Italian sausage is about the only sausage I like. Hubby will eat any sausage within arms reach. Since I do most of the cooking, he has to enjoy Italian sausage more often (mostly because I won’t cook or eat the other kinds).
I’m somewhat picky about the Italian sausage I will buy. One of the few disappointments of moving to the Portland, Oregon area is that they don’t have a good Italian deli. In Southern California, I could throw a rock in about any direction and hit an authentic Italian deli/market. So some time ago I determined I had to make my own if I wanted to get the flavor and quality sausage I loved. I won’t go into all the details – here’s a link to a post I wrote back in 2016 about making homemade Italian sausage. HOMEMADE ITALIAN SAUSAGE
I was running low on my sausage supply and had to make a batch recently. I always fry up a little to taste test to make sure I have the seasoning perfectly blended. I want to make sure it is just right before packaging up four or five pounds of it. And so I did today.
However, while I was in the kitchen thinking about what to make for dinner, I decided to dress up the sausage and turn it from a taste testing experience to a meal.
Since this dinner was somewhat spur of the moment, I just cut up ingredients I had in the kitchen from the garden (zucchini, onions & tomatoes) and added them to the frypan. I started with the sausage (of course), frying it up and then setting it aside while I cooked up the zucchini and onions. I added it back to the pan after melting mozzarella on top of the veggies.
I added the tomatoes when plating the meal and a dollop of fresh ricotta cheese. Perfecto!
Marinated tomatoes did give this dish a little zing. I was experimenting with a recipe for the tomato cookbook and decided to see how it worked with other ingredients.
I made bruschetta with the fresh ricotta I made yesterday and marinated tomatoes I made today. Oh so good!
Serves 2
Save RecipeIngredients
- 2 Italian sausage links (about 1 pound)
- 2 cups zucchini, diced
- 1/2 cup onion, diced
- 1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded
- 1/2 cup tomatoes, marinated tomatoes*
- 1/4 cup fresh ricotta cheese**
Instructions
- Break up the sausage into small pieces and fry until just starting to brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Sauté onions and zucchini for several minutes until softened.
- Sprinkle vegetables with mozzarella cheese while still in the frypan to melt it.
- Add the cooked sausage on top.
- Plate the ingredients and top with marinated tomatoes and dollop of ricotta.
Notes
*You can substitute marinated tomatoes for chopped cherry & grape tomatoes drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and seasoned with salt. ** Store brand ricotta cheese can be substituted for fresh.
Nutrition