Classic Italian Sausage Sandwich Recipe

Italian sausage reaches its apex in the grilled Italian sassidge sangwitch with grilled sweet peppers and onions.

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 20

Total Time 50

Servings: 4

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: American, Italian

Difficulty: Easy

Makes

4 sangwitches

Ingredients

4 links fresh Italian sausage
2 green bell peppers
2 red bell peppers
2 large onions
6 tablespoons olive oil
4 slices from a long skinny loaf of Italian bread or 2 oblong Italian bread rolls [6" (152.4 mm) long]

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Method

Warm. Take the sausages out of the fridge and let them sit at room temp for about 15 minutes so the skins warm a bit. This helps keep them from splitting, spilling their guts, and dumping oil on the fire causing flareups and putting soot on the food.
Pepper prep. In Chicago, those in the know use a special breed of skinny, thin walled, sweet green variety called Melrose peppers, hard to find outside Cook County. But colorful bell peppers are common and they work just fine. Split the peppers in half cutting through the stem. Pull out the stem and the seed pod. Rinse the pepper inside and out. Cut lengthwise into ¼ inch (6.4 mm) strips. Set aside. Slice the onion in half, pole to pole. Peel off the skin and the tough outer layer. Lay them on the cutting board cut side down and slice off the top and discard. Keep slicing across the layers making half moons working towards the root. Discard the root.
Fire up. Heat the grill to medium high, about 325°F (162.8°C), and leave the lid open. Put an 8 to 12" (203.2 to 304.8 mm) frying pan on the heat, add the olive oil, and swirl to cover the bottom. Add the peppers and onions. Stir to coat with oil. You can grill the peppers and onions if you wish, and that's how I usually do it, although it is not exactly traditional and you don't get the richness of the olive oil. You can cook the peppers and onions a day in advance, indoors if you wish, and just warm them before serving.
Grill. The sausages are usually pretty curved. Bend them gently to try and straighten them slightly. Lay them on the grill between the rungs of the grate. I know this seems weird, usually you lay the across the grates. But if you lay them between the rungs, you can roll them from rung to rung, making a ¼ turn each roll, and get each side nice and dark brown with some dark grill marks, and you won't burn them. The stripes will look goofy running lengthwise, but nobody will argue with the results. Cook with the lid open so you can watch them to prevent burning. Do not poke them to drain the fat! This just dries them out and causes flareups and soot. If you are so concerned about the few extra calories, then grill yourself a carrot. They must cook until they are 160°F (71.1°C) in the center to be safe. There should be no pink. If you cook them longer they can dry out. Usually they are well cooked after 2 or 3 sides are browned.
Cook. While they are cooking, stir the peppers and onions and cook until wilted, slightly browned, but not burned. You can take them off and let them sit at room temp when they are done.
Serve. If you wish, you can split the buns and toast them. Most folks don't. Just nestle the sausage in, top liberally with peppers and onions, make sure some flavorful oil gets into the bread, and serve. Capiche?

Notes

Optional toppings. Spoon on some giardiniera. If you wish, you can top it with marinara sauce, and/or shredded mozz, and melt it on indirect heat on the grill or under a broiler. But never use mustard.
About the olive oil. In Chicago they load up the sangwitch and make sure plenty of the oil gets on the bread and sausage. If there's any of this flavorful elixir left, fry your eggs in it the next morning.
About the bread. Italian bread is a spongy high gluten loaf with a medium hard crust. You can cut it from a large loaf, or buy it in pre-formed rolls. In Chicago, Turano Bakery and Gonnella are the standards.