Italian Heritage Casserole
I can picture slicing fresh sausage, dicing crispy peppers and adding just a pinch of oregano. This casserole's a favorite for family gatherings, church suppers and post-practice community choir socials.
I can picture slicing fresh sausage, dicing crispy peppers and adding just a pinch of oregano. This casserole's a favorite for family gatherings, church suppers and post-practice community choir socials.
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 6 potatoes peeled and quartered
- 1 red pepper cut in lengthwise strips
- 1 green pepper cut in lengthwise strips
- 1 frying chicken (3 pounds), skinned and cut in pieces or 6 chicken breast halves
- 1 pound sweet or mild johnsonville mild italian sausage l cut in 1-inch to 2-inch chunks
- Carbohydrate 42.3521868137255 g
- Cholesterol 172.454733333333 mg
- Fat 29.7709567647059 g
- Fiber 6.07000843993823 g
- Protein 45.9182660294118 g
- Saturated Fat 8.49088598039216 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (484g)
- Sodium 549.359416666667 mg
- Sugar 36.2821783737873 g
- Trans Fat 6.51463411764706 g
- Calories 625 calories
Step-by-step
- Spray a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish with vegetable cooking oil; arrange potatoes and peppers in the dish.
- Combine the seasoning; sprinkle a third of the seasoning mixture over vegetables.
- Layer chicken pieces and sausage over vegetables; sprinkle remaining seasoning mixture on top.
- Cover and bake at 425? for 30 minutes.
- Reduce heat to 375?; bake 30-40 minutes longer.
- Yield: 6 servings.
Why do some roasted potato chunks turn out chalky while others develop a crisp exterior against soft interiors? Quartering potatoes uniformly ensures they cook at the same rate as the bell pepper strips, preventing the vegetables from turning to mush before the dense starches soften. Cutting the bell peppers into lengthwise strips rather than small dice maintains structural integrity under prolonged heat, allowing them to soften without completely collapsing into the surrounding pan juices.
Fat rendered from the sausage during the initial 425-degree bake coats the surrounding ingredients, frying the potato surfaces and chicken skin simultaneously. Dropping the oven temperature to 375 degrees midway prevents the paprika and garlic powder on top from scorching while the interior meat reaches safe internal temperatures. Covering the dish for the first thirty minutes traps moisture to steam the dense root vegetables before the dry heat finishes the browning process.
Swapping the specified frying chicken for boneless, skinless cuts alters the moisture dynamics entirely, resulting in a drier finished dish because bone-in pieces release valuable juices during roasting. Mild Italian sausage provides enough fat to baste the lean potato pieces; substituting a very lean turkey sausage requires adding a tablespoon of olive oil to the baking dish to achieve equivalent browning.
Leftovers keep safely in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days, though reheating them gently in a 350-degree oven is necessary to restore crispness to the chicken skin and potato edges.
