From Goodfellas · 1990 · Reconstructed
Tommy's Mother's Fried Peppers and Sausage
Serve when
Serve it the moment Tommy's mother welcomes the boys in for a late-night plate — with a body in the trunk outside and nobody at the table saying so.
In the movie
Theatrical
- 01:05:42 Detouring to bury Billy Batts, Tommy stops at his mother's house; she keeps them for a meal — 'Henry, hurry up. My mother's making fried peppers and sausage for us' — and serves them chicken, joking about who wants the leg or the wing while the body waits in the car
Tommy takes a detour to his mother's house to grab a shovel — there's a half-dead man in the trunk they still have to finish off — and instead gets swallowed up in an entirely unplanned family dinner. His mother, thrilled to see him, insists on feeding everyone: fried peppers and sausage, and chicken passed around with grim gallows humor about the leg and the wing while a body waits outside. Martin Scorsese's own mother, Catherine, played the role and largely improvised the scene — which is exactly why the food talk feels so unrehearsed. This is a reconstruction of the dish she announces on screen; the film never publishes quantities.
Ingredients
Method
- Brown the sausages whole in the olive oil over medium heat, turning until deeply colored on all sides, then set aside.
- In the same pan, add the peppers and onion and cook until soft and starting to caramelize at the edges, 15–20 minutes.
- Add the garlic in the last few minutes so it doesn't burn.
- Slice the sausages and return them to the pan to finish cooking through — no pink left at the center (160°F) — and pick up the pepper drippings.
- Season and serve hot, with bread to mop up the pan.
Beyond the recipe
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