Spiedini Rustici con Salsiccia

The December issue of La Cucina Italiana seemed to have been written just for me. Page after page, every dish was something I wanted to eat. When I first read the issue, I immediately made the ribollita which was delicious topped with fontina. Last weekend, I tried a couple of other meals from an article about hearty, festive, holiday season dishes from the northern, alpine region of Italy. The first was spiedini rustici con salsiccia. I used chicken, hot Italian sausage, but that was my only change to the instructions provided.

Polenta was cooked and allowed to cool in a loaf pan before being cut into skewerable pieces. The sausage was browned on top of the stove and then sliced. The spiedini were built with alternating pieces of sausage and polenta with sage leaves on the ends. Then, and this is the important part, they were dotted with butter before being heated through in the oven. So, think for a moment if anything bad ever results from dotting something with butter before placing it in the oven? I don’t think it does. These spiedini are as simple as it gets, but the butter made them something special. I added a touch of chopped sage with a sprinkling of black pepper before serving.

As I made these, I was thinking about how spiedini make good party food. Smaller versions of these, with just one small slice of sausage and a smaller chunk of polenta, would make great hors d’oeuvres. I’ve served a similar mini spiedini before using rosemary sprigs as skewers. Full size or miniature, be sure to dot with butter for rich flavor and nice bits of crust on the polenta.

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Sausage and Peppers

"At last." That was Kurt’s response when I told him what was planned for dinner last night. He’s been a trooper through several vegetarian-focused meals lately, and he’s enjoyed them, he really has. But, the thought of a meal of sausage and peppers was a true delight. I should point out right away that I used chicken Italian sausages, but just the same, there was meat being cooked and served for dinner. He was right, this was a meal deserving of excitement.

Sausage and peppers is pretty straightforward. Cook sausages, saute bell peppers and onions until they smell amazing, and combine all to finish cooking together. This time, however, I took some pointers from Lidia Bastianich. In Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen, her technique for sausage and peppers is just a bit more specific. She suggests wide strips of bell peppers and onions, some pickled cherry peppers, garlic, and mushrooms. She explains proper cooking times so the vegetables retain some texture. There are a few steps involved in browning and sautéing on the stovetop, and then everything is combined to finish cooking through in the oven. By following her instructions, this was the best sausage and peppers meal I’ve made.

I had some fresh and fabulous green peppers from Hands of the Earth farm, great job HOE, and a red gypsy pepper from the farmers' market. The size of the cut strips and the carefully monitored cooking time made for very good results. I quite liked the use of mushrooms as it upped the vegetable quotient in the dish, and I used some local shitakes. The addition of the pickled, hot cherry peppers was genius. I had never thought to include jarred peppers before, but the bit of acidity brightened the flavors, and the tantalizing heat added a nice spark. The sausages retained a nice texture by finishing in the oven, and the garlic became the delicious thing it always does. I am going on a bit about something so simple as sausage and peppers, but this was a really great rendition of it. Take Lidia’s advice, choose your favorite type of sausage, do as she says, and have a spectacular meal of it.

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