Auntie Maria's Sausage and Pepper Delight

My Uncle Fred has this fabulous Italian girlfriend named Maria, who I think I may just start calling Auntie after she so graciously shared a simple and easy recipe with me. She recently threw a retirement party for my uncle and had a great buffet laid out including these lovely sausages in a crock pot. She said she doesn't usually put them in the crock pot but did for the party so they would stay warm. I am here to tell you the crock pot is the magic ingredient for this recipe, as I am now fully addicted to this dish. It turns the peppers into soft, delicious bites of heaven and the low heat keeps the sausage nice and moist. The other important thing is getting the right kind of Italian sausage. For example, I tried two different kinds of sausage when I made this, and one of them had caraway seeds in the sausage. I think it was Sweet Sausage. Anyway, no amount of yummy pepper/olive oil marination is going to take away my supreme dislike of caraway seeds, so I didn't love those sausages. But the other kind I tried tasted great with the peppers, so make sure you buy what you normally would love. Auntie Maria suggests a mild sausage like Colosimo's, and if you can't find that brand look for a mild Italian sausage, as the peppers do add a bit of spiciness to the dish. But if you love spicy then get that spicy sausage and do it up all together. I want to say this dish is an appetizer, but it could easily be an entree. Maybe that's just me. I would totally eat this for dinner. Or lunch. Or brunch. Or at a party. I'm showing my addiction, here. But try it and leave me a comment about how you use this dish in your menus. I'd love to know.

Auntie Maria's Italian Sausage and Peppers

3-4 links of Italian sausage, your favorite flavor or brand

1 large onion

1 large green pepper

1 large red pepper

1 large yellow pepper

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup good olive oil

kosher salt

black pepper

Bake the sausage in the oven on a large cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until no pink is left inside. Don't pierce the skins or bake on too high of a temperature or else your sausages will be dried out instead of moist. After they are done baking, remove them from the oven and let them rest for a few minutes for the juices to redistribute into the sausage. Core, seed and slice the peppers into steak fry slices. Cut the onion in half and slice vertically. Mince the garlic. Add olive oil to a nonstick skillet and bring to medium heat. Slowly cook or "sweat" the onion, garlic and peppers until soft and tender. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and stir well. Cut the sausages into chunks and place into a greased crock pot and add the peppers. Mix well. Add the lid and cook on "lo" two hours until veggies are soft and tender.

(Note: another option I saw recently on the internet was to saute the veggies, place the whole sausages on top of the veggies, cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. That might be a good route to take if you don't have a crock pot.)

Happy eating!