Smothered Italian Sausage

This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. I made it one night with no time and no plan. I opened the fridge and grabbed everything that seemed at least vaguely to go together. I took some sausage from the freezer, some peppers on their last legs, some broccoli rabe, and a couple odds and ends of onions. Add to that the remnants of a few open cans of tomatoes and . . . voilà, classic sausage and peppers. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.

The longer this sits in the fridge, the more delicious it gets. Reheat it and then throw it on a hoagie or on a mound of mashed potatoes or with polenta. 

YIELD: Serves 4 | TIME: 20 minutes | MESS: 1/4

INGREDIENTS 

• 1/4 cup (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more (optional) for serving

• 8 sweet Italian sausage links (21/2 pounds/1.1kg)

  Dad, What's for Dinner?: Lifesaving Recipes to Avoid Meltdowns, Have Fun in the Kitchen, and Keep Your Kids Well Fed David Nayfeld

• 3 red bell peppers, sliced

• 2 medium red onions, sliced

• 5 garlic cloves, sliced

• 1 bunch broccolini (2 cups/200g), ends trimmed and cut into  1-inch pieces

• 2 bunches spinach (4 ounces/ 115g total)

• Chile flakes

• 1 (28-ounce/794g) can crushed tomatoes

• 1 bunch fresh basil (1 1/2 ounces/ 45g), leaves picked

• 1 (12-ounce/355ml) jar mild banana peppers, undrained

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over high heat until it shimmers. Add the sausages, cover, and cook until browned, 5 to 6 minutes. Flip and cook the other side.

2. Stir in the bell peppers, onions, and garlic, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and fragrant, 5 to 6 minutes.

3. Add the broccolini and spinach, stir, cover, and cook, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the chile flakes and crushed tomatoes. Stir in the basil and banana peppers with their liquid. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil, if desired. Serve immediately.

Credit line: From DAD, WHAT’S FOR DINNER? © 2025 by David Nayfeld. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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