Recipes: Debbi Snook
Wine Commentary: Gary Twining
That county fair favorite, sausage with peppers and onions, turns company-worthy with the addition of grapes. The transformation doesn’t take long with this one-pan oven dinner.
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 4 cups seedless red or purple table grapes, off the stems
- 1 pound fresh sausage, pricked all over with a fork
Heat oven to 450 degrees. On your rimmed baking sheet, toss onion and pepper with 2 tablespoons oil, salt and pepper, and spread out evenly. Roast 8-12 minutes until onions go soft and golden.
Add grapes, sausages and two more tablespoons oil. Toss and roast another 25-30 minutes, turning sausages halfway through.
Remove sausages and vegetables to plates with slotted spoon.
Serves 4.
Gary: The sausages can be served with any color wine, though the peppers will add some unique flavors and the grapes will give some sweetness to the dish as they cook and soften. Look for whites with a hint of sweetness and good acidity to stand up to the peppers, such as Riesling, Chenin Blanc/Vouvray, a lightly-sweet Gewürztraminer or Seyval. Some of the off-dry rosés will also work. Consider some of Ohio’s less sweet examples of Pink Catawba for an interesting pairing. In reds, try wines that are lighter in tannin and offer some acidity, such as Gamay/Beaujolais, Tempranillo, Chambourcin, Frontenac, Marquette or Saperavi.
