I am sure all of you have had some version of sausage and peppers, but this one is easy to make, and the sausages remain juicy. The idea is to cook the sausages and vegetables separately, and then combine them at the end. Even though sausage and peppers seem to be quintessentially Italian, peppers are a New World food and were introduced to Italy only after the discovery of the Americas. Italians quickly made them their own and incorporated them on their table. So, when they came to America as immigrants, peppers were abundant and used with excess in many of the Italian American dishes. They are now ubiquitous at every Italian street fair.

　　

Ingredients

serves 6 to 8

　　2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

　　12 sweet Italian sausage links (about 3 pounds)

　　8 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled

　　4 hot pickled cherry peppers, stemmed, halved, and seeded (leave some of the seeds in if you like the heat)

　　3 small onions, peeled, cut into wedges attached at the root end

　　1 pound mixed mushrooms, halved (button, cremini, shiitake)

　　3 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, quartered, or cut into sixths if large

　　1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

　　

Step 1

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, then cover and cook, turning occasionally, to brown all sides, about 10 minutes in all. Uncover, add the crushed garlic and cherry peppers, cover, and cook until the sausages are cooked all the way through, about 10 minutes more. Remove sausages to a plate.

　　

Step 2

Add the onion wedges and cover the skillet. Cook, tossing occasionally, until the onions begin to caramelize on the edges, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and bell peppers, season with the salt, stir, and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until all of the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes more. Uncover, increase heat to get the pan juices simmering, and cook until the juices have reduced and glazed the vegetables, about 10 minutes.

　　

Step 3

Return the sausages to the skillet. Cook and toss to heat the sausages through and combine flavors, about 3 minutes more.

　　Reprinted with permission from Lidia's Italy in America by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali. Copyright © 2011 by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. Buy the full book from Amazon or Bookshop.