Okay, so I was grilling up some brats the other day. Love brats. But then you get to thinking, what goes with them? Just plopping a brat on a bun feels kinda lonely, you know? I’ve done chips, done potato salad, but I wanted something hot off the stove or grill this time, something that felt like it belonged with those sausages.
I rooted around the kitchen. Found some bell peppers – I think I had a green one and a red one – and a big yellow onion sitting there. Perfect. Peppers and onions. Can’t go wrong with that for brats, right? It’s simple stuff.
So, I grabbed my cutting board. Gave the peppers a quick wash. Chopped ’em up. I like doing strips, maybe like half-inch wide? Something like that. You don’t want them tiny, they’ll just disappear. Did the same with the onion, sliced it up nicely.
Then, I got my trusty cast iron skillet. You could probably do this in a grill basket too, right over the coals, but I felt like using the stove this time. Put the skillet on medium-high heat. Little swirl of olive oil in the bottom. Waited till it shimmered a bit.
Tossed the onions in first. Let them sizzle for maybe three, four minutes? Stirring them around. Just wanted to get them started, soften them up a bit. Then I dumped in the peppers. All of them.
Kept everything moving in the pan. Stirred it pretty regular. You gotta watch it so it doesn’t burn, but you definitely want some color on there. Little brown bits, maybe a bit of char. That’s where the flavor is. Let that go for, I don’t know, maybe 10 minutes, maybe 12? Until they were nice and soft but not total mush.
Right near the end, like the last minute, I hit it with a good pinch of salt and some coarse black pepper. Stirred it one last time.
And that was it. Took the skillet off the heat. Scooped a big pile of those peppers and onions right onto the plate next to the bratwurst. Looked good, smelled great. Way better than just a plain side. It adds that little bit of sweetness from the cooked onions and peppers, cuts through the richness of the brat. Solid, easy side dish. Worked like a charm