SPEZZATINO DI SALSICCIA

It was Gina who first introduced me to orange salad and Gina who showed me what a good accompaniment it is to any dish containing Italian sausage. "Real" Italian sausage is sold in a spiral, like Cumberland sausage [the butcher will cut off the length you need] and it is always cut into portions after cooking.

In cold weather I get a yen for both sausages and potatoes, so I sort of made this dish up. [I can hear Italian purists querying, "How can you make a stew with sausage?" now!] Here we go:

In a deep, wide pan [I used a wok] brown a long piece of Italian sausage in 3 tablesp. olive oil. Remove from the pan and add about 12 medium potatoes, cut into wedges. Keep stirring until these, too, are browned and then let them cook until tender but not falling apart. Chuck the sausage back into the pan and add a large, quartered onion, 2 roughly chopped peppers of different colours plus a few sprigs of rosemary. Cover and cook for about 15 mins. Season generously with seasalt and black pepper, then add the contents of a 14 oz. can of tomatoes and a dollop of tomato paste. Cover and let it all simmer for about 45 mins. Cut up the sausage to serve and serve the stew with ..... orange salad! [Serves an army .]