Italian Sausage Hoagie

I guess I’m not going to write that this is my idea. Cooked Italian sausage served with peppers, onions and tomato sauce in a toasted hoagie roll. It’s kind of a classic. I lived in New Jersey for some years, we would go to the fairs and carnivals and get sausage, peppers and onions in a hoagie, it’s walkabout food. And, just as when we would go to the fair and individually eat our Italian sausage hoagie, this, is a meal for one, part of the cooking for one series of posts I’m writing. You can see it here

Lets start with the things we need. Sausage, well, there are a few options there. Chicken or pork, I choose chicken, healthier than pork (half the calories and half the fat). Hot or mild, well, I choose hot, it’s preference thing, but if you prefer sweet Italian, it works well. Depending on where you do your shopping depends on how the sausage will come packaged, usually it’s in a pack of 5. Kind of awkward, but, I cook two and freeze three. Some stores have a meat dept. that will sell them individually. Just ask, most are accommodating.

Now, half an onion, half a pepper, couple of cloves of garlic, one cup of chopped tomatoes. Those are easy, but the hoagies, they come in a pack of 6. This requires asking the bakery dept. for just one, they will always oblige on fresh baked items. Otherwise, if you don’t have access to a bakery, buy a package and freeze what you don’t need. The freezer is your friend. Read this for more information.

I’m going to use a similar cooking method to the chicken thighs for one. Partially cook on the stove top and finish in the oven. Before you do anything, turn the oven on to 400 to preheat. If you’ve read my blogs, you’ll know I like to have everything prepped before I cook, so, cut the half onion into half rings, half pepper into strips and cut up the garlic. As I had said probably a couple of times, I have a healthy appetite, so I’ll cook two sausages, but one works fine too. Put them in an oven safe frying pan over medium heat, brown off the outside a little. Cover if you don’t want the splatter.

Just move them around so they brown evenly. When they’re browned off, maybe 5 mins, add the veggies, and 1 cup chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Put the sausages on top of the veggies and put into the oven. 15-20 mins should be fine. The sausages will be cooked (you can check them with a thermometer, stick the probe in the end going towards the center, chicken is 165) you just want to make sure the peppers and onions are done.

As with most things timing is everything, and with cooking, you want everything to be ready at the same time. To help this to happen, the various components of the dinner have be put up at different times. So, that brings me to the question, what are you having with the sausage hoagies? I like to do oven fries with my hoagies. So they take approximately 40 mins at 400. So, for that I would put up the fries 15-20 mins before the sausage. For most of the cooking time the fries and sausage are in the oven, however, there are more dishes, and more stove time when preparing the fries with the hoagies, and sometimes that’s hard to justify. The question is, is the extra prep and clean worth the side dish? the answer is sometimes yes and sometimes no. And I will leave you to that decision.

Once the sausage and vegetables are cooked, remove from the oven. Slice the hoagie roll open and put it in the oven for 5 mins just to toast up. Now for the finishing touch. Put the sausage in the hoagie, top with the veggies and tomato, and sprinkle generously with mozzarella and parmigiana. Lay it on a piece of foil and put it in the oven for 5 mins to melt. I sometimes prefer to use foil, less clean up, just remember to recycle. Now serve and enjoy.

And finally, the cleanup. Well, one pan, one plate and a few utensils, not that bad. I think the dinner is definitely worth it. Thank you for reading, and enjoy your Italian sausage hoagie