Well Fed, Flat Broke: Sausage And Peppers

sausage and peppers

This week, Toddler has taken us by surprise. He has tried new tastes, and as a result, liked new things. He has requested that dinner items be packed up for his daycare lunches. He has asked for seconds.

As always, this has little to do with us and everything to do with some outside factor we could not have anticipated. Once you accept that their issues with food are, more often than not, issues over which they want to have some control, the pressure’s off you. It’s up to you to keep putting the food in front of them, and it’s up to them what they do with it. Our rule is that you have to at least try it, but after that, whatever.

The issue of ”trying” has been contentious, and Toddler has not enjoyed this requirement. He has been vocal in his opposition (aren’t they always?). But last week he asked to have Green Eggs & Ham read to him at bedtime, and we’ve read it every night since, and just like that ”If you will let me be, I will try them. You will see.”

”He tried it and he liked it?” he asked, as if confirming something unthinkable. ”Isn’t it silly to say you don’t like something when you don’t even know how it tastes?” I remarked.

And that is how, to everyone’s amazement, sausage and peppers became Toddler’s favourite dinner.

This one’s an easy one-pot dish if you serve it up as sandwiches get some soft Portuguese rolls and you can take this dinner to go. It’s also great tossed with pasta, or spooned over soft polenta.

Recipe perks: No nuts, dairy or soy. Quick to cook you can have this on the table in about 30 minutes. Serves four.

sausage ingredients

Beer-braised sausage and peppers

  • 2 tbsp. olive oil

  • 4 to 6 Italian sausages

  • 2 lbs. bell peppers, any color, halved and cut lengthwise into strips

  • 1 large onion, halved and cut lengthwise into strips

  • 4 garlic cloves, minced

  • 1 tsp. fennel seeds

  • 1 tsp. smoked paprika

  • 1 tsp. coarse salt

  • ½ tsp. dried oregano

  • ½ tsp. red pepper flakes

  • ½ tsp. ground black pepper

  • 12 oz. bottle of beer, such as an amber ale or a pilsner

  • Chopped fresh basil

Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add olive oil, and quickly brown sausages. You do not need to cook them through this is about giving them color. When they’ve been browned on two sides, scoop them out of the pan and set them aside.

browned sausage

Add your bell peppers and onion to the pan. Let them cook for three minutes, and do not stir them. The goal here is to get a little bit of char on some of the veggies; you want deep colour, but fast.

onions and peppers

After three minutes, add the garlic, fennel seeds, paprika, salt, oregano, pepper flakes, and black pepper. Stir to coat the veggies in the oil and spices, and cook another minute.

Add the beer, scraping the bottom of the pan as you do. Turn the heat down to medium, bring the beer up to a simmer, and then add the sausages back to the pan.

Cook the whole thing, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, until the beer has reduced and thickened. Sprinkle with fresh chopped basil.

If you are serving this with pasta, remove the sausages and toss the pepper-onion-beer mixture with your cooked noodles. If you are serving this on sandwiches or over polenta, spoon from the pan and serve as is.

Emily Wight is a working mom, author, and the blogger behind Well Fed, Flat Broke (wellfedflatbroke.com). Her cookbook, ”Well fed, flat broke: Recipes for modest budgets & messy kitchens,” from Arsenal Pulp Press is available in stores and online. She is tired.

well fed book

(Images: Emily Wight)

Similar Posts