Sausage & Peppers

This recipe has become one of my absolute favorites lately. As far as I'm concerned, the best part of cooking is the prep - chopping vegetables, separating them into different containers in advance of throwing them all together...it's cathartic for me. There's not a ton of prep that goes into this dish, but I so enjoy it!

Sausage & Peppers (adapted from here)

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 pounds Hot Italian Sausage
5 bell peppers, sliced (for variety, use red, green and yellow)
2 large red onions, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 (12 fluid ounce) bottles beer
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons oregano
2 tablespoons hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium high heat. Cook sausage links until browned on all sides. Generally, I also add whatever leftover sausage products I may have in the refrigerator - keilbasa, salami, etc. Remove sausage from pan, and set aside. Pour in 1 bottle of beer to deglaze the pan, scraping up any blackened bits from the bottom. Add the peppers, onions and garlic to the pan. Stir in the remaining beer and the tomato paste. Season with oregano, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Cover, and simmer until onions and peppers are tender.

Slice the sausage into bite size pieces, and add to the peppers. Cover, and simmer until sausage is cooked through.

Serve over egg noodles with crusty bread.

This is great comfort food, and it's perfect for this time of year when it's so frequently cold and rainy!