Fennel

Red Pepper, Fennel and Sausage Grinder

by:
August 29, 2010
5
2 Ratings
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

Sweet grilled peppers and fennel, spicy sausage, toasty bread, what's not to like? I am not particularly "measurey" with this recipe, it's a sandwich right? So feel free to adjust up or down according to your preference. Here's mine - I cook on the grill, if you don't have one you can use a grill pan or the broiler. - aargersi —aargersi

Test Kitchen Notes

This sandwich gives you a little bit of everything -- freshness from the tomatoes and peppers, acidity from the vinaigrette, salty richness from the sausage, and subtle sweetness from the fennel. How could you go wrong? I tried the grinder using the proportions called for in the recipe, but my personal preference was for doubling the meat and halving the vegetables. The flavors are absolutely fantastic, and everything cooks up quickly. It's a little messy though, so make sure you have extra napkins on hand when you serve these! - forester_lady —duclosbe1

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 4 soft grinder rolls - we are lucky and have Hatch chili ones here right now, but get whatever good rolls you can
  • 2 red bell peppers
  • 1 bulb fennel (with fronds)
  • 2 hot Italian sausage links (or mild if you don't like spicy)
  • 8 cherry tomatoes
  • a big handful of fresh basil
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 tbs good olive oil
  • more olive oil for grilling
  • 2 tablespoons shredded parmesan
  • salt and pepper
Directions
  1. Heat the grill to medium high. Roughly chop the basil and a handful of fennel fronds. Quarter the cherry tomatos. Whisk them in a large bowl with oil and vinegar, add some salt and pepper and set aside.
  2. Half the peppers and remove the seeds. Cut the bulb of the fennel in half. Brush both with olive oil and dust with salt and pepper. Put the sausages on a lightly oiled sheet of foil. Head out to the grill.
  3. The sausages go on first. Let them cook a few minutes, when you flip them put the fennel on. Wait a couple more minutes then flip the fennel and put the peppers on. Flip the peppers after a few minutes too - you want the peppers and fennel cooked but still with a bit of crunch. When everything is done pull them off the grill go back inside.
  4. Slice the sausages into bite size hunks, slice the peppers and fennel. You may need to remove the hard butt thing from the bottom of the fennel. Toss everything in the vinaigrette and tomatoes, add the parmesan, maybe grind a bit more pepper over, and let them all hang out while you go back outside and toast the buns on the last of the heat from the grill.
  5. Tong a pile of sausage and veggies onto each bun. Use a spoon to scoop up some of the vinaigrette at the bottom and drizzle that on too. Eat up!!

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • lapadia
    lapadia
  • Sunchowder
    Sunchowder
  • TheWimpyVegetarian
    TheWimpyVegetarian
  • Aliwaks
    Aliwaks
  • drbabs
    drbabs
aargersi

Recipe by: aargersi

Country living, garden to table cooking, recent beek, rescue all of the dogs, #adoptdontshop

8 Reviews

lapadia August 31, 2010
Love this recipe, great picture...I can taste it!
 
lapadia June 8, 2011
I STILL love it! Red peppers will get me every time.
 
Sunchowder August 30, 2010
This looks great! Too bad I don't eat sausage, I am missing out! ;)
 
aargersi August 31, 2010
You could substitute some grilled chicken or shrimp or something, that would be good too!! Or even some spicy baked tofu for vegetarians ...
 
TheWimpyVegetarian August 30, 2010
This looks soooo good!
 
Aliwaks August 30, 2010
My foodie soul sister! I always put fennel in with my sausage & peppers, but hadn't thought till now to toss them in a vinaigrette...so funny I see your recipes and I'm like, hey I make something like that and here's aagersi with a way to make it better!
 
aargersi August 30, 2010
We have the same taste in food don't we? It would be fun to cook together some day! We need a giant centralized potluck.
 
drbabs August 29, 2010
Yum