|
|
|
Archive: January, 2009
My culinary co-conspirator Felicia D'Ambrosio heads up our excellent SUPPER feature, but since she is on vacation this week, I promised her I would try my best to whip up something at home for the Meal Ticket faithful. I ain't half the cook FD is, but I try my best! Here's what I came up with.
I'm told I was discovered passed out on my living room floor, wearing shoes, a jacket and various other cold-weather accessories, around 3 a.m. New Year's morning. I arose around 10 a.m. with a "Hell's Bells"-ian headache, a weird berber rug pattern on my face and an uncontrollable urge for something heavy, starchy and Italian to soak up all the Blanton's and Woodford Reserve that directly contributed to this epic NYE fail. (At least I made it home, right?)
My lovely girlfriend and I spent a good hour or so narrowing down our pasta parlor options before realizing that we should just man up and make something at home. I'm really glad we did.
I cook hot Italian sausage and peppers for myself pretty regularly. It's a great go-to. But this marked the first time I doubled up and made a separate batch with fake Italian sausage, which I found in my local supermarket (the girl does not eat meat). To put it plainly, the veg stuff has little in common with the real thing — it's got a lot more give and is strangely, overtly sweet. Season it right and cook it with the right accompaniments, though, and it's a perfectly respectable stand-in.
Idiot-proof instructions (idiot-tested, idiot-approved!) after the jump.
His and (Vegetarian) Hers Sausage and Peppers
Go Get This:
2 large bell peppers, one red and one green
Half a white onion
4 cloves garlic
2 links hot Italian sausage
2 links vegetarian Italian sausage (We used Boca brand)
Olive oil
Salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes
Now Do This:
1. Coarsely chop the peppers and onion. No need to get too fancy with it.
2. Over medium-high heat, add olive oil to a large saucepan. Let it be for a second, then throw in peppers and onion. Note tricolor motif; hum Rosemary Clooney's "Mambo Italiano" to yourself.
3. Stir veggies a little bit, then season generously with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.
4. While veg simmers, cut Italian sausage and veggie sausage into half- to one-inch segments. Come on, use two different knives. Finely dice garlic; separate into two equal portions and set aside.
5. After about 6-8 minutes, peppers and onion should be mostly cooked down, with some nice caramelization.
6. Dump half of the peppers and onions into a second saucepan over medium heat.
7. In both pans, push the vegetables to one side. Pour a bit of olive oil into vacant pan space; dump meaty sausage into first pan and veggie sausage into second pan.
8. You want the sausage segments browned on both sides. This'll take about 3-4 minutes per side for the veg sausage and 6-8 minutes per side for the regular sausage. Just keep an eye on it.
9. After you get the meat and "meat" nice and browned and crispy, add the garlic to both pans and thoroughly mix the sausage, peppers and onions together.
10. After letting both pans simmer for 2-3 minutes, you're done! Serve sausage and peppers over a very large pile of pasta with red sauce, parmesan cheese and a side of garlicky spinach.
- barstool scientist
- Booze
- Brew Revue
- Chef Salad
- Closings
- Coffee
- Contests
- Dealage
- Dirty Dishes
- Don't Front
- Eat This Immediately
- Field Trip
- Food and Art
- Food and Holidays
- Food and Movies
- Food and Music
- Food and Politics
- Food and Sports
- Food and Web
- Food Blogs
- Food Books
- Food Events
- Food News
- Food TV
- Gifted
- Happy Hour Hopper
- How-To
- In Print
- Interview
- Meal Ticket
- Menu Time
- Not So Quickfire
- Notes from the Weekend
- On Wheels
- Openings
- Patio Drinking
- Philly Beer Week 2010
- Photos
- Private Chef POV
- Product Placement
- Recipes
- Snack Time
- Stiff Drank
- SUPPER
- Tea
- Testing
- Ticket Stubs
- Top Chef
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Video
- Weekly Candy
- Weird Regional Foods
- We're Here to Help
- Where'd We Eat?
- Drew Lazor's Ill-Advised Rant Factory
- Pregame
- Ill-Advised Ranting
- The Week Without Meat
- Philly Beer Week 2009
- Real Big
- Where'd I Eat Last Night?
- Top Chef Masters
- The Good Word
- Next Iron Chef
- Arterial Terrorism
- Food and Radio
