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Рецепт An Italian American Classic: Sausage and Peppers
by Monte Mathews

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.

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.