Jan 26
Sausage and Peppers
Bears vs Packers for the NFC Championship meant a bit of a football party in the neighbourhood, and decided to make a nice big batch of sausage and peppers.
Started by browning a dozen spicy italian sausages, chopped into halves so that they worked better as a finger food size snack, rendering out some of the fat into a skillet.
After browning the sausage in batches, place them in a baking dish, while in the skillet with the sausage fat, cook 6-8 peppers, sliced into big pieces in batches until they get some colour on them and then add them to the baking dish with the sausage.
In the same skillet, add 1 large sliced onion and six cloves of diced garlic and saute until they start to caramelize nicely, then add a tablespoon of tomato paste and a good splash of balsamic vinegar and cook it down until it gets all sticky. Add a large tin of good quality crushed tomatoes and deglaze the pan, thinning the sauce with a little water if required.
Season the sauce quite heavily with a mixture of fennel seeds, black peppercorns and coarse salt ground together in a pestle and mortar, since these get served as sandwiches, think of it as seasoning the bread as well.
Lastly add a handful of chopped fresh parsley and pour over the sausage and peppers, give it it a good mix & throw it into the oven at 350ยบ for 45 minutes to an hour.
Serve with small bread rolls to grab a bit of sausage, pepper and sauce in a convenient sized handful that complements the nice bottle of Two Brother's fantastic beer, then watch the Bears lose to the Packers and throw down your fake Ditka moustache in disgust.
