Sausage and Peppers

This isn't pretty, but it tastes good. The entire family ate it without complaining.

Long after I gave up on my sweet pepper plants, they finally produced an abundance of beautiful green, yellow and red peppers. And unlike most of what I grow, these were full-sized. It was a pleasant surprise and a good reason to keep gardening. Last year I used peppers in all the Hungarian dishes I tried and also in the Portuguese recipe for spareribs roasted in a salty sweet pepper marinade, but this year I went Italian and roasted them with onions and sweet Italian sausage. Of everything I've made, this is the one dish where I loved the peppers themselves the best. They are flavored by the sausage and onion, and the result is greater than the sum of its parts. 

This can be served with salad and some bread, made into sandwiches, or turned into soup later. It doesn't take much effort either, though I still managed to ruin it once. The last time I made this, I couldn't find Italian sausage and used chorizo instead. It was equally good, just spicier, so I could have used less sausage. The leftovers I made into a soup with leftover rice and sautéed greens. 

I originally tried the recipe from The Soprano Family Cookbook, but it's hardly a recipe, more just a great combination. 

With spaghetti squash- and no one complained. I know this is ugly too.

With chorizo... use only half a pound of sausage. Spicy! A little went a long way.

Ingredients:
a combination of red and green bell peppers cut into one inch squares or sliced
1-2 onions cut the same size
1 potato, cut to match the other vegetables
olive oil
salt and pepper
one pound mild Italian sausages

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 

Toss all the vegetables with plenty of olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread them out onto one or two baking sheets and pop them into the preheated oven. Watch them, because how quickly they cook depends on how you cut them.  After about half an hour, when the vegetables are starting to look soft, prick the sausages in a few places and set them over the vegetables to cook. If your vegetables have shrunk down to nothing and you have them on two trays, be sure to combine them. You don't want to burn your vegetables. Once the sausages have cooked through it's ready to eat. 
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I've served this with rolls, rice, or a side of spaghetti squash. 

Uncooked.

Just right.

A crime against Italian heirloom peppers.

Oily, peppery goodness that was destined for a sandwich.