Onions are near and dear to my heart mostly because one of the most famous variety on the planet (Tropea red onions) are grown near my parents home province of Calabria. Tropea red onions are sweater than other red onions grown in Calabria because of the sandy soil and mild, beach, climate near the shoreline in Eastern Calabria. One of my favorite ways to use red onions (whether they are grown in Calabria or not) is to pan fry them along with some excellent handmade sweet or hot Italian sausage.
Our sausage and onions dish resembles our sausage and peppers recipe but omits potatoes and, of course, peppers. We like to think that our sausage and onion recipe is a more elegant and refined version of the classic Italian and Italian American sausage dish because it highlights two lovely ingredients – viz., delicate and luscious red onions and crispy and salty Italian sausage.
- 1-2 pounds of Italian sausage (hot or sweet) - making sure it's made by a small producer (factory or supermarket sausage is not worth consuming). Slice sausage into ½ pieces
- 1-2 large red onions (regular onions will do fine if you can't locate red onions)
- 1 cup of parsley, finely chopped
- ¼ cup of white wine
- Red pepper flakes (optional)
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Add a few teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil to a hot pan and add the sliced sausage. Pan saute for 10-15 minutes, leaving the sausage alone in the pan over a medium to high heat to develop a crispy and brown crust (this is critical to good sausage).
- Remove the sausage from the pan and add a bit more olive oil (if needed) and the onion (and red pepper flake if you're using sweet sausage).
- Add salt and pepper to taste and saute until the onion begin to wilt and become soft. Add the sausage back to the pan and mix well. Cook for 3-4 minutes and add the white wine.
- Stir well and add the parsley. Serve as a side dish during a holiday meal or with roasted chicken and/or a tomato salad.
I’ve been following your blog for over a year and just want to thank you for all the great posts. My grandparents came from Genoa, Piemonte and Basilicata. I don’t have very many from the Basilicata side so I’m always looking to try new southern Italian recipes.
AngelaC,
Thank you for commenting and following our blog, it means a ton! Glad we can help reconnect with your southern Italian roots (we love the wine from Basilicata!).
I’m going to have to make this soon. (Hope you’re safe after Sandy!)
Thanks, we survived!
I’ve had sausage and peppers a zillion times, of course, but never this… Looks great, I’ll definitely give it try!
Thanks Frank. Yes, sausage and peppers is overdone, but sausage and onion focuses on two lovely ingredients (viz., caramelized onions and well seared sausage).
Thank you delicious and colorful. I am going to make this and add some green peppers to take to a New Years Eve pot luck!
our pleasure, Larry!
I made hot salciccia recently and tried the recipe. It was the main dish for an informal supper with cool broccoli in oil and vinegar, and steamed red parsley red in butter. Very nice for a
quick main dish.
Excellent!