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Lettuce Wraps with Italian Sausage, Roasted Red Peppers, and Sauteed Onions

Once in a while, I’ll serve up something relatively rich and flavorful in a vessel like lettuce wraps, instead of tortillas. This recipe includes a mixture of roasted red bell peppers, sauteed Italian sausage, and sauteed onions, wrapped inside baby leaves of Romaine lettuce. They are relatively light, and easy to eat with your hands. The crispy lettuce and minced parsley bring some added freshness to each bite. And it feels like they are really good for you!
You can serve these up on a large platter, and encourage guests to pick them up and eat them in a few bites.
The following recipe provides 16 appetizer-sized lettuce wraps.

Ingredients

  • 2 red bell peppers (seeds & core removed)
  • 1 Tbsp sunflower seed oil (for oiling the peppers)
  • ¼ tsp Kosher salt
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil (for cooking sausage and onions)
  • 1 yellow onion (medium dice)
  • 16 oz 1 lb ground Italian sausage
  • ¾ tsp Kosher salt
  • ¼ tsp freshly-ground black pepper
  • ¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • ¼ tsp dried oregano
  • 2 Tbsp fresh parsley leaves (finely minced)
  • 4 tiny heads of baby romaine lettuce (each about 5-inches long)
  • 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (for drizzling on lettuce wraps before serving)

Instructions 

  • Preheat your oven to 500˚F.
  • Remove the core and seeds from the red bell peppers, and cut the peppers in half.
  • Lightly oil the outside surface of each halved pepper.
  • Sprinkle some Kosher salt on the oiled red peppers.
  • Place the peppers skin-side up on a parchment paper-lined sheet tray, and roast them at 500˚F for roughly 15-20 minutes, or until the skins of the peppers have turned mostly black on the outsides.
  • While the red peppers are roasting on high heat in the oven, place two Tablespoons of cooking olive oil or vegetable oil in a large sauté pan.
  • Increase the heat to medium-high and wait for one minute, or until the oil is warm.
  • Add the diced yellow onion, and cook while stirring for roughly three minutes.
  • Add the ground Italian sausage, and cook while stirring for roughly four additional minutes, or until the sausage is partially cooked through.
  • Add the Kosher salt, freshly-ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, and dried oregano, and cook for another four minutes.
  • When the sausage is completely cooked, remove the sausage and onions from the heat, and fold in the freshly-minced parsley leaves.
  • Set the cooked sausage and onion mixture aside to cool down at room temperature while you finish the roasted red peppers.
  • Remove the roasted peppers from the oven once their skin is blackened in most places.
  • Place the roasted peppers in a small bowl, and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap.
  • Allow the covered red peppers to steam in their own heat for an additional ten minutes.
  • Remove the red peppers from the bowl, and quickly remove the blackened skin of the peppers.
  • *Use paper towels to rub off any parts of the skin that have stuck to the flesh of the pepper.
  • Discard the skins of the pepper.
  • Cut the remaining roasted red pepper flesh into strips, and set them aside in a small bowl for lettuce wrap assembly.
  • To prepare the lettuce leaves, select the sixteen largest outside leaves that are study and clean from the baby Romaine lettuce heads.
  • Wash the leaves under very cold water, and dry them completely on paper towels.
  • Assemble the dried lettuce leaves on a large serving platter.
  • Add some of the cooked Italian sausage and onion mixture from earlier.
  • Top with a few pieces of sliced roasted red pepper.
  • Drizzle each lettuce wrap with a bit of extra virgin olive oil before serving with extra napkins.

Notes

I like to roast the red peppers in the oven, and then remove the outer skin; you can skip this step and simply use your stove to quickly sauté the sausage, onions, and peppers together—it will still taste great.