In The Crockpot: Sausage and Peppers

We had our end of year dance recital last weekend.  And guess what?!  I actually took a picture of my babies, and since it’s been a while since I shared a picture of them, I thought I would share it.

One of my very favorite things about this year was that the school the recital was held at is literally 7 minutes up the road from home.  This meant that we had plenty of time to head home in-between recitals for a bite to eat and cup (or two or three) of coffee.  I went back and forth for weeks on what I wanted to have waiting for us at home in the crockpot while we attended the first recital.  I seriously considered the usual suspects of sloppy joe meat, BBQ pulled pork, shredded turkey, things like that.  I was leaning heavily towards the BBQ pork, because what I really wanted was something nice and protein heavy that could be good with or without serving it on a bun.

While it maybe wasn’t the optimum choice for a “clean” protein, I decided to play with the idea of sausage and peppers in the crockpot.  I actually had an abundance of locally-made, sweet Italian sausage in the freezer, so pulled those out to thaw in the fridge the day before I wanted them.   I really had planned on putting these sausage links on the grill for a good char before putting them in the crockpot, but mother nature quickly convinced me that I did not want to be grilling sausages and peppers and onions in the pouring rain while simultaneously getting two dancers ready for the day.  So I turned to the oven.

I drizzled my pan with olive oil and scattered the sausages, two onions and two bell peppers around before tucking them into a 375ºF oven for just 30 minutes.  I pulled them out and turned them at the 20 minute mark.  Once they came out of the oven, the whole pan (including the accumulated juices in the pan) was put into my crockpot, and a jar of marinara was added.  A quick toss to make sure everything was swimming in sauce, and I was done.  I set the cooker to low, and five hours later when we walked in the door it smelled like the sausage vendor from the fair had been in the house.  It was lovely.

It was a perfect way to make sausage and peppers ahead of time!  The only thing that I would note is that it did affect the texture of the sausages a bit simmering in the sauce all those hours.  The flavors melded beautifully, but the sausages didn’t have that snappy texture anymore.  This didn’t bother any of us, but for someone who prefers their sausages to snap when they bite into them, you may want to avoid the crockpot.   We served our sausage and peppers on rolls and topped them with freshly grated Asiago cheese.  The only change I would make was that I really wanted to toast the rolls, but we had a time limit, and it was more important to me to get the food into my kids before they had to back and dance round two.

So, this isn’t really a recipe.  It’s really more like guidelines for assembly.  It worked great, and I won’t hesitate to do this one again.  It really was a nice change from the usual shredded/ground/pulled meat that I gravitate towards.

Crockpot Sausage & Peppers

10 Italian sausages 

2 onions

2 bell peppers

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 jar marinara sauce

rolls and Asiago cheese for serving

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.  Slice the onions and peppers into strips and spread onto a baking sheet that has been drizzled with the olive oil.  Place the sausages on top of the vegetables.

Bake for 20 minutes, then flip the sausages over.  Bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Take the cooked sausages and vegetables and pour them (carefully, they’re hot) into your crockpot.  Make sure any juices from the pan make it into the cooker as well.  Add your jar of marinara sauce, and give a quick stir to make sure everything is mingled together.

Add the lid and cook on low for 3-4 hours.  Serve the sausages on toasted rolls, topped with freshly grated Asiago cheese.