Receta An Italian American Classic: Sausage and Peppers
The Original Parm at 248 Mulberry St. NYC
Italian cooking is such an ingrained
part of the American diet that dishes like Pizza and Spaghetti and Meatballs
are barely labelled Italian anymore.
They’re just good old American staples at this point. But as Lasagna and
Eggplant Parmesan and Polenta and Baked Ziti are now about as exotic as a hot
dog, some Italian dishes seem to have been left by the wayside. In New York, three young partners, Mario
Carbone, Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick, have made a career out of “Red Sauce” Italian Restaurants. Out of
the 5 restaurants their Major Food Group has opened four are full-on Italian American where they’ve made their reputation with items like Chicken and Eggplant
Parmesan. But at their latest offering
and uptown branch of their first Parm, Parm at 235 Columbus Ave. (70th -71st Street Tel: 212 776-4921) there’s one item that is
conspicuously missing and that is of course the subject of today’s post:
Sausage and Peppers. But before we get to that, a brief review of Parm on the Upper West Side.
After what seemed like ages, Parm
finally opened in the space formerly occupied by Lansky’s, which was called an
“Old World Deli” and whose closing signified the changing tastes on the Upper
West Side as much as anything else. Lansky’s old Jeish deli food was perfectly
fine but its largely elderly following is fast being replaced by the young and
the hip. Parm jumped into the breach and
attracts a huge following among Upper West Side daters looking for reasonably
priced food. They’ll find it there along
with one the highest decibel noise levels anywhere. Even at a table for two, on a Saturday night
it’s virtually impossible to carry on a conversation. The only way we avoided
the cacophony was to sit on the street side of the place, where, because every
time the door opened we froze, no one else was seated. And how was the food? There’s a garlic bread that so good, I would
conceivably go back just to eat that alone. There’s warm mozzarella that’s
house made and very good. There are 5
familiar pastas and four main course selections, the most expensive being a
whole seabream for $27.00. And there
there’s the Parms…Chicken Parm, Meatball Parm, Eggplant Parm which along with
the somewhat incongruous House Turkey come three ways: On a Roll, in a Hero or
as a platter. For my taste, there’s an
awful lot of bread to contend with so I’d likely recommend the platter, which
comes with salad or pasta--if you must carbo load. All in all, the young staff
could not be more pleasant and if you don’t mind the ear-splitting noise level
you may be perfectly happy at Parm. It’s
not inventive, it’s good solid red sauce Italian American. Except… where are the sausage and peppers?
Note the sign at the San Gennaro FestivalSausage and Peppers is New York Street
food. Street fairs in New York are as
common as potholes and almost as annoying. Long stretches of our Avenues are
closed completely to all but pedestrians creating nightmarish traffic
jams. One of the most famous of these is
the San Gennaro Festival held for 11 long days in September. San Gennaro is the
patron saint of Naples. To celebrate,
what’s left of Little Italy, which is now surrounded by Chinatown, is closed off
to vehicles and some 200 vendors set up shop, a tremendous number of them
selling Sausage and Peppers. Some park themselves directly in front of the
original Parm at 248 Mulberry Street.
The boys may have an item called Pork and Peppers at that location but
that didn’t make the trip uptown. And
that’s a shame. The dish, like the
festival, hails from Naples where its variation uses hot fennel sausages,
melted mozzarella and tomato sauce.
North of Naples is closer to the version made in this country. There’s no tomato sauce or mozzarella and
sweet sausage is used. Instead there are plenty of peppers and onions. It’s frequently served on doughy Italian
bread. But for a dinner version of this
dish, you can cut out the bread and serve this immensely satisfying dish
carb-free!
Street Food Version with BreadUnlike many Italian sauces, this recipe
doesn’t require hours on the stove.
Quite the contrary, this dish was on the table in 45 minutes. Sweet Italian Sausage is found everywhere in
New York. In fact it’s hard to find plain pork sausages. Ours came from Fairway. The sausages are partially cooked and browned
before the essential onions, green and red peppers are added to the
skillet. Red Pepper Flakes and lots of
garlic add to the flavors and stock is used to make a sauce that brings the
whole dish together. You could serve
this with a side salad but I saw no reason to. It’s was a perfect one dish
dinner. Here’s the recipe
Recipe for Sausage and Peppers
1 ½ lb.
sweet Italian sausages
2 medium
yellow onions, thinly sliced
1 red bell
pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into ½″ strips
1 green
bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into ½″ strips
½ tsp.
- crushed red chile flakes
- 4 cloves
- garlic, finely chopped
- 1 cup
- chicken or vegetable stock
- Kosher
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp.
- finely chopped parsley
- 1. Bring sausages, 3 tbsp. oil, and ⅓ cup water to a boil in a 12″ skillet over
- medium-high heat; cover, and simmer until sausages are half-cooked, about 8
- minutes. Uncover and cook, turning, until sausages are browned all over, about
5 minutes.
2. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into 4 pieces each; set aside.
Return skillet to heat along with remaining oil.
3. Add onions and bell peppers;
cook until soft, about 6 minutes. Add chile flakes and garlic; cook until
fragrant, about 2 minutes.
4. Return sausages to skillet along with stock,
oregano, and salt and pepper; boil. Cover and cook until sausages are cooked
through, about 10 minutes; uncover and cook until sauce is slightly reduced,
about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley.