Name: Sheet-Pan Italian Sausage with Peppers, Onions, Tomatoes, and Polenta
Total time: 1 h
Ingredients: ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil; 12 ounces grape tomatoes; 1 onion , halved and sliced thin; 1 red bell pepper , stemmed, seeded, and cut into ¼-inch-wide strips; 1 garlic clove , minced; 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary; Salt and pepper; 1 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage; 1 (18-ounce) tube cooked polenta , sliced in half lengthwise; 1 ounce Parmesan cheese , grated (½ cup); 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Why This Recipe Works

To streamline this classic combo, avoiding multiple bubbling pots, we cooked everything together on a sheet pan. A hot pan meant we could not only brown our sausages nicely but also give our onions and peppers the slightly charred edge that we love. To get our vegetables saucy quickly, we used grape tomatoes, which broke down easily, giving the onions and peppers a bright, acidic finish to complement the sausages. To adapt polenta to our sheet pan and keep things simple, we started with a cooked log, sliced it in half, and roasted the pieces alongside everything else. Since it didn't brown up much by the time everything else was cooked, we flipped it over, sprinkled it with some Parmesan, and broiled the whole sheet to achieve good caramelization, not only on the polenta but on the sausages, onions, and peppers too—a satisfying finish to our rustic dinner.

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Brush rimmed baking sheet with 1 tablespoon oil.

Toss tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, remaining 3 tablespoons oil, garlic, rosemary, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper together in large bowl. Scatter tomato mixture evenly over half of prepared sheet. Place sausages and polenta, cut side down, on empty side of sheet.

Roast until sausages are browned and reach 160 degrees, 25 to 30 minutes, flipping halfway through roasting. Remove sheet from oven and heat broiler.

Turn polenta over and sprinkle with Parmesan. Broil polenta and sausages until Parmesan is bubbly and beginning to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove sheet from oven, transfer polenta to cutting board, and slice into 1-inch-thick pieces. Sprinkle basil over polenta and serve with sausages and tomato mixture.