Char's Sausage and Peppers

I have a couple of recipes that I posted a few years ago, but need to be repeated.  Afterall, don't you have a handful of recipes that you keep going back to?

This one is a dish I never would have thought I'd even like.  I'm not a big fan of cooked peppers (sweet/bell), but I do loves me onions and sausage!  While working at a now- defunct Italian restaurant in Red Wing, MN (the owner, Char, has since moved on to Florida), I watched in wonder as her teenage cook made this fantastic concoction of a luscious red wine sauce with pepper, onions, and sausage and served over a bed of pasta of your choice.  He referred to the sauce as "liquid gold."  Oh, how right he was.

I could, actually, make a soup out of this liquid.  Holy smokes, is this stuff good!   But then add in some sweet peppers, sweet onion, and any Italian sausage of your choice (regular, turkey, sweet, hot) and do you ever have an incredible dish!  I used to serve this with a Caesar salad and a good crusty artisan bread, but that is all superfluous.  This dish is all you need.

CHAR'S SAUSAGE and PEPPERS (serves 4)

EVOO, enough to cover the bottom of a stock pot
1 large sweet onion, julienned
2-3 red peppers, depending on size, julienned, or 1 package of mini sweet peppers (1 lb) of a mixture of red/orange/yellow peppers
1 medium green pepper, julienned
6-8 tsp minced garlic
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
3/4 bottle red wine (Char always used Carlos Rossi Paisano), but I have used others
3 to 4 links of Italian sausage (your choice: regular, turkey, hot, mild)
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp sugar
6-12 oz cooked pasta, shape and amount of your choice

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until tender.  Add peppers and cook about 10 minutes.  Add tomato paste and wine.  Bring to a boil then turn down to a low simmer.  Cook uncovered for a couple of hours until sauce is reduced by at least half. Add sugar and butter.

Saute the sausage (you can saute the entire link or cut into chunks, I have done it both ways.  Whole links are nice for presentation, but chunks are easier for eating).  Add sausage and drippings to sauce.  Simmer for another half an hour.

Serve this on pasta.  If you want, make it the day ahead, it's even better on the second day!