Tag: The Sopranos recipe

ROASTED SAUSAGES, PEPPERS, POTATOES AND ONIONS (Salsicce di maiale al forno)

I love a good Italian pork sausage (Salsiccia di maiale). There are regional variations, some add white wine, some red, other common ingredients are fennel seeds, chilli flakes, orange peel, black pepper…but no additives to bulk up the meat, and it should have the right balance of fat and lean meat.

I first encountered what was called All-in-one Sausage Roast at one of the cooking classes by TSAA (The Sicilian Association of Australia). I liked them.

Luke-cooking-sausages-potatoes-1

My young nephew Luke who lives in Adelaide recently cooked for me Roasted Sausages, Peppers, Potatoes and Onions, almost the same as the same dish I enjoyed at TSAA and it came from The Sopranos Family Cookbook, as compiled by Arti Bucco.

My brother and sister in law were away overseas recently and Luke had to fend for himself. He discovered cooking. Thank you Luke, we all liked it and it is good to see a member of the Raniolo family enjoying cooking and eating.

The cookbook contains all of the recipes of the food that featured in the TV series. There were 6 seasons of The Sopranos about mobster Tony Soprano, (James Gandolfini), his family and his mob who live in New Jersey. The food, like the Sopranos, is Sicilian.

I like pork sausages especially those that have a bit of chilli in them and Luke bought his from an Italian warehouse-come supermarket called Banquet Food Wholesalers at 994 Port Rd Albert Park. The butcher  who has a corner of the shop sells good meat and like a good butcher makes his  own sausages. Adelaide is a great place for finding good produce – I love shopping there when I visit.

Luke also included carrots in his baked dish. We all like vegetables and root vegetables do not release any liquid when they cook so the carrots were an appropriate edition.

Lukes-Sausages-potatoes-coooked

It is easy and tastes great. You will need good quality Italian sausages (those that include fennel and/or chilli are great!)

Here is the recipe, fiddled with, as good recipes always are so as to suit one’s tastes.

You could add garlic cloves, fennel cut into chunks, fennel seeds, sprigs of rosemary, more chillies…Go for it!

We had 6 people, Luke cooked sufficient quantities for 10, but they all went.

Sufficient for 4 people:

500g waxy potatoes cut into 5 cm chunks or slices (I like them not peeled, Italians peel them)
2 medium red onions
3 red peppers (use green and yellow as well if you wish)
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
pork sausages, 1-2 per person
carrots to taste, optional
Preheat oven to 200C. Cut potatoes into chunky slices about 5mm thick. Similarly cut onions and peppers (and carrots) into chunks. Place them all into a roasting dish and toss in olive oil with some salt and pepper. Place vegetables in a single layer in a large shallow roasting pan – do not crowd them, otherwise they won’t brown.
Roast vegetables, for 30- 45 minutes, turn once or twice.
Place the sausages on top of the vegetables. Prick them.
Bake 20 to 30 minutes, or until sausages and vegetables are cooked through.