Salsiccia con Patate e Pomodori al Forno

Deborah

A great one pan dish with flavours that go very well together. Add more chilli for extra heat!

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 1 5

Total Time 1 30

Course Lunch, Main

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4 people

8 chunky spicy, good-quality Italian sausages or pork sausages (see Notes)
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
0.25 tsp chilli flakes (you may want more if your sausages aren't that spicy – see Notes)
0.25 tsp fennel seeds bashed a bit in a mortar (see Notes)
2 onions thinly sliced
450g potatoes peeled and cut into slices about 3mm thick (see Notes)
3 cloves garlic thinly sliced
1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper halved, deseeded and sliced
salt and freshly ground pepper
250g tomatoes sliced
30g pecorino cheese finely grated
2 tbsp roughly chopped flat leaf parsley leaves or the leaves from 4 oregano sprigs
peppery salad leaves to serve

Preheat the oven to 190C fan/400F/gas 6.
Cut each sausage into 3 pieces. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a wide, fairly shallow ovenproof pan, about 30cm in diameter. Quickly brown the sausages all over (about 5 minutes), you just want to get a bit of colour on the outside, not cook them through. Add the chilli flakes and fennel and cook for another minute.
Toss in the onions, potatoes, garlic, and peppers and season. Add another couple of tbsp of oil, unless a lot of fat has come out of the sausages (some exude a lot, others don't). Finish with most of the sausage pieces on top.
Cook in the oven for 20 minutes. Take the dish out of the oven and stir everything around. Put the tomatoes on top, season, sprinkle on the cheese, and drizzle on the remaining oil. Return to the oven and cook for a final 30 to 40 minutes, or until everything is golden and the potatoes are soft, gently stirring in whichever herb you want to use 10 minutes before the end of cooking time.
Serve in the dish in which it has been cooked, along with some peppery salad leaves on the side.

I struggle to get Italian sausages of any kind in our local supermarkets, so I buy my favourite pork ones from Asda and add 1 tsp of chilli flakes and 2 tsp of fennel seeds when making the full recipe.
Potatoes - you can either use waxy or floury potatoes. The floury variety will take a little less time to cook. If you opt for small waxy ones, you won't need to peel them.
This salsiccia con patate e pomodori al forno recipe is easily halved if you’re cooking for less people.