A colour coded dinner of delight and a celebration of Italy. From the kitchens of  Sarcy.


please fave or comment on the original submision by Sarcy here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4414647/

Incredible Edible Italy
Serves 8-10
Approximate cook and prep time: 1- 1 1/2 hour.

The Red:
1/2 a stick of butter
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 medium White Onion (Tall)
1 HEAPING Tbsp Sweet Basil
1 HEAPING Tbsp Oregano
1 HEAPING Tbsp Parsley
1 HEAPING tsp Marjoram
1 tsp Rosemary
4-6 Cloves of Garlic or 1 HEAPING Tbsp of the pre-minced stuff
1- 1 1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 regular sized can of Tomato Sauce
1 regular sized can of Italian Spiced Diced Tomatoes
1 regular sized can of Italian Spiced Stewed Tomatoes

The Green:
1 5-7 count packaged of Brats
1/2 stick of butter
2 tsp Olive Oil
2 Large Bell Peppers
1 Large Red Onion (Short 'n' fat)
1 heaping Tbsp of Garlic or 2-3 cloves
1 Tbsp Parsley
1 Tbsp sweet Basil

The White:
2 lbs of Penne pasta (Or your pasta of choice)



Getting the timing right to have everything in this dish ready at once is kinda tricky, but I'll do my best to simplify my haphazard way of whirl-winding around the kitchen and bounce back and forth.

"The Green" First thing I do is put the Brats on to boil, since they need to cook till firm enough to slice but not necessarily all the way done and be cool enough to handle in a little bit. You could also alternatively use Italian sausage for this bit, sweet would do well, try to avoid hot. With as spicy as my marinara is I feel brats work best.
I start my Marinara next, or "The Red". In a medium sauce pan on medium heat melt your butter and add your olive oil. Dice pretty finely your tall white onion. I say a tall one because you want an onion with the bite and heat, not the sweet for this part of the dish. Shorter onions are sweeter because the extra sugar in them causes the cell walls to collapse as the onion grows and makes it short and squat, or so I'm told. When your butter/oil mixture is hot add your diced/minced onion, basil, oregano, parsley, marjoram, rosemary, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook this until the onions are clear and tender and your herbs are re-hydrated. Basically I'm making a kind of pesto for the base of my marinara's spices.
While the pesto part of "The Red" is cooking we'll hop back to "The Green". Your brats should be getting done about now so strain/drain them and run some cool water on them. While you're rinsing them slice your bell peppers into strips as well as your short fat red onion. In about a 12" skillet/frying pan/wok melt your 1/2 stick of butter and add your Olive Oil on medium heat. Once it's hot add your bell peppers, onions, garlic, parsley, and sweet basil. Slice your brats and add those. Beware, they're kinda cool now, but hot molten juice will escape their casings when you poke them with a knife. Poke them over the sink first to save yourself some mess and agony.
"The White" Go ahead and start your water to boil for your pasta.
"The Red" Time to add the red parts to your onion goo! Add all three cans of tomato goodness and let the pot simmer, lowering the heat if you need to. Don't worry if it's kinda sour or hot, it's supposed to be to compliment the green part which will be sweet, so all you sweet mongers out there, don't add sugar to your marinara.
"The Green" Continue to saute` your ingredients here till your onions are done, slightly caramelizing maybe, your peppers are done and your meat is cooked.
"The White" While your pasta boils, if you've got everything else done you can let it just simmer, stay on warm. Drain your pasta when it's to your desired tenderness.
I serve all three separately at the table so people can layer their own on their plate. I like a little more red and a little less green while others like it the other way around. This way everyone's happy.
Store left overs in the fridge. For doing that I mix everything together and put it in meal sizes/serving sizes in containers and refrigerated. Makes a good lunch and a good dinner later.


Optional:
I like Garlic bread with mine and since we didn't have any pre-made on hand I made some of my own!

1/2 a french baguette, sliced on the diagonal

1 stick of butter
1/4 tsp of Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp of minced garlic
1 tsp of parsley

Parmesan cheese to taste.

I sliced my baguette on the diagonal like you commonly would for brushetta, basically all it does is give you a larger surface area, if you'd rather slice it straight across, be my guest. I laid it out on an ungreased cookie sheet so none overlapped. In a small sauce pan I melted a half stick of my butter, added my garlic powder, minced garlic, and parsley. Since your butter is pretty warm from the melting process I then cut the remaining half in little pats and stir it into the melted garlic portion so it's a little thicker. Now I brush on my garlic butter mixture onto my baguette slices and sprinkle with a little Parmesan cheese. I then put them in the oven to "toast" them till the edges just turn brown/goldy color. Viola!


Allergy warning – recipe contains dairy products