Pat's Smoked Sausage and Pepper Sandwich

I love sandwiches.  I could eat a sandwich for every meal of the day and be perfectly content.  They are so easy to make and it is personalized.  Having a a meal be personalized is good in a house where one person uses nothing but meat and cheese as their ingredients.  Ahem.  My sandwiches normally consist of every vegetable grown in a garden plus a tuber grown underneath soil!  (Not really, but I do load up on vegetables so Ron and I never share sandwiches.)  


Unfortunately, sandwiches are hard to personalize when you make up a large recipe that already incorporates vegetables in the ingredient list.  However, I am glad that I finally decided to use my brain when adding vegetables to meals.  Use half of what the recipe calls for and you will not have copious amount of vegetables left over to consume individually (because your significant other picks out all of the meat).  Hmm, how many years has it taken me to realize this?


This recipe was excellent.  The Neely's are celebrities on the Food Network channel and I love watching them.  I saw them make this not too long ago and I knew it was a must-try.  I did make some changes and reflected them below.  In total, this took about 25 minutes to make.  It was incredibly easy and already in the recipe rotation box!  The peppers add so much flavor to an already flavorful dish.  I really don't understand how/why Ron chooses not to eat vegetables.  I'm starting to think it's just a schtick because no one could pass up the peppers on this sandwich!

The nutrition for these sandwiches was not bad at all.  Despite the "sausage" heading, I chose to use Bilinski's Chicken Mild Sausage.  Their products are amazing, healthy, tasty and low calorie/fat.  One link was 90 calories - a huge different from your standard sausage.  You can find them at Whole Foods and I encourage you to do so!  You would have no idea that it was chicken.  I also added some more shredded chicken to the sandwich.  Truthfully, I added it because I did not want to see all of the sausage sitting on Ron's plate.  If you are sharing this recipe with people that are not afraid of peppers, feel free to omit the extra chicken.  The sandwich is awesome with/without the addition!


Pat's Smoked Sausage and Pepper Sandwich (w/ shredded chicken)
adapted from FoodNetwork.com (courtesy of the Neely's)
Yield:  4 servings
Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound smoked sausage, sliced into quarters then lengthwise
• I used the Bilinski's chicken mild sausage, but any sausage would work well here.
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
• 1 orange bell pepper, sliced
• I used a green bell pepper instead.
• 2 medium yellow onions, sliced
• I used red onion.
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 cup beer
• I think we had some type of lager on hand, so I used a dark beer.
• 1/2 cup Neely's BBQ sauce
• Sorry, Neely's.  While I am certain your BBQ sauce is fab, I used Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy because I was too lazy to look up your recipe.
• 1 cup shredded chicken (optional)
• 4 fresh hoagie rolls

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large cast iron skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. 
3. Add the sausages and brown on all sides, about 7 to 8 minutes. 
1. The sausages I used were pre-cooked and somewhat frozen when I added them.  I only left them in the skillet for about 5 minutes.
4. Remove from skillet and reserve.
5. Add onions and peppers to the skillet and saute until tender and golden brown, about 6 minutes. 
6. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant. 
7. Stir in the tomato paste, beer, and BBQ sauce; Cook for a few minutes.
8. Add the sausages (and chicken, if using) back to the pan; reduce the heat and simmer until the sauce is nice and thick, about 10 minutes.
9. Slice the bread open, put on sheet tray, and toast in the oven while the sausage is simmering. 
10. Remove the bread from the oven and fill with the sausages and peppers.
11. Transfer to serving dishes and serve.