Father’s Day festivities continued today at our house with grandpa coming over for dinner. I made a manly meal with a lighter touch – Chicken Italian Sausage & Pepper Sandwiches served with a fresh Cucumber and Tomato Salad. The sausages were cooked to perfection, so scrumptiously juicy and tasty that my dad had no idea they weren’t of the pig variety.
Grilling these sausages is ideal but when it’s 109 degrees out I stay indoors at all costs. I pan-seared the links over high heat to seal in the flavor then finished them off in the oven. The vinegary freshness of the salad was the perfect accompaniment.
Pan searing the sausage links helps seal in the juices and adds a nice bite to the casing.
I finished cooking the sausages in the oven. This ensures they cook through without drying out and frees me up so I can tend to Miss Jacquelyn.
I simplified my life a bit by prepping the veggies hours before I needed them. When I was ready to start cooking all I had to do was add them to the pan.
Italian Sausage Sandwiches
Ingredients
4-6 links of chicken Italian sausage, you can also use turkey or pork. I had a mix of sweet and hot
1 large yellow onion
3 bell peppers, any color will do – I used red because they were on sale
2 roma tomatoes
1 TBS olive oil
4-6 Slices provolone cheese
4-6 crusty rolls – I used bollilos
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Wash and prep all the veggies
- Slice bell pepper in thin strips
- Slice onion in thin strips
- Chop tomato into small cubes
- Heat olive oil in large skillet over high heat, do not let it burn
- Add sausages to hot pan and sear on all sides, about 1 minute per side
- Remove sausages from pan and transfer to baking sheet
- Put sausages in oven and bake for 35 minutes
- Meanwhile, turn the heat down to low and add onions and peppers to the same pan
- Let the peppers and onions cook down and soften
- Add tomatoes and mix
- Remove from heat and keep warm until ready to serve
- Slice rolls down the side, careful not to cut through
- Line the roll with the cheese, next add the sausage and top with the peppers and onion. Serve and enjoy.
Simple ingredients for the tasty summer salad.
Cucumber Tomato Salad
Ingredients
1 large English cucumber
5 roma tomatoes
1/2 large onion
10 splashes of red wine vinegar
1 palm full of dried oregano
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Directions
- Wash the veggies
- Thinly slice the cucumber about 1/8 inch thick. If using an English cucumber you don’t need to peel it, I did anyway because I don’t like peel
- Add cucumber to salad bowl
- Slice roma tomatoes to match the thickness of cucumber and add to bowl
- Very thinly slice the onion and add to bowl, be sure to separate the pieces
- Liberally splash in about 8-10 dashes of vinegar
- Add oregano, salt and pepper
- Toss everything together making sure everything is coated in the vingegar
- Chill until ready to serve
Just chop the veggies, add the vinegar, season and toss. Easy!
I love pretty food. It makes me happy…and hungry.
