Exactly What He Wanted; Italian Sausage Sandwiches

Total Time: 50 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 3
• 6 sandwich buns (deli)
• 1 1/2 cups spaghetti or 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce or 1 1/2 cups ragu tomato sauce, packet
• 1 lb italian sausage (hot or mild, your choice)
• 1 1/2-2 cups grated italian cheese blend
• 2 large poblano peppers or 4 large roasted green chilies
• 2 cups prepared au jus sauce (i used a packet mix)
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, for au jus (not garlic salt, & more to sprinkle on rolls)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 6 -12 tablespoons butter or 6 -12 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• grilled onion (optional)
• sliced mushrooms (optional)

Recipe

• 1 split your sausages down the middle, but do not cut all the way through.
• 2 add sausages to a pan, flatten, add water, cover and steam over med-high heat. if they start to curl, lay a heavy plate or bowl on them to keep them flat.
• 3 while you are cooking your sausages:.
• 4 cut your washed, seeded/veined peppers, into 2" long, (think egg noodle for width) pieces-.
• 5 split your rolls (again, not all the way through)-.
• 6 heat up your spaghetti/marinara sauce-.
• 7 get your cheese grated, if it's not already-.
• 8 cut up onions & mushrooms, if your using them-.
• 9 make your au jus-.
• 10 add the garlic powder & black pepper to your au jus, (not garlic salt, au jus is already salty, you will ruin it if you add garlic salt instead of powder)-.
• 11 keep rotating your peppers, & your sausages,.
• 12 the sausages will begin to brown as the water evaporates, (add a little more if needed), the steaming of them first helps them to cook thoroughly without burning,.
• 13 butter your bread (or brush olive oil on the rolls if you prefer) sprinkle with garlic powder (again not garlic salt) & put under the broiler, or toast in your toaster oven,.
• 14 don't forget them & burn them!
• 15 when they're done, set aside somewhere warm until you're ready for them,.
• 16 if your sausages are done at this point:.
• 17 remove sausages from pan, set aside-.
• 18 add your peppers to the pan, keep any grease left from sausage saute peppers quickly, until bright green-.
• 19 return sausages to pan with the peppers (& mushrooms and/or onions if you're using them)-
• 20 add 1/4-1/2 c of au jus to the pan-.
• 21 turn, rotate, re-arrange (whatever) the party in the pan, add more au jus if needed, but when everything is done there should only be a little au jus that has not cooked into, or evaporated into everything else, but not yet dry-.
• 22 assemble your sandwiches:.
• 23 brush each toasted roll, with a little au jus on each side,.
• 24 add 1 link of sausage to a roll, (keep sausage 'open') lay peppers (onions and/or mushrooms) on top of the sausage,.
• 25 sprinkle approximately a handful (i like those measurements, don't you?) of cheese to your sandwich,.
• 26 repeat process for each sandwich, trying to use your ingredients evenly,.
• 27 again, leave sandwiches open, lay under broiler, or preferably in your toaster oven, until cheese in melted,.
• 28 cut sandwiches in 1/2, if you prefer.
• 29 serve with 1/4 c (or more) spaghetti sauce, or au jus on the side, for dipping.
• 30 would be great with oven roasted potatoes, a nice salad or --
• 31 my 'armadillo leg/jalapeno poppers', absolutely fantastic armadillo legs /jalapeno poppers!
• 32 enjoy!