Best Ever Sweet Sausage and Peppers
The Best Ever Sweet Sausage and Peppers has tasty summer peppers in this take on the classic, Italian sausage and peppers. Sausage with apple, plus plenty of robust red wine, leave just enough sweetness to this easy weeknight dinner that tastes deceptively as if it took all day to prepare. So cozy up for a plateful, and love on your family, with this new family favorite.
Oh hey! Remember I mentioned last week about my garden and how I transformed it into a bee garden plus vegetable garden? Well, I have been rewarded with peppers! A couple anyway. Four specifically. And they all went into this dish. More will be on the way shortly, once I construct a wall/gate to keep out whatever critter is ravaging it. But until then, I can finally give you one glorious dish to come from my garden. Sausage and Peppers.
So what makes my sausage and peppers different? First, the sausage. Pretty straightforward really, I used chicken sausage with apple and it gave the most unexpected hit of fantastic sweetness. The peppers brought their own sweetness in that cooked-bell-pepper way they do, but the apple …oh man, THAT was unexpectedly perfect.
Second, was wine. I find cooking with wine (or beer) to be one of the great joys in life. It just brings a flavor you don’t get from only stock or juice or broth or whatever. It’s gotta be an umami thing – cuz I can’t explain it and no one can explain umami. But it’s a thing. Here, I used red wine, and we reduce it fully as we soften up the peppers, onion, and garlic, and combine all those flavors with the browned sausage. Mellow, complex flavor. So so good. Warms the soul, and the whole thing is done in under an hour. ?
So that’s it folks. Best Ever Sweet Sausage and Peppers. Easy dinner or part of your Sunday family feast. This recipe rocks awesome- it’s easy, approachable, and SO delicious. Give it a try, add it to the rotation, and lemme know what you think!
Best Ever Sweet Sausage and Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
- 2 12 oz pkgs chicken sausage links with apple (I used Aidells brand but there are several varieties in US grocery markets such as Al Fresco, Johnsonville, and Applegate), sliced into 1-inch slices
- 3 green bell peppers seeded and sliced into 1/2-inch slivers
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and sliced into 1/2-inch slivers
- 1 medium white onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup red wine
- 2 tsp white wine or red wine vinegar to mellow the sweetness
- pinch kosher salt
- couple pinches fresh cracked pepper
- 1 9 oz pkg fresh fettucini pasta
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large rimmed skillet over high heat. Add the sausage and saute until well browned. Add the peppers, onion, and garlic, and saute for a couple minutes until fragrant.
- Add the red wine to the pan to deglaze. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the browned bits and yum yums from the bottom of the pan. Add the vinegar, reduce heat, season with salt and pepper, cover, and slow simmer a while until peppers are softened (30 minutes) and liquid is reduced by half.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta to al dente according to package directions (which will be short because it is fresh pasta). Drain the pasta and add to the sausage and peppers, allowing the pasta to absorb the remaining juices. I also used a wooden spatula to break the pasta up into smaller pieces to combine better with the sausage and peppers. Taste for seasoning and serve. Yields: 6 servings.
