Weeknight Dinner: Pasta with Sausage and Roasted Peppers

photo: Eric Diesel

So how are those turkey leftovers treating you?  Have you waddled just about as far as you can through turkey sandwiches, turkey tetrazzini, turkey soup, turkey chili, turkey meatballs, and turkey hash?  Are you steeling yourself for Round Two (or Three or Four) later this month?

As I wrote last year around this time, dinner takes on a special meaning in December.  Even for those who doesn't celebrate, the winter holidays are a busy time.  Social life kicks into high gear with invitations from family, friends and co-workers.  House trimmings from flashing bulbs to candlelight need to be hauled out of attics, basements, garages, storage sheds, and then unpacked, and then set up.  Shoppers must hit those sales and wrappers must pretty up the packages.  There are cookies to bake, popcorn to pop, banisters to embellish.

Sometimes it seems like every night, a different event beckons.  In college in a snowy Pennsylvania town, we prepared for the annual Christmas concert, the midnight pilgrimage downtown and, oh yeah, finals.  In the city, an hours' shopping after work culminates with reconnoitering at a favorite watering hole.  The Tavern on Jane in the Village is home away from home during the holidays for a whole family of regulars who think of this as one of the central locations of a New York City Christmas.  The owners of the Tavern make sure the tree vendors camped just outside the door have something to eat.  In our Urban Home, the Tavern is such a member of the family that a picture of its door, be-wreathed for the holidays, hangs on the wall.

December's bustle is nice, but it is also nice to call a time out.  Weeknight dinner is especially important when pace causes the season to rush by.  While we enjoy the activity, let us also remember to savor the moment.  Let us gather around a dinner table after a busy day, to share not just food but time together.  For as you paste photos and mementos into scrapbooks this January, it will not be the decorations or the presents but the time spent together that makes your heart twinge.

Here is an original recipe for the perfect weeknight dinner during holiday rush: pasta with sausage and roasted peppers.  Everyone loves pasta, and serving it is a nice break from the heavyhitting food of the season.  This simple, satisfying preparation honors the great flavor pairing of sausage and peppers.  Roasting the peppers in walnut oil evokes their warmth, while mixing them with sauteed sausage evokes their festive spirit.  The dish is simple enough to prepare mid-week and very nice to come home to after a Saturday of battling either the crowds in the shopping district or the lights on the roof.  Serve your pasta with insalata mista and either a dry white or a spicy red -- then retire to the living room to pop in a holiday movie and finish both the bottle and the leftovers.

PASTA WITH SAUSAGE AND ROASTED PEPPERS

Walnut oil is worthwhile indulgence to keep in your pantry; here is a good, inexpensive brand.

1 pound sweet Italian sausage
1 small yellow onion
3 medium cloves garlic
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock, either homemade or low-sodium canned
1 red bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
Walnut oil
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons herbes des provences
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound dried small-cut pasta, such as shells, orecchetti, fusilli or penne
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano for serving

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Drizzle a medium roasting pan with walnut oil.  Sprinkle 1/4 tablespoon kosher salt across the bottom of the pan.  Add several grindings of fresh black pepper to the pan.

2. Fill a large bowl with warm water. Following the package directions, add a few drops of vegetable cleaner to the water. Remove produce labels if any from the peppers.  Submerge the peppers in the water and gently swirl.  Rinse each pepper thoroughly under warm water and place on paper towels to dry.

3. For each pepper, place the pepper on a cutting board.  Cut the pepper in half from cap to bottom. Cut away and discard the stem; cut away and discard any white pith from inside each half. Rinse each half under warm water to remove the seeds; if saving seeds for planting, do this step over a fine mesh sieve to catch the seeds. Cut off the rounded top and bottom of each half; cut into bite-sized pieces (it is okay if they are uneven). Working one halved pepper at a time, flatten each remaining pepper, skin side down, against the cutting board. Cut each flattened half into 1/2-inch strips and cut across the strips to form 1/2-inch squares. 

4. Scrape the chopped peppers into the roasting pan.  Shake the pan to form an even layer across the bottom.  Drizzle the peppers with walnut oil.  Sprinkle the peppers with the remaining 1/4 tablespoon kosher salt, the herbes des provences and several grindings of fresh black pepper.

5. Place the roasting pan in the oven and roast the peppers, uncovered, until soft and very fragrant, approximately 40 minutes total.

6. While the peppers are roasting, peel the onion and remove the root and stem ends. Halve the onion from root to stem; halve each half. Cut each quarter into crescents and then cut across the crescents to form dice.

7. Peel the garlic and remove the root end. Half each clove; remove and discard any sprouting from the center.

8. Place a large saute pan on the stovetop.  Drizzle the bottom of the pan with a four-count of extra-virgin olive oil.  Add the diced onion to the pan.  Use a garlic press to add the halved garlic to the pan.

9. Unwrap the sausage and place on a plate.  Use a paring knife to remove and discard the casing if present from the sausage.  Use the knife to break the sausage into small pieces.  Use the knife to scrape the broken-up sausage into the pan with the onion and garlic.

10. Heat the burner to low.  Cook the sausage, onions and garlic on low while the peppers are roasting.  Use a wooden spoon to break the sausage into bite-sized pieces as it cooks.  Remember to stir occasionally to keep the onions and garlic from burning, and to cook on low -- there is plenty of time for the ingredients to cook while the peppers roast.

11. After 20 minutes, open the oven and stir the peppers.  They should be getting fragrant and soft with burned edges.

12. Fill a pan large enough to hold the pasta with water and add a teaspoon of table salt to the water.  Bring the water to a boil.  Once boiling, add the pasta and cook according to package directions until al dente.  Once the pasta is cooked to al dente, turn off the burner.  Drain the pasta and return the drained pasta to the pot.  Cover and and place on the back of the stovetop to keep warm.

13. After 40 minutes, open the oven and check the peppers.  They should be soft with burned edges and very fragrant, with a flavorful oil in the pan.  Close the oven door and turn off the oven.
 
14. Check the sausage-onion-garlic mixture.  The sausage and onions should be slightly charred.
 
15. Add the wine to the sausage-onion-garlic mixture.  The wine may flare; step back.  Use the spoon to scrape the blackened bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add the chicken stock.  Stir to combine.  Cook until the liquids are bubbling, approximately one minute.
 
16. Once the pan liquids are bubbling, remove the roasting pan from the oven.  Use a silicon spatula to scrape the peppers and all accumulated juices into the mixture in the saute pan.
 
17. Stir the ingredients in the saute pan to combine.  Turn off the heat.
 
18. Place a generous serving of pasta in a dinner bowl; ladle a generous serving of sauce over the pasta.  Serve with fresh Parmesan and the peppermill at the table.