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Sausage And Pepper Ragout Quick, Easy Meal

Bev Bennett Los Angeles Times Service

Ground meat flavored with fennel seed, garlic and hot peppers, packed together and ready to cook. How convenient can it get?

That’s one of the many reasons why you should feature Italian sausage in a starring role for summer meals and not simply as the base for spaghetti sauce.

For a no-effort dinner, put two sausages on the grill. In the time it takes to finish your favorite brew, your meal is ready. Since you can cook sausages one or two at a time, you don’t have to worry about leftovers.

Uncooked sausages will last a week in the refrigerator or up to a month in the freezer. If you forget to thaw them out, just zap on defrost according to your microwave directions.

Because Italian sausage is so well seasoned, you can make robust stews and ragouts in minutes, not hours. For a summer feast, make a ragout of seasonally abundant sweet red peppers, Italian sausage, red wine, onions, olives and oregano.

Sausage and Pepper Ragout is ready in 40 minutes, tops. To streamline the preparation, brown the sausages first, then slice and cook in the sauce. The casing is edible, and it’s less messy than removing raw meat and cooking it.

Sausage and Pepper Ragout

Adapted from “Simply Stews,” by Susan Wyler (Harper Perennial).

2 (4-ounce) Italian sausages, hot or mild or one of each

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup diced onion (1 small onion)

1 cup thinly sliced sweet red pepper (1 small pepper)

1 large garlic clove, smashed

1/2 cup dry red wine

1/2 teaspoon crushed dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup canned crushed tomatoes

1/4 cup sliced black olives

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salt

Cooked rice or spaghetti, optional

Pierce sausages in several places and brown in medium pan, about 5 minutes total. Remove sausages and pour off any fat.

Add oil to pan. Add onion, sweet red pepper and garlic and saute 5 minutes over medium heat. Add red wine. Bring to boil and boil 2 minutes. Add oregano, red pepper flakes, crushed tomatoes, olives and pepper. Cover and simmer 5 minutes.

Slice sausages into 1-inch pieces. Add to ragout and simmer 10 minutes or until heated through and thoroughly cooked. Season to taste with salt. Serve ragout plain, or over pasta or rice.

Yield: 2 servings.