Last night we were invited to a Italian Night with our small group from church. There were 14 of us and since the hostess was making Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken, Randy “ask” (highly suggested) that maybe I should take sausage with peppers & onions. So I began to search for recipes online for just the perfect one. I ended up combining about 3 different ones and if I had known how good it would turn out, I would have taken pictures and payed more attention to the ingredients (like the oz on the cans). They were really a hit at dinner and everyone was telling me how good they were. They really were very good and so much fun to make. It made me feel like I’m ready to head to Italy to dine with the rest of the great Italian chefs….ok, maybe I’m not there yet, but most assuredly, it was a dish that we will make again and be so excited to serve to others.

If you enjoy Chocolatecastles, would you mind sharing the blog with your family and friends or telling them about it! Thanks so much! Penelope Pumpkin

Serves 14-16

2 cans of Hunts Traditional Spaghetti Sauce(I don’t know the ounces, but it is the tall can that cost about $1 at Walmart
12 oz of water
2 packets of McCormick Thick & Zesty Spaghetti Sauce Seasoning
2 large green bell peppers (cut into 1-2″ pieces)
1 large red bell pepper(cut into same size pieces as the green)
1 large sweet yellow onion (cut into 1-2″ size pieces)
3 tales olive oil
3 packages or 15 mild Italian Sausages in casing (I used 15 and cut each sausage in half after browning them giving me 30 pieces of sausage)
1 tables oregano
1 tables dried parsley
3 cubes of frozen garlic cubes, divided (or garlic to taste if using fresh or powder)

Directions:

in a heavy Dutch oven, pour cans of Spaghetti sauce with the water. Pour the 2 packets of seasoning and 2 cubes of the garlic. Cover and bake in preheated 325 oven for about 2 hours.
While sauce is in oven, using a large skillet, put 2 tables of the olive oil and heat to where it sizzles when you place each sausage in to brown. Turn and brown all the sausages until they are all lightly browned. Remove from Skillet and cut each one in half (if desired). Place sausages in the sauce. If needed, add the other tables of olive oil to the skillet. Place cut up onion and peppers into hot oil. Sprinkle the oregano, parsley and remaining garlic cube over the pepper-onion mixture. Stir and heat until onion and peppers are beginning to get tender. When ready, add to the sausage-sauce mixture. Add any pepper or red pepper flakes if you like added “kick” to your sauce. (I did not, because even the mild Italian sausage we bought had enough kick to it to be little spicey.
Cover with heavy lid and bake in 350 degree oven for about 1 to 2 hours. Sauce should be thick and deep red. Serve over pasta or just with garlic bread.
Gustare! (Italian for taste, savor, relish)