Italian Slumgullion

Italian Slumgullion
This recipe comes from the kitchen of Maddalena Testa, originally from Napoli, Italy, then from Little Italy, Cleveland Ohio, and one of my dearest friends ever. She raised 6 kids as a single mom, and though only 13 years older than I, she fostered me well into adulthood. I loved her like my own family.

I would shop at the West Side Market on Saturday morning, buying the freshest vegetables and the meat that looked best, then go straight to her house with all those bags and ask her to make her Slumgullion. http://westsidemarket.org...

There is no set ingredients list because it all depends on what veggies you can get at what time of the year. But here goes; this is what I put in the pot this morning, and I can smell it cooking now:

5 linear feet of mild Italian sausage, pre-cooked
(You can substitute comparable amounts of stew meat or cheap cuts of pork [shoulder] for this, or go veggie.)
6 fresh zucchini, sliced 1/4-in thick
4 yellow squash, sliced 1/4-in thick
1 head cauliflower, chunked into 1-1/4-in florets (chunk the remainder smaller and use it, too.)
As many home-canned stewed tomatoes as you want (or at least 2 cans of diced, more if needed).
Peppers = green, yellow and red to taste. Beans = any kind
Onion: Your fave, at least one large one.
Plenty of crushed garlic = to taste
Tomato sauce, at least 2 qts of your fave = homemade is best (use more and water it some; the veggies will add to the liquid.

I have also used broccoli and broccolini in this; Lynn used carrots, too.

Cook in a medium oven = 350 degrees for at least 2 hours, more unless you like your veggies al dente. Serve in bowls or over pasta with plenty of bread and butter.

Feeds at least 8 hungry people. Even better reheated the next day.