Cooking from the Markets.Com - Italian Recipes

Florentine Tomatoes with Sausages

Pomodori Fiorentini con Salsiccie

This bounty of the mercato centrale in Firenze is simmering on the back of the stove in the previous screen . 

4 - 5 Tomatoes - chopped medium size - pomodori fiorentini (or 6 plum tomatoes + 1/2 cup canned crushed tomatoes) -if desired skin and seed them.

1 pound Luganiga sausage in links [ other Italian pork sausages or your own freshly-ground, seasoned pork blend can be substituted ]

1/2 cup Red wine [ Santa Cristina (Antinori) or other good medium bodied red wine ]

2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

1yellow pepper - cored, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch strips

2 tablespoons minced Finocchiona (Tuscan soft salami seasoned with wild fennel seeds)

1 tablespoon sultanas (golden raisins)

2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano)

2 tablespoons capers (rinsed - either salted capers or from brined jar)

2 tablespoons good olive oil

pinch black pepper

pinch salt

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1. Brown sausages over medium high heat on all sides (turn with tongs and prop sausages against each other - at odd angles - to get them browned on all sides or press them [before cooking] to make slightly squared to allow them to stay more easily on one side at a time).

2. Remove sausages to heated plate.

3. Deglaze pan with wine and balsamic vinegar - scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon for about a minute. Then pour the liquid from the pan into a warmed cup to keep warm for a few minutes.

4. Good Olive oil (2 tablespoons) goes into the pan now - to sauté the tomatoes with oregano, some black pepper and a pinch or two of salt (to taste) for 3 or 4 minutes - stirring frequently.

4. Add the yellow pepper strips, raisins and capers and stir well then return the liquid (wine & balsamic) to the pan.

5. Cook over medium low heat (keeping an eye on it) - stirring frequently - for 15 minutes.

6. Cut sausage into bitesized pieces and return to the pan for 2 - 3 minutes to cook sausage pieces all the way through.

Serve this with rice, potatoes or pasta. I originally prepared it with the potato dish (Potatoes with Anchovy and Sage).  Pomodori fiorentini in September at the Mercato Centrale have an unbeatable flavor. They are squat, round tomato with ribs on top. Plum or pear tomatoes that are vine-ripened (and grown with care on good soils) can come close to the fiorentini tomatoes but not quite. I used them in everything I could think of and ate them like they were apples. They were the best tomatoes I had ever tasted - better even than those on my father's farm in that sandy South Jersey soil.

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