Sausage and Potato Roast

Give me sausage and potatoes and I’ll eat for a night, give me a bottle of italian dressing, and I can eat for weeks!  I use it as a marinade or baste with it almost anytime I have “plain” meat. This recipe was one of the first ones I came up with that highlighted the power of the dressing in my home...it has been a family favorite for many years and is on the menu tonight.  I made it last night and will reheat tonight at a few different times when we each have the time to eat it.  Sorry no measurements, I just eyeball this one.  

6 sweet italian sausage links (I am partial to Premio brand)
Idaho potatoes
Italian dressing(your favorite brand, regular-no low fat)
Sliced onions and bell peppers to taste (optional)
Grated parmesan cheese
Italian seasonings-from the herb aisle, usually a mix of basil, oregano etc...

Preheat oven to 350.   Spray a 13×9 roasting pan with non stick spray.  Peel and cube enough potatoes to  filling the pan in a single layer.  Do not pack the pan too tightly.  Coat the potatoes (and onion and bell peppers, if you are using them) with dressing (by tossing in a bowl)and fill the roasting pan.  Sprinkle the top with the italian seasoning and parm cheese. Cover with foil and roast for 30 minutes.

While the potatoes roast, pre-cook the sausages just a few minutes—maybe 2-4 for each side—in the microwave.  After 30 minutes, remove foil from potatoes and stir, add the sausages to the pan (give them a toss so they get some of the dressing on them as well) and resume cooking without the foil about another 20-30 minutes, turning the sausage once to help it to brown evenly.  Remove when sausage and potatoes are browned and cooked to your liking.  The precook should ensure the sausages are cooked all the way through at the end.  You could add the sausages at the beginning of this and skip the precook but I found that the sausages would sometimes overcook before the potatoes were done.  The precook also brings out some of the fat from the sausage and keeps it out of the dish as a whole—but be careful, too much precook and you will have dry sausages.  

I have made this dish in every oven I ever had (5+), and noticed each one browns those potatoes at their own pace. Keep a close eye on that second phase of cooking till you have the cooking time for your own oven nailed down.  

Enjoy!