Entrees, Mains

Sausage & Peppers

Posted by Palak & Lisa on

Sausage & Peppers

As we were eating our way through Italy, I distinctly remember my first time trying a pasta dish with red sauce. I was surprised with how light and flavorful the red sauce was, it never over powered the dish and I could taste the freshness of the tomatoes and herbs. I never knew it was supposed to taste that way! Growing up in America, I grew up on the taste of jarred Ragu red sauce which was thick and lacking in flavor.

Now that my taste buds know better, I wanted to learn how to make a traditional Italian red sauce and pair it with sausage and peppers (my husbands favorite Italian dish), What better way to do that than a cooking lesson from an Italian friend! So I teamed up with my friend, Nicole Bono, and learned her Aunt’s recipe for red sauce, sausage & peppers,and garlic bread. A few key learnings from our cooking day:

  1. Quality ingredients make a big difference, it’s worth the small splurge
  2. San Marzano tomatoes are a must – they are a littler sweeter and less acidic
  3. Although the recipe has simple ingredients there is a technique to bringing all the flavors together at the right time in the cooking process to get the best taste

We hope you enjoy this Bono family favorite as much as we do!

Pro Tip: This recipe yields a large amount of sauce so it’s great to freeze for future use

Servings: Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

Red Sauce

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 6-8 garlic cloves sliced
  • 1 small yellow onion chopped
  • 2.5 tbsp tomato paste
  • Two 28oz cans of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
  • 12 oz of tomato sauce
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/4 cup fresh oregano chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped
  • salt (to taste)
  • pepper (to taste)
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red chili flakes (if you don’t like spice you can omit or cut this down to 1/4 tsp)

Sausage, Peppers, & Polenta

  • 4 spicy fresh Italian sausages
  • 4 sweet fresh Italian sausages
  • 4 tbsp olive oil for cooking
  • 2 small onions sliced
  • 2.5 bell peppers sliced (we used 1 red, 1 orange, 1/2 green pepper)
  • 6 cups water
  • 2 cups yellow corn meal
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
  • 2 tsp oregano (to taste)
  • 1 tbsp parsley (to taste)

Garlic Bread

  • Italian bread (8oz)
  • 1 head of garlic
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1 tsp fresh oregano
  • 1 tsp fresh parsley
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • crushed red pepper to taste
  • 2 tbsp parmesan cheese

Instructions

Red Sauce

  1. Heat 1/4 cup of oil olive on low, add the garlic slices and cook for about 15-17 minutes until the garlic is golden brown. Stir occasionally – you don’t want the garlic to burn
  2. Remove the garlic and set aside for later, turn the heat to medium and to the olive oil add the chopped onion, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes until the onions are translucent
  3. Turn the heat down to medium low and add tomato paste and red chili flakes and combine until the paste is fully mixed and let it cook for 2 minutes
  4. Add in the San Marzano tomatoes and blend the sauce to your desired consistency – we used an immersion blender so we didn’t have to transfer out of the pot (if you don’t have one you can transfer the contents of the pot to a heat safe blender and transfer back to the pot)
  5. To the blended mixture add in the canned tomato sauce and the browned garlic from step 1 and stir well
  6. Add in 2 bay leaves, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper and stir well
  7. Cover, turn the heat to low and lightly simmer for 30 mins – stirring occasionally
  8. Turn off the heat and add 1/4 cup parsley

Sausage & Peppers

  1. Place the sausages in a large pan and cover them fully in water and bring to a boil – make sure the sausages aren’t stacked over each other (we used two pans)
  2. Once the sausages are boiling flip the sausages and turn down the heat to let them simmer softly for 5-8 mins or until the internal temperature is 150F, then drain the sausages from the water
  3. Heat a separate skillet to medium high and add 1 tbsp of olive oil, once it’s hot add your sausages – again don’t stack them
  4. Sear each side 2-3 minutes, the key is to make sure the sausages are no longer sticking to the bottom of the pan and are browned – note the sausages will release some natural juices so they will splatter a bit, you can turn the heat down a slightly if it’s splattering too much. If you’re using the same pan to sear them in batches, make sure to add a little more oil olive each time to the pan.
  5. Set the sausages aside to cool slightly before cutting them into 1 inch round pieces
  6. Heat a cast iron enable pan (if you have one) to medium high heat and add 2 tbsp of olive oil and add in the onion and pepper slices and salt and pepper to taste – stir occasionally for about 15 minutes until they are softened and caramelized (be careful not to overcook, they will get softer once they are mixed with the red sauce)
  7. Add in the cut sausages to the onion and pepper mixture and ladle in the red sauce slowly until you have the desired sausage to pepper and onion ratio – Pro Tip: the remaining sauce freezes well!

