Local Ingredients: Spicy Sausage with Peppers and Onions

When I was growing up, my mom would make the best grilled sausage sandwiches with sauteed peppers and onions.  There was nothing particularly fancy about this sandwich and in fact it was usually fairly messy, but it was full of lots of great flavors and really stands out among my childhood food memories. 

Last night, I decided to recreate this meal and Bret was very excited since he loves sausage and peppers as much as I do!  I was especially excited to make this dish because I had a lot of really great local ingredients to work with and I think that everything tastes better with fresh local ingredients. 

To start, I had some great hot Italian sausages from Stillman's Farm. 

I pierced both sides of each sausage with a fork and put them in a skillet.  I added enough water and a splash of vegetable oil into the skillet so that it covered the bottom half of each sausage.  I put the skillet on medium-high heat, put a cover on the skillet and then got to work on my vegetables. 

First, I washed a small handful of broccoli rabe (from Siena Farms) and put it in the salad spinner to dry.  Once the greens were dry, I gave them a rough chop and put the broccoli rabe aside.

I then got to work on my peppers.  I had a beautiful red pepper along with three Hungarian hot wax peppers that were also from Siena Farms.  I chopped those up, along with half a large white onion. 

I put another skillet on the stove on medium heat with some vegetable oil.  When the pan was warmed up, I added the onions first because they would take the longest to cook down.

I then added the red pepper and also seasoned the vegetables well with salt and crushed black pepper.

The wax peppers were the next vegetables to be thrown in.  I very casually de-seeded them because Bret and I both like a lot of heat in our dishes.

I took a break from my vegetables and quickly checked on my sausages.  The water had cooked down, which meant that the sausages would be cooked through.  I turned the sausages over to make sure that they were nicely crisp and brown on the outside.  I returned back to my sauteed vegetables and added the broccoli rabe, which only needed a quick toss.

I loaded my veggies onto a crusty ciabatta roll and added the sausage. 

Bret chose to top his sandwich with brown deli mustard but I chose a roasted garlic mustard.

I don't want to tell my mom, but I think my sausage and peppers might just be better than hers.  I really liked the contrast of the spicy sausage and wax peppers with the sweetness of the white onions and red peppers.  Plus, the crusty ciabatta bread was the perfect vehicle for the sausage, peppers and onions.

What have you made recently that was inspired from a food memory?