16 Dec 2012
Main Courses • Recipes

Sausage with Peppers, Onions, and Eggplant

This is one of those easy peasy recipes you need around the holidays when you’re having a holiday potluck.  You take these few ingredients, cut them up, toss them in a baking dish and let them roast in the oven for a long time while they meld their flavors together.

The following recipe will service 8-10

Ingredients:

  • 2 packages of Italian sausage.  You can use Italian style chicken or turkey sausage.
  • 3 Bell Peppers (I prefer red for color and flavor.  You can use whichever you prefer).  Thinly slice the peppers.
  • 2 Onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 Eggplant, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
  • Olive Oil
  • 2 T Salt
  • 1 T Pepper
  • Oregano
  • ¾ Cup of tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Make sure you have a large enough baking dish to accommodate the ingredients.

Thinly slice the peppers and onions and cut the eggplant into small chunks.  Place these ingredients into a large bowl.   Pour about 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil,  salt,  pepper and oregano.  Toss to stir in the olive oil.

Pour this in a large baking dish.

Cut the sausage into bite-size pieces.  I use a kitchen knife because it makes it easier to cut through the casings without having the sausage fall out.

Take the cut-up sausages and mix it into the pepper, onions and eggplant.

Mix the tomato sauce into the mixture.  Make sure that everything is mixed well.

Place, uncovered, into your oven and set the timer for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes stir the ingredients.  Place back into the oven and cook for another 30 minutes.

Check again after that time and stir.  You want the ingredients to cook and be tender.  One hour should be sufficient at 375 degrees.  The eggplant takes the longest so taste it to check its texture.  If it is not yet soft, mix the ingredients again and put the tray back into the oven and cook for another 10-15 minutes.

This meal is great as a sandwich in a nice Italian roll (not a bad Italian roll but a nice one) or with a nice piece of Italian bread on the side.  You can also serve it with a side of pasta.

Sausage with Peppers, Onions and Eggplant

 

Enjoy!

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Rosa Wippich | No comments | Tags: , , , ,
25 Sep 2012
Just Saying • Miscellaneous

Summit Wine and Food Festival 2012

Wines of Portugal

 

The 4th annual Summit Wine and Food Festival held on September 21, 22, and 23rd was, once again, a huge success with 15 various events.  The stage was the Grand Summit Hotel and the entire event was smoothly orchestrated by Jean Criss, of Jean Criss Media, and Ivan Ruiz of the Wine List in Summit, NJ.

The topics ranged from such topics as:  The Flavors of India, Cognac, Wines of Portugal, The Joys of Peppers, and Latin Cooking.  The chefs, sommelier, and speakers came from restaurants around NJ along with celebrity chef, Daisy Martinez of the Food Network ‘Daisy Cooks’.  The speakers were extremely knowledgeable and informative.

Not only was it a wonderful event but the proceeds also supported the Community Food Bank of NJ.

I had the opportunity to attend a seminar on the Wines of Portugal presented by Neil Rodriguez of the Wine List and Sandra Marquez, North American Export Manager for Sogevinus Fine Wines.  Not only did Neal talk about the process of wine tasting itself by swirling, smelling and tasting but also he eloquently explained a bit of historical information on the grapes, the culture and the regions of Portugal dating back to the first makers of Port.  Sandra spoke about the interesting process of Porto wine making and how the fermentation is halted early on in the process by adding brandy to the juice.  The brandy fortifies the Porto as it ages in barrels along the city of Porto where the climate is very humid and assists in the aging process.

I also attended a seminar presented by Maricel Presilla who is a recent James Beard Award Winner.  Maricel is a chef, restaurant owner and food historian.  She gave a very informative presentation on peppers and their influence in the culinary world.  The most delightful part of the seminar was when we tasted a delicious sampling of tamales and the different heat attributed by the variety of peppers used.  We also tasted dark chocolate infused with chile and paired it with a dry Malbec.  The way the wine enhanced the spices in the chocolate was absolutely brilliant.

It was such a delightful way to spent a several hours of a fall weekend in NJ, enjoying 2 of the things that I love best – wine and food.

Cheers

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