Polenta

  1. In a pot add water and 1 tsp of salt and bring the water to a boil, once boiling very slowly add in the yellow corn meal whisking constantly
  2. Reduce the heat to get the mix to simmer for 30 minutes – occasionally whisking
  3. Once the polenta has cooked for 30 minutes add in 3 tbsp of butter, 2 tsp oregano, 1 tbsp of parsley and 1/2 grated parmesan and salt and pepper to taste. Give it a good stir and it’s ready! Pro tip: If you’re not serving this right away, transfer the cooked polenta to a greased baking pan and over with tin foil and put it in the oven at 225F, right before serving mix it with a splash of milk – this will give it that creamy consistency if it’s getting a little dry

Garlic Bread

  1. Preheat the oven to 400F
  2. Cut off the top of a head of garlic to expose some of the cloves inside, drizzle it with olive oil (enough to generously cover the garlic) and wrap it in foil
  3. Roast the a head of garlic until the cloves are lightly browned and tender about 30-45 mins
  4. Squeeze out the roasted garlic into a small mixing bowl and mash it with a fork
  5. To the garlic mix, add in room temperature butter, oregano, and parsley
  6. Cut the Italian bread in half lengthwise and generously spread with the garlic butter mix
  7. Top with a sprinkle of crushed red pepper, parmesan and extra parsley (if desired)
  8. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 F or until the bread is lightly browned

Red Sauce

Heat 1/4 cup of oil olive on low and add the garlic slices, cook for about 15-17 minutes until the garlic is golden brown, stir occasionally – you don’t want the garlic to burn
Remove the garlic and set aside for later
Turn the heat to medium and to the olive oil add the chopped onion, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes until the onions are translucent
This is what the onions should look like when they are translucent
Turn the heat down to medium low and add tomato paste and red chili flakes and mix it all together until the paste if fully mixed and let it cook for 2 minutes
Add in the San Marizano tomatoes and blend the sauce to your desired consistency – we used an immersion blender
To the blended mixture add in the canned tomato sauce and the browned garlic from step 1, 2 bay leaves, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper and stir well and let it simmer on low heat for 30 mins – stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and add 1/4 cup parsley.

Sausage & Peppers

Place the sausages in a large pan and cover them fully in water and bring to a boil – make sure the sausages aren’t stacked over each other
After boiling the sausage, sear them on each side to get them browned
Once the sausages have cooled, cut them into 1 inch rounds
Heat a cast iron enable pan (if you have one) to medium high heat and add 2 tbsp of olive oil and add in the onion and pepper slices and salt and pepper to taste
After about 15 minutes the onions and peppers will softened and caramelize (be careful not to overcook, they will get softer once they are mixed with the red sauce)
To the onion and pepper mixture add back in the sausages and ladle red sauce until you have your desired sauce ratio

Polenta

In a pot add water and 1 tsp of salt and bring the water to a boil, once boiling very slowly add in the yellow corn meal whisking constantly
Reduce the heat to get the polenta to simmer for 30 minutes – occasionally whisking
Once the polenta has cooked for 30 minutes add in 3 tbsp of butter, 2 tsp oregano, 1 tbsp of parsley and 1/2 grated parmesan and salt and pepper to taste – give it a good stir and it’s ready!
Pro tip: If you’re not serving this right away, transfer the cooked polenta to a greased baking pan and over with tin foil and put it in the oven at 225F, right before serving mix it with a splash of milk – this will give it that creamy consistency if it’s getting a little dry

Roasted Garlic Bread

Cut off the top of a head of garlic to expose some of the cloves inside, drizzle it with olive oil (enough to generously cover the garlic) and wrap it in tin foil
Squeeze out the roasted garlic into a small mixing bowl and mash it with a fork
Cut the Italian bread in half lengthwise and generously spread with the garlic butter mix
Cut the Italian bread in half lengthwise and generously spread with the garlic butter mix
Top with a sprinkle or crushed red pepper, parmesan and extra parsley (if desired)
And bake for 15minutes at 350F or until the bread is slightly browned

Enjoy!

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