Ever made Spetzofai?

[htuttle]

If so, did you use pepperoncini, and if so, did you put them in whole, or cut them up and remove the seeds?

I'm on a Greek food bender, and want to try making spetzofai tomorrow. All I could find at the coop down the block was some Andouille sausage, and I'm a bit worried that if I don't treat the pepperoncini's properly, I'll end up with a mouth-burner.

I like spicy food, and often make Indian, Thai, etc... but I've also gone too far with the heat from time to time, and I'd hate to waste the sausage on something that ends up being better suited to making biofuel from than dinner.

So, if I have Andouille sausage, would you use pepperoncini? And if so, in what form?

Here's some of the recipes I'm working from:
http://greekfood.about.com/od/appetizerssalads/r/spetzofai.htm
http://video.about.com/greekfood/Spetzofai--Greek-Sausage-Dish.htm




I'm thinking about doing rosemary roasted potato wedges on the side.

[Callalily]

1. Pepperoncini comes in

different heat levels, just choose which level will suit your needs. Taste it b/4 you make your recipe. That way you'll know what you're in for in advance.

Good luck and please let us know how it turns out.

[htuttle]

3. Turned out great!

I was working from this recipe:
http://greekfood.about.com/od/appetizerssalads/r/spetzofai.htm

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 pounds of spicy country sausage
* 2 medium onions
* 2 red bell peppers
* 1 large ripe tomato, finely chopped with juice
* 1 clove of garlic, sliced
* 1 tablespoon white or red wine
* 3 tablespoons of olive oil

PREPARATION:

Cut sausage into slices. Peel onions and cut into chunks. Trim peppers and remove seeds. Cut into chunks.

In a heavy-bottomed frying pan or skillet, sauté the onion in the olive oil over medium heat until translucent, about 5-8 minutes stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.

Add sausage, peppers, chopped tomato and juice, and garlic, and stir until all ingredients are well mixed. Stir in wine and cover. Cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Spoon onto serving plates and serve warm. A favorite with rice.

Yield: serves 4

Preparation note: If using pepperoncini peppers (mildly hot), they can be used whole as long as the sausage isn't extremely spicy. Otherwise, slit the pepper open and remove the seeds before adding to the dish.

I also added two whole pepperoncinis, a handful or so of halved crimini mushrooms that were reaching their 'use by' date and a bit of oregano.

Definitely going to make it again.

[Callalily]

4. Glad to hear of your

success. I think I'll have to try this recipe too!

[Warpy]

2. The advantage to putting them in whole

is that diners can remove them if they don't like their food that hot.

Offhand, I tend to remove seeds and mince the peppers if I'm feeding the final product to anyone else. I have a galvanized gullet and love it as hot as I can get it. Others, even here in New Mexico, are less desirous of blast furnace heat.