Italian Peppers and Eggs Quick and Delicious
Absolutely Scrumptious!
Italian Peppers and Eggs is a meal that can be served at any time for any occassion. You can eat this at breakfast, lunch or dinner and it will never dissapoint you. Try this recipe out and try the Italian Sausage and Peppers recipe for lunch or dinner.
Many of us have bittersweet memories of our formative years – our family, our friends, fads, foods, etc. In almost every Italian family, food is inin every aspect of life. If you are happy, you celebrate with food alternatively, if you are sad, you are comforted by food. We are all about the food! I would be shocked if there is an Italian family where this is not the case. Italian Peppers and Eggs is a great comfort food for any day!
Growing up, dinner was a sacred ritual in my house. The evening meal was planned from early in the day and sometimes days in advance when the shopping list was written. My mother and my grandmother would chat every morning, “what’s doin?” and most importantly, “What are you cookin’ tonight?” This was customary with anyone that would call – aunts, cousins, friends. For Italians, food is not just for nutrition, it’s food for the soul. Within an Italian family, judgments are passed as to who is and who is not a good cook and of course, who is a great cook! The great cooks always have a full house for holidays, birthdays, and any celebration you can imagine. No one ever turns down an invitation to come to dinner, and guests always go home with leftovers.
Beyond Shake ‘n Bake
During the week my family, which was my father, mother, and myself [yes, I’m an only child], sat down to dinner in the early evening at around 6:00 pm. This is when my father would come home from a long workday and a long train ride home from Manhattan. 15 to 30 minutes beforehand, the table would be set. My mother scrambled to get dinner on the table, with all the dishes ready to serve at the same time, within minutes of my father’s arrival. Timinig was everything! We ate a lot of traditional dishes—pasta this, pasta that, but being Americans, we also had hamburgers, roasted chicken… Heck, my mother even made Shake ‘n Bake pork chops! Hey, it was the seventies! No Hamburger Helper though! We set time aside at dinnertime to connect and hear about everyone’s day, it was not just about eating.
Grandma and Italian Harlem
Now, I mentioned that my mother spoke with my grandmother every day and the topic of food was ALWAYS part of the conversation. Let me tell you a little about my grandmother. She was born and raised, in the early 1900s, in the a section of Manhattan known as Harlem on 116th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues. She was one of eight children. My grandmother was a great cook!
Everyone in the family wanted to eat at my grandmother’s house. Her gravy (sauce), meatballs, sausage, and beef braciole, a thinly sliced round steak filled and rolled with a seasoned cheese mixture, were fantastic! An explosion of flavor! Grandma would greet us with a hug and a kiss and ask us “Did ya’s eat?” You were always interested in what she had ready to devour, and it didn’t matter if you already ate or not.
Grandma always had Peppers and Eggs at the ready. If she didn’t she would whip them up within minutes. At a moment’s notice she was ready to toss a seeded Italian into the oven. She kept one frozen in the freezer for just this moment. The bread would come out of the oven as if it were freshly baked—warm inside with a crunchy crust. So good! Just writing about it makes my mouth water! Imagine a nice Italian Peppers and Eggs sandwich on this warm seeded Italian bread. So good! I would like to share her recipe with all of you.
This recipe is a quick, nutritious, and flavorful meal that you will want to make again and again. Enjoy!!
