“I come home and she’s making Sausage & Peppers!”

This is a common refrain Mike likes to say when he talks about my transformation from someone who can barely boil water, needed a recipe every step of the way and made him a chicken dish he only pretended to like when we first met. While Mike was way more the chef than I was when we met, we both shared a passion for good food. We loved to check out restaurants where we were living at the time, the Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia. Fresh seafood abounded. We loved Chick’s Oyster Bar, Lynnhaven Fish House and the Sunset Grille (nicknamed Sunset Grilley by Mike and his best buddy Matt who ended up being best man at our wedding). The city of Norfolk also had some amazing fine dining establishments to sample whether Bistro 110 or the Dumbwaiter restaurant where the ambiance created by funky modern artwork, retro, eclectic seating and tables was as unique as the menu. And of course my college town of Williamsburg with the old deli college hangouts, colonial taverns, the famous Trellis restaurant, and my fav French place, Le Yaca, kept us on the road for short roadtrips to dining dates.

Early on in our relationship, Mike and I loved talking about the details of various restaurant dishes we ordered, and how we might replicate that at home - of course with Mike being the lead chef, and I would be his sous-chef, the one who was still learning the basics.

However, after being back in my home town of Chicago living at 631 N Drury Lane in Arlington Heights, starting to truly enjoy gardening, and connecting more with my kitchen, my chef and meal creation skills quickly evolved. There were a couple key milestones in my journey which are probably good content for future blog posts. But now as Mike likes to say “Amy’s fearless in the kitchen!” And he also loves to tell everyone, “These days, I come home and Amy’s made sausage and peppers for dinner!” Not sure why he always uses this dish to characterize my evolved cooking skills; perhaps it’s because he LOVES to eat this dish so much, or perhaps it’s a well-embedded memory structure just like our favorite movie-meal accompaniment - The Godfather! But he LOVES to say this whenever talking about my transformation into a meal creator.

I personally love making this dish because when we have a garden, I can harvest a few peppers from the garden and whip up this meal easily. It is beautiful to look at with the vibrancy of the different colored peppers. It is delicious. It is also super-easy to flex the flavor profile depending on what you are looking for - dial-up with more peppers, dial-up with more pasta, dial-up or down with the garlic and herbs as desired. It is truly something you can make and call your own version of it.

If you do end up trying this out, I’d love to know if you come up with your own creative version. Feel free to email me at: amyandmike@happyboolo.com.

Harvesting peppers in my dad’s garden! So grateful we can enjoy harvesting produce from my dad during our year of Happy Boolo renovation!

Sausage & Pepper Recipe

Thanks to All Recipes for this foundational recipe! The original recipe that inspired me is appropriately called Mama Corleone’s Sausage and Peppers!

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package thin or regular spaghetti (I vary this and sometimes use more spaghetti as I like to make a bigger batch especially if I have many peppers. It also depends on if you want to taste more peppers or more pasta.)
1/2 to 1 lb mild Italian sausage - you can also use links and take the meat out of the casing, but I always ask my store butcher to provide it as bulk sausage right from the start. (I have also made this dish with no sausage - still YUM. And I have made it with less sausage. Just depends on what you are in the mood for!)
5 medium assorted bell peppers, seeded and cut into strips (I flex with the amount here depending on how many peppers are available - you see 9 in my ingredients picture. You can also vary the type as you see I have done. A mix of different flavor profiles can make this dish especially yummy.)
1 clove garlic, minced (I always use more garlic as Mike and I love garlic - typically 3-5 cloves!)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (If you sautee your sausage first, you may not need much oil as you can use some of the oil from the sausage as a base for sauteeing your peppers.)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (I tend to use more - again vary it to achieve the taste you like)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil (same as above)
You can also use Italian seasoning instead of the individual dried herbs.
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4- 3/4 cup minced flat leaf parsley (I love fresh herbs - so I usually use at least 1/2 cup)
1/2-1 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves - ideally delicately cut into pieces with herb scissors
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese to taste

Directions:

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti, and cook until al dente, about 5 minutes. Drain, and set aside.
Brown sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat with a drizzle of the olive oil. Remove sausages to a platter, and keep warm in the oven. Add the bell peppers, garlic, oregano, basil (and salt and pepper as you prefer) to the skillet, and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Saute over medium heat until peppers are tender and start to brown and carmelize.
Add the sausage back in and let the flavors mix.
Toss in half to three-quarters of the amount of fresh parsley and fresh basil you have prepared, allowing the flavors to meld together and the fresh herbs to fully cook into the dish.
Toss the pepper mixture with the spaghetti until well-blended. Toss in as much Parmesan cheese as you prefer, letting some of it start to melt a bit and mix in. Salt and pepper to taste.
Once it looks nearly finished, toss in the final amount of fresh basil and parsley as garnish.
Transfer to a serving platter or individual serving bowls. Garnish as desired with a couple intact basil leaves and grated Parmesan cheese.
Enjoy with garlic bread, a green salad and possibly some yummy fruit for dessert!

Total Happy Boolo When I’m in Chef Mode!

Buon Appetito!!

“I come home and she’s making Sausage & Peppers!”

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