Sausage Hoagies a la Rachel Ray

I don't watch cable food shows. Except when I'm working out at the gym and it happens to be on. Odd combo, that. But I do know who Rachel Ray is. When my mom got me her "2,4,6,8 Great Meals for Couples or Crowds" book, I was skeptical. But we've found several great recipes in it. Tonight, we tried a favorite we haven't had in a while: "Uptown Sweet and Spicy Sausage Hoagies". This is a recipe I'm pretty faithful to, which serves 6 for real.

What you need:
1 pound sweet Italian sausages (in sausage form, not ground)
1 pound hot Italian sausages (ditto above)
olive oil
3 large cloves garlic, crushed
2 red onions, thinly sliced
2 mild green peppers (calls for cubanelles, but whatever), seeded and thinly sliced
2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
fresh thyme, leaves from 6 sprigs, chopped
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
salt and black pepper
6 crusty submarine sandwich rolls
3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 15-oz can sliced beets, drained and cut into sticks (I use chopped up pickled beets)
8 oz. ricotta cheese
4 cups arugula, washed, stemmed and coarsely chopped (or just use baby arugula and don't bother with stemming and chopping)




What you do:
Preheat the broiler.

Place the sausages in a large nonstick skillet and piere the casings with a fork. Add some water to the pan and a drizzle of oil. Cover and bring to a boil. Remove the cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes, until water is almost cooked off and the casings crisp a bit.

Heat a second large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, garlic, red onions, peppers, thyme, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes.

Drain the sausages and slice them on an angle into 2-inch pieces. Return to the skillet on medium-high with a drizzle of oil and brown up the cut sides.

Split the sub rolls, place on cookie sheet, and put under the broiler to brown them.

Add vinegar, chicken stock and beets to the peppers and onions and cook until the beets are heated through and the liquid has almost cooked away. Add sausage to the veggies and toss it up.

Pile the sausages and veggies on the rolls and top with ricotta and arugula.
It's messy, but enjoy!