1 pound sweet Italian sausage links

1 pound hot Italian sausage links

3 sweet bell peppers, various colors, sliced

1 large sweet onion, sliced

olive oil

rice vinegar

rice wine

Italian seasoning or any combination of oregano, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, basil

Italian or French bread

Provolone cheese

How to make this sausage-y, sandwichy wonder? In a large frying pan over medium heat, cook the links and drain on paper towels. Dump most of the grease and, in the same pan, sautée the peppers and onion in a bit of olive oil until just about caramelized. Add some generous sloshes of rice vinegar (if you don’t have it, apple cider vinegar is fine) and rice wine (cooking sherry will do) (or most any other booze) (except tequila), with some dashes of whatever Italian seasoning you have on hand. Cook it down till the juices are reduced by about half. Cut the cooked sausage into bits and throw it back into the pan, and heat through. Cover and keep warm.

Slice bread sideways, arrange open-faced on a cookie sheet, place Provolone slices on one side of the loaf, and toast in a 350-degree oven, until cheese melts a bit. (You may wish to slice the bread into sandwich-sized portions beforehand, depending on the integrity or size of the bread—it makes no nevermind. It will still be messy.) Spoon plenty of sausage mixture onto bread and top with a cheesed piece of bread. Mash so the cheese sticks everything together. Serve with extra napkins. Feeds 5 - 6, depending.

Note: If you end up with a lot of leftover peppers and onion, you’ve got what amounts to a nice, sweet relish, great for serving with other meats. Enjoy.

With thanks to Brenda Lawler of Faith Farm, from whom I originally got this recipe, which I promptly lost and adapted as seen here.