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When we renewed our membership to WGBH recently, we decided to donate enough to get two of Lidia’s books as a thank-you gift.  Lidia’s Italy (shown here) and Lidia’s Family Table.

The books arrived last week.  I was watching the Lidia’s Italy TV show, and she was making this dish of sausage and potatoes.  Since I now have the book, it was easy to gather up the ingredients and make it.

This recipe is so incredibly simple, yet incredibly tasty.  All you need are:

1/2 cup olive oil
6 large cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) dry red pepper flakes
1 12-ounce jar of peperoncini, drained and chopped
2 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed, unpeeled, and cut into wedges about 1/2 inch thick
Salt to taste
1 1/2 pounds link sweet Italian sausage

In case you don’t know what I mean by peperoncini, here is a picture of what it looks like.  They are small, light-green colored peppers, pickled in vinegar.  Many grocery stores carry Pastene Italian products, but if you can’t find them, you can order online.

You will also need a large skillet with a lid, and a slotted spoon.

Put the olive oil in the skillet and place it over medium-high heat.  When it’s hot, throw in the garlic…should just be crushed, not chopped or minced.  Also throw in the crushed red pepper flakes, to taste.   Let this cook in the oil, stirring, for about a minute.  Use the slotted spoon to remove the garlic, leaving the oil in the pan.  Don’t try to scoop out all the red pepper flakes, you won’t be able to, trust me.  Reserve the garlic in a bowl.

Put the pan of oil back onto the heat and throw in the chopped peperoncini.  Let it cook for about a minute, stirring.  Use the slotted spoon to scoop out the peppers, putting them into the bowl with the reserved garlic.

Put the potato wedges into the pan of oil, season with salt to taste, and cook for about 6 minutes, or until they start to brown on all sides.  Stir them around a bit while they cook.

Then, push the potatoes to one side of the pan, and lay all of the sausages in the blank area.  Cook for another 6 minutes or so, turning the sausages to brown on all sides, and also stirring the potatoes to keep them from burning.

Cover the pan and lower the heat.  Cook for about 20 minutes, occasionally uncovering and stirring everything.  At this point, it’s okay if the sausages and potatoes get all mixed together.

After the 20 minutes are up, uncover the pan, and throw in the reserved garlic and peperoncini.  Mix in well, and cook, uncovered, for another 10 minutes.  Season with more salt, if needed.

And that’s it!  All you need to serve with this is maybe a green salad or a vegetable.

This is quite spicy due to the red pepper flakes and the peperoncini.  Unless you like it really wicked hot, do NOT use hot Italian sausage here.

This is the first recipe I made from the “Lidia’s Italy” book, and it will not be the last.  And it will certainly not be the last time I make this particular recipe.  If you love Italian food, you need to buy this book…or at least get it from the library!

Enjoy! :D