Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Chicken Sausage with Peppers and Onions


Chicken Sausage with Peppers and Onions is a classic Italian dish. This twist is a bit healthier than the traditional sausage, and even tastier. The red peppers and caramelized onions bring just the right amount of sweetness to the savory sausage. The blend of seasonings and lemon juice create a perfect balance to the olive oil.

My mother grew up on a lemon grove in Cinisi, Italy. Lemons and lemon juice are a important part of my cooking. I have a picture of myself with my Nonna standing in that grove. The year was 1978. I have on my Wonder Woman bathing suit. I can remember it well. It's funny what we remember of our childhood. I remember my Nonna making homemade pasta, called Macaroona which is like spaghetti, but has a hole in it. We'd sit out on the patio and roll really thin pieces of pasta around a wooden reed to make a spaghetti thin piece of pasta with a hole down the center. Good for catching tomato sauce. Then we would hang them to dry before they could be cooked. Image having to make enough pieces of pasta by hand to feed a big family... Yikes! Thankfully, this recipe is a lot easier than that.






You'll need:

2 thin wheels of chicken sausage, cut into 4 inch links, approximately 2 lbs
3 onions, cut into 1 inch wedges
6 red peppers, cut into 1 inch wedges
1/4 cup parsley, chopped...or 2 tbsp dried parsley or 1/4 cup basil if you don't have parsley.
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or not if you don't like the heat
1 lemon, juice of
4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed with heel of hand
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
In a large casserole or tray, combine all ingredients
Mix well with hands, my best kitchen tool
Arrange chicken links on top of the peppers and onions
Bake at 425 for 30 minutes, turning just the chicken once half way through the total bake time

Serve with crusty bread.

Serves 6
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3 comments:

  1. Thank you for continuously posting delicious, beautiful, and easy recipes for me to use!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I made this last night. SO GOOOOOD! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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