Simple ingredients, but success depends on your patience.
Sausage and Peppers is a beloved staple of Italian-American cooking, with roots in the rustic kitchens of Southern Italy. Italian immigrants brought their traditions of seasoned pork sausage and sautéed vegetables to America during the great immigration wave of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The combination became especially popular in the Italian neighborhoods of New York, where it evolved into a street-festival favorite, often piled generously into crusty Italian rolls. By the mid-20th century, sausage and peppers had become as much a symbol of Italian-American food culture as a simple, satisfying meal.
This recipe takes its inspiration from that classic combination but gives the vegetables the starring role. Red, yellow, and green bell peppers and sweet onions are slowly sautéed with garlic and Italian seasonings until beautifully softened and caramelized, with a splash of balsamic vinegar adding a subtle sweet-tart finish. Intended as a versatile side dish rather than a main course, it pairs wonderfully with roasted meats, poultry, or in this instance, with a broiled ham steak.
This recipe takes time and patience. The onions and peppers are cooked considerably longer over a lower heat than you would typically get at an Italian street fair. The veggies are deeply caramelized and have less crunch than sausage and peppers that are cooked on a flat-top griddle.
Of course, adding some browned Italian sausages during the final fifteen minutes of cooking would bring the dish full circle to its Italian-American inspiration.
Satuéed Sweet Onion & Peppers
Simple ingredients, but success depends on your patience.
Ingredients
- 1 medium sweet onion (like, Vidalia or Texas 1015), thinly sliced into rings
- 3 large bell peppers, red, green and either yellow or orange, cored and sliced into 2-3" strips
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 tsp Italian seasonings (like, Spice Islands or McCormick)
- 2 tbsp IGP balsamic vinegar (like, Colavida)
- 1/16 tsp fine sea salt
- 7-8 grinds freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
Instructions
- You will need a large skillet with tight fitting lid for this dish. Heat the olive oil over medium high heat and sauté until translucent, 5-8 minutes
- Add the peppers, turn the heat to medium and put the lid on. Cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the lid, and continue to cook the mixture over medium heat until the accumulated liquid has evaporated and the mixture is beginning to brown, another 20 minutes or so. Stir occasionally.
- Add the minced garlic, Italian seasonings, salt, black pepper and balsamic vinegar to the dish, stir well and continue to sauté another 15 minutes. Stir frequently.
- About 2 minutes before removing from the stovetop, add the butter. Allow it to melt and then stir it into the dish before platting.
Notes
- If you want to turn this into a main course of Sausage & Peppers, cook your sausages thoroughly in the 4 tbsp of olive oil over medium high heat, begin sure they receive an even browning all around.
- Remove the sausages and set aside. Cook the recipe as written above in the same skillet.
- Return the sausages to the skillet during the last 15 minutes of cooking.
- Serve a link with the onion and pepper mixture on a crusty Italian roll with drizzled olive oil.
