How to Make Italian Sausage and Sweet Peppers on Toasted Bread

This is the best ever meal for one or two people, ever. It’s winter food, warm, rich and comforting, and it’s also as much after work food (can be made in about 20 minutes) as it is a hearty weekend lunch or a lazy no-stress weekend dinner.

It’s a classic combination, and if you’ve never made yourself a plate of tomatoey sweet peppery Italian sausage goodness, you are missing out on one of the great pleasures of life.

Here’s a recipe with instructions for one, multiply as needed.

Italian Sausage and Sweet Peppers on Bread

• A little vegetable oil (you could go with olive oil here, in keeping with the Italian theme of things, but I think a neutral oil is more what you want for this dish.)
• ¼ of a cooking onion, chopped
• ½ of a red or yellow sweet pepper, sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 sweet Italian sausage, meat removed from the casings
• About ½ cup of tomatoes, either canned tomatoes or roughly chopped fresh tomatoes
• Salt and pepper
• Some good country or other hearth bread, rubbed with a little olive oil and toasted under your broiler or in a toaster oven

Instructions

1. Add a splash of oil to a heavy frying pan set to medium (1 Tbls or so) and when hot, toss in the onions and sweet peppers and cook, stirring, until the peppers have softened and the onions are very soft (8-10 minutes, probably).
2. Add in the garlic, and stir it around for a minute or so, or until its releases it aroma and then dump in the sausage meat.
3. Let the sausage meat cook through, stirring it occasionally, for a few minutes. You can break it up a bit with a spoon, as you cook it, but clumps and chunks add interest to the final dish, so don’t go too meticulous with your smooshing.
4. Get your bread ready by rubbing a couple of slices with a little olive oil and then crisping this up under the broiler or in a toaster oven.
5. Once the sausage has cooked through, add in the tomatoes and any juices from the can or cutting board, and crank the heat up to high, bring the whole mixture up to a boil.
6. Let the tomatoes heat and percolate with the rest of it for a couple of minutes, stirring and watching to make sure it doesn’t burn. This is done when the tomatoes are cooked through and have no trace of their raw texture. You may need to add a little water to the pan if things get looking too dry, but don’t add to much, cause’ after a couple of minutes of cooking you want to end up with something of a consistency that’s going to stick nicely to your bread.
7. Once the tomatoes have cooked through, and the mixture is appropriately thickened, tastes for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.
8. Serve with crunchy bread, and if you want to get fancy, with a little mixed salad on the side.

Heaven!