For the past, oh I don’t know, what seems like a decade, Joan has been engaged in a family project with her two sisters. They are the lucky beneficiaries of their parents’ Italian food legacy and they have honored their dad’s wish by putting it all into a cookbook, “La Cucina Marinello: three generations of italian cooking.” This is no ordinary cookbook; loaded with family stories and fabulous recipes, this is an heirloom, one that was originally intended to be given only to their children but slowly morphed into an amazing collection that we can now all enjoy. The book is currently on its way from the printer and will be ready for sale very soon, in time for the holidays. But we here at Food and Friendship have a little edge … we know someone on the inside…and so were able to persuade the Marinello sisters to give you a sneak preview. Here’s one of their favorite recipes:
from La Cucina Marinello
- 2-3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 6-8 Italian sausages (sweet, hot, or combination)
- 1-2 large yellow onions, cut into ¼-inch slices
- 4 large red bell peppers, seeds removed, cut into ½-inch slices
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- In a large skillet, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausages and cook until well-browned on all sides, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove sausages from the skillet and drain on paper towels; set aside.
- In the same skillet over medium heat, add the onions and sauté until onions are soft and translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the peppers, salt, and pepper; sauté until peppers are tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Return the sausages to the skillet and stir to combine with the onions and peppers. Cover and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until sausages are heated through, about 15 minutes. Serve hot with crusty Italian bread.
- If serving as a sandwich: Split Italian roll in half lengthwise and lightly toast under the broiler. Brush both sides of toasted roll with olive oil. Place a sausage on bottom half, generously mound with peppers and onions and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with the remaining half of the roll and serve warm.
Three Italian ingredients, sausage, peppers, and onions, come together in this traditional southern Italian dish. For our family this typical mid-week dish inevitably ended up as leftovers. Our parents stuffed an Italian roll full of sausage and peppers, oozing with olive oil, into our school lunch pails. As children in the 1950’s, we sometimes traded this gourmet sandwich away for peanut butter and jelly on Wonder bread. What were we thinking?
Serves 4
2-3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6-8 Italian sausages (sweet, hot, or combination)
1-2 large yellow onions, cut into 1/4-inch slices
4 large red bell peppers, seeds removed, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
In a large skillet, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausages and cook until well-browned on all sides, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove sausages from the skillet and drain on paper towels; set aside.
In the same skillet over medium heat, add the onions and sauté until onions are soft and translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the peppers, salt, and pepper; sauté until peppers are tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Return the sausages to the skillet and stir to combine with the onions and peppers. Cover and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until sausages are heated through, about 15 minutes. Serve hot with crusty Italian bread.
If serving as a sandwich: Split Italian roll in half lengthwise and lightly toast under the broiler. Brush both sides of toasted roll with olive oil. Place a sausage on bottom half, generously mound with peppers and onions and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with the remaining half of the roll and serve warm.