Roasted Sausages, Peppers, and Onions and Cheesy Bread with Black Pepper
Serve with Spaghetti all' Elsa.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds thin Italian sausage (the kind sold in swirl shapes, each swirl will weigh 1 1/4-pounds or so) hot and sweet varieties
- Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), for liberal drizzling plus 3 tablespoons, 3 turns of the pan
- 4 cloves garlic, 3 thinly sliced, 1 cracked from skin
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced 1/2-inch thick
- 1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch slices
- 1 large onion, 1/2-inch slices
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce, thinned out with water
- Salt and pepper
- 1 loaf crusty semolina bread, split
- 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- Coarse black pepper
- 2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped (a rounded palmful)
Preparation
Pre-heat oven to 425°F.
Place sausage rings on a baking sheet and liberally drizzle EVOO down over them. Place in hot oven and roast until casings are crisp and juices run clear, somewhere between 15-20 minutes.
Remove from oven to rest sausages; switch on broiler.
While sausages roast, heat a skillet over medium heat with 3 tablespoons EVOO and sliced garlic. Simmer garlic in EVOO 2-3 minutes, then add peppers and onions. Turn the heat up a notch, and cook until the vegetables are tender but the peppers still hold strong color, 5-6 minutes. Add thinned tomato sauce, salt, and pepper and reduce.
Turn heat back to low and hold the veggies until the sausage comes out of the oven, a couple of minutes.
Toast the split bread, remove from oven, rub with cracked garlic, liberally drizzle with EVOO, and cover with cheese and lots of black pepper. Return to the broiler to brown cheese, 1 minute. Scatter parsley over the bread.
Cut bread into chunks and pile with peppers and onions then sausages. The bread will soak in the juices as you work through the sausage, peppers and onions.
