Empty Nest Easy: Sausage and Pepper Dogs for Two

Returning home from a business trip on a weekday in time for dinner presents a dilemma:  I don’t want to cook, and don’t want to eat out again after days and days of it.

Last Friday was just such a day; I was returning home from 4 days of meetings in San Antonio and 4 nights of (very good) restaurant dinners.  Our remaining millennial in the household was out with a friend, so the Grill-Meister and I were empty-nesters.  Here’s our solution:  quick Sausage and Pepper Dogs for Two.  With a gas grill that heats quickly and no prep except for slicing the peppers and onions, we had dinner put together in less than a half hour.

Is it bad that I considered the grilled onions and peppers as the vegetable side dish and didn’t make anything else?

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium yellow onion, thickly sliced
• 1 large, 2 medium or several small bell peppers, sliced
• 1 tbsp good-quality balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp of fresh basil, parsley or oregano, chopped, or 1 tsp of dried
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 or more sausage links of your choice (we love jalapeño sausage)
• 4 or more hotdog-sized buns or rolls (we like bollilo rolls from our local grocery store)
• Condiments (optional)

Cooking Instructions

Heat the grill on high.  Spray a grilling basket with cooking spray and put it on the grill to get hot.  In a medium bowl, combine the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, red pepper flakes, fresh or dried herb of your choice, and a generous amount of freshly ground pepper.  Wrap the rolls or buns in foil.

Grill the onions and peppers in the grilling basket and the sausages directly on the grill.  Add the foil package with the buns in the last few minutes of grilling time.  The vegetables are done when they are soft and slightly blackened; remove them from the grill and add them to the bowl with the vinegar and olive oil, tossing to coat.

Serve each grilled sausage topped with the grilled vegetables on a bun.

You may or may not want condiments with the Sausage and Pepper Dogs.  The Grill-Meister forgoes them, but I like the extra kick from a little horseradish mustard.  Yum!

Copyright 2015 Glover Gardens Cookbook