Sausage and Peppers

In Chapter Six, entitled "Lightning Bugs at Dusk," Silvia goes home to find Frank making a sausage and peppers sandwich. This has always been a popular dish in my family, and something that we all used to enjoy at a festival in my home town called the Festival of Mount Carmel:  http://mountcarmelsociety.homestead.com/  There is a stand at this festival that serves sausage and peppers sandwiches.  My brother Vincent used to work at this stand and now my sister, Annamae, works there.  Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

11/2 pound hot and or sweet Italian sausage
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 red or green bell peppers
1 large onion thinly sliced
1 large clove garlic
dash salt and pepper
4 crusty sandwich rolls

Directions

·         Place the sausages in a large skillet. Pierce the casings with a fork. Add 1-inch water to the pan. Bring liquid to a boil. Cover sausages, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
·         Heat a second skillet over medium high heat. Add oil, 2 turns of the pan. Add garlic, onion, and peppers, salt and pepper.
·         Drain sausages and return pan to stove, raising heat back to medium high. Add a drizzle of oil to the skillet, brown and crisp the casings. Remove sausages, slice into 2 inch pieces on an angle and set pieces back into the pan to sear.
·         Split and toast the bread under broiler.
·         Combine the cooked peppers and onions to the sausages. Toss and turn the sausage, peppers and onions, picking up all the drippings from the pan. Pile the meat and peppers into the garlic sub rolls and serve.