Sausage, onion, and homegrown peppers recipe

Taking advantage of the overabundance of (wrong) Italian frying peppers growing in the garden, few things pop into mind as quickly as sausage and peppers.  Perhaps the national dish of the NY metropolitan area, found from semi-fine restaurants to street fairs to everything in between, this dish is easy to make, requires just a few ingredients, and is of course tasty.  And tasty is good.

Homegrown, not by choice. A good error.

With what seems like an Italian neighborhood deli for each citizen of Hoboken, finding a source of good Italian sausage (and everything else Italian) is like shooting fish in barrel.  For geographic purposes (read:  laziness) and old skool authenticity (Meat hanging from the ceiling?  Check.  A huge olive and cured meat bar?  Yup.  Italian the dialect of choice?  You betcha?.) I chose Losurdo Brothers Tony Italian Deli, a mere 3 blocks away.  Ten or so bucks poorer and weighed down 2.5 lbs. of the good stuff it was time to get cooking.  Chop chop.

Lending a hand in this decadent endeavor was my friend D of unemployed Indian food feast fame.  I barked orders and he cooked.

Ingredients:

1 lb. of good Italian sausage.  Of I prefer hot (of course).

1 large onion cut into thin strips

3 cloves of minced garlic

2 medium green bell peppers or 5 Italian frying peppers, seeded and cut into thin strips

3 TBS extra virgin olive oil

1 TBS dried oregano

1 TBS red pepper flakes (optional)

White wine

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Add 1 TBS of olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat.  Once hot add the sausage and brown on all sides.  Don?t worry about cooking them all the way through.  Once browned remove.

Tony's finest hot Italian sausage.

Deglaze the skillet with a few splashes of white wine and add the remaining olive oil, onion, garlic, peppers, oregano, pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.  Cook for about 10 minutes, occasionally stirring.

After 10 minutes add the sausage back to the skillet, cover, and cook for 10 more minutes or until the sausage is fully cooked.  Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly.  Done. Top with fresh basil for additional goodness.

Mouth watering goodness

Serve with:

A simple tomato salad (courtesy of D.), good bread, Peroni galore, and that good cheese D. brought over.

Eat your veggies.