I’ve been making this dish for a while now, but it always felt like there was something missing in it. I had gone through a bunch of different recipes, but they were all variations of the same. It wasn’t until I got this great cookbook to review “Lidia’s Favorite Recipes by Lidia Bastianich” that it clicked, it wasn’t the ingredients that needed changing, it was the process. Her method of pre-sauteeing everything individually before putting it all in a roaster and into the oven for a final bake made all the difference. It’s now a dish so full of layered flavour, you can’t believe how easy it is to make.
One more thing, you can chalk this up as a healthy meal too, with nothing but a little bit of olive oil, and the natural fat of the meat used to cook it. The only problem I had last night was not making enough to keep everyone happy!
Here’s the cover of the cookbook. If you’re interested I’ll have a full review of it up in the next day (there are a LOT of cookbook reviews coming!).
And here’s the recipe I used. I did modify it a bit to suit us. For one, I’m not a mushroom fan, and seeing as I’m the cook, I don’t have to use them. I also add potatoes, the few times I’ve tried variations of this without potatoes, Bo’s felt like there wasn’t enough substance for there to be a whole meal, and I think he’s right.
First thing, drizzle some olive oil in a pan and get it just smoking.
Toss in your Italian sausages.
Cook them, turning occasionally, until golden brown on all sides.
While the sausages are cooking prep everything else. Peel a heads worth of garlic cloves, then give them a quick smash with the back of your knife. You also have to slice up an onion, which I forgot to picture. You just want nice big chucks, so that the individual petals are a bite each.
There’s the sausages out of the pan. The peppers I used were a mix of red, orange, and yellow super sweets (the kids favorites). You can see the potatoes on the left. I found some small “bistro white”. Which were kind of a cross between a regular white potato, and a fingerling (a really chubby fingerling) so I peeled and sliced them in quarters length wise. If you use regular white potatoes, just cut them into really chunky wedges.
Now, I let the sausages rest for about 5 minutes while I finished prepping the rest of the veggies, then I sliced them into rounds and tossed them back into the pot, just to get a nice golden crust on every bite. I like all the pieces in this to be bite size when it’s done, so you can just dish it up and go at it with a fork.
When the sausage is done use a slotted spoon to get them out of the pan (in order to retain all the fat in the pan), and toss them into your roasting dish. I know it looks empty now, but have faith.
Now, throw your potatoes in the pan. Give them a stir every few minutes over medium heat, until lightly browned and crisp on the outside. You can add a little bit of salt and pepper here to season if you’d like.
Looking beautiful!
Toss them into the pan with the sausage. See, it’s looking better already!
This was happening behind me while I was cooking.
Now toss in your sliced peppers and onion, and the slightly crushed garlic. You’re just going to stir this over medium heat until everything starts to soften up a bit and gets a bit of colour. If it seems like it’s sticking to the pan, you can add a little bit more olive oil. Season with a little bit of salt and pepper here too.
Toss everything into the roasting pan and give it a good stir. I like to add a little bit of italian seasoning here too. Pop it in the oven for 20 minutes, giving it a stir half way through so that nothing sticks.
All the roasted veggies pick up so much flavour from the sausage, it’s unbelievable really. This has always been a go-to in a pinch for me, and it’s nice that now, thanks to Lidia, it tastes just as good as I thought it should!
New Pictures! This time around I cut the potatoes a bit smaller, into chunks more than wedges. I ended up with fewer over done edges, and they cooked up a bit faster.
Here’s your printable:
Italian Style Sausage and Peppers
Ingredients
- 5 mild (sweet) Italian sausages
- 3 large sweet peppers (yellow, red, orange), seeded and chopped into bit size pieces
- 1 large sweet onion, chopped into large sections
- 1 head garlic, peeled, lightly smashed
- 4 medium white potatoes, peeled, cut into wedges
- salt
- pepper
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning, or to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil, as needed, roughly 1/4 cup divided
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 400ºF with a rack in the middle position.
- Drizzle a few teaspoons of olive oil into a large pan and heat over med-high until just smoking. Add the sausage links and cook, turning every few minutes, until golden brown and crispy on all sides, about 8 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove just the links to a plate to rest for 5 minutes.
- Slice the sausage links into bite size rounds and return to the pan over medium-hight heat. Cook for a few minutes, just until the cut ends are slightly browned and crisp. Use a slotted spoon to remove the sausages from the pan and place into a roasting pan, being sure the fat stays in the fry pan.
- Add the peeled potato wedges to the pan, and cook in the remaining fat, turning every few minutes, until golden brown and crispy. Add more olive oil if required to not stick. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then remove to the roasting pan.
- Add the sliced onions, peppers, and crushed garlic to the pan. If they seem to stick a little, add a little bit more olive oil. Sauté over medium heat until just starting to soften and a few edges have browned. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then pour into the roasting pan.
- Season the sausage and pepper mixture with the Italian seasoning, give it a quick stir, then place it in the oven for 20 minutes, stirring once at the 10 minutes mark.
elsa espinola
Carlos Mitchell
Gia
Katrina