Almost Chuck's Sausage with Mushrooms & Peppers

Almost Chuck's Sausage with Mushrooms & Peppers

You ever have people tell you how much better their version is of one of your dishes? I live with one of them. He who shall not be named, nearly always has something to say about how much better his Sausage and Peppers with Mushrooms is compared to mine, but has yet to prove it. We've been married nearly 8 years and except for a few batches of Italian meat sauce and a few steaks, my retired husband has never put his money where his mouth is. Granted, he is a wonderful baker and is responsible for much of the extra 10 pounds I can't seem to budge,  but its all big talk.

He's told me so many times that in his dish, he uses sweet Italian pork sausage, and canned stewed tomatoes. My original version of this dish uses pork sausage, too, but never stewed tomatoes because I think they're much too sweet with the added sugar. But since I'm trying to cut a few calories here and there, this one uses chicken or turkey sausage. And in an effort to appease him, half of the tomatoes added are stewed. To play up the sweetness, I added basil and a bit of ground fennel. And it's delicious. Really delicious. Beat that, buddy.

Note: Different brands of diced and stewed tomatoes tend to have more or less juice in them. You may need to simmer a few minutes longer if yours are very juicy. This dish is gluten free, and dairy free as prepared; if you want to serve it with a starchy food, like a bread or grain, choose according to your dietary needs.

Almost Chuck's Sausage with Mushrooms & Peppers

Serves 4

1-1/2 pounds of sweet (or hot) Italian chicken or turkey sausage links
2T extra virgin olive oil
1 med. yellow onion, 1/2" dice
10 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms
1 red bell pepper, 1" dice
1 green bell pepper, 1" dice
Kosher salt
2 large garlic cloves minced
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes
1 14 oz. can stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup red or white wine
1T dried basil
1/2 tsp. ground fennel
Fresh ground black pepper

In a large, 12" frypan, heat the oil over medium heat, and then brown the sausage links about 5 minutes per side. Remove the browned sausages to a plate to cool slightly, and into the pan add the onion. paper, mushrooms and garlic, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and sauté until the onions and peppers soften.

Slice the slightly cooled sausage links into approx. 1" chunks and add to the pepper and mushroom mixture. Add the stewed tomatoes, the diced tomatoes, the wine and the basil and fennel and stir well.

Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to simmer about 10 minutes longer until the tomato juices no longer look watery.

Serve over pasta, artisan bread or rice.