P is from Calabria (this town in fact), and the recipe is Italian, but I think it’s more Napolitana than Calabrese — and Italian-Americans have really run with it in any event. Calabrians (and I’m sure other Italians) do eat sandwiches on rolls, though, especially sausage off the summer grill (YUM!), so the roll wouldn’t have discounted it 😉
Yum, Michelle. I wish I’d seen this when it was light enough to walk to the Italian market. Tomorrow. BTW, anne above in UK – sometimes it’s called Sicilian sausage in UK. Good luck. I don’t know why they have such a difficult time with Italian sausages over there. Sympathy.
They need to import directly! Tomorrow is another day, Susan 😀
Oh Michelle, this sounds divine, I will have to try it soon. I agree about red onion and r&y bell peppers, they are the sweetest. Mmm with lots of bread to sop things up…
Is that Luganega sausage you used? I love it.
My grandmother actually sometimes used Luganega back in the States — along with a lot of Calabrese, we had a sizable Tyrolean population, and they brought Luganega (and canerdili) with them. Here we just use local sausage, which is made with fennel and peperoncino (even the sweet version) 🙂
One of my favorites!
I hope you can enjoy some soon, Gil!
I haven’t had these in years! I love onions and peppers together, I have even been known to top my pizzas that way!
I love sausages with peppers-those peppers look delicious.
I have found Sicilian Sausages today , no problem .. 🙂
They are made with Pork, Fennel, Red wine, and other herbs .. ! So in the Freezer for when family come .
Excellent! Hope everyone enjoys it, Anne!
Our specialty – liver sausages.
http://casa-giardino.blogspot.com/2011/02/salumi-making-continuessausages.html#links