The Godfather: Sausage and Peppers
The Godfather: Recipe #3
This recipe is inspired by the scene in which Sonny Corleone goes to inform his mother of his father’s shooting early on in the book. While Sonny waits in the kitchen for her to get dressed to go to the hospital, he eats a make-shift sandwich of what she had been cooking on the stove - peppers!
“Behind her rose the smell of frying peppers. (…) He watched her turn off the gas under the panfull of peppers and then go out and up to the bedroom. He took peppers from the pan and bread from the basket on the table and made a sloppy sandwich with hot olive oil dripping from his fingers.” - Book I Chapter 2, The Godfather, by Mario Puzo
Ingredients:
1/8 cup olive oil
8 vegan sausage links (I LOVE Beyond Meat’s “Beyond Sausage” Hot Italian links)
2 green bell peppers, sliced into strips
2 red bell peppers, sliced into strips
2 orange or yellow bell peppers, sliced into strips
8-10 cloves garlic, minced (the more garlic the better, in my opinion)
2 large yellow onions, sliced into 1-2 inch long half moons/strips
One 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes (or two 15-oz cans)
2 Tbsp “Italian Seasoning” dry herb mix (oregano, rosemary, parsley, basil, thyme)
1 cup red wine (I used cabernet sauvignon)
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (+/- to taste, depending on how spicy you like)
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet or sauce pan over medium-high heat. Brown the sausages, cooking about 3 minutes on each “side” - flipping even more often than that if you notice sticking. Set sausages aside.
In the same pan, add onions, garlic, and peppers, and saute for about 10 minutes until they begin to blacken a bit.
Add wine and scrape bottom of pan to de-glaze.
Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the wine cooks down to about half its original volume.
Add Italian seasoning, red pepper, salt, pepper, and tomatoes and stir to thoroughly incorporate. Bring to a simmer and turn to low heat.
Add sausages back into the pan, and cover with lid. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Serve inside a nice crispy Italian roll or between 2 slices of Italian bread.
Enjoy!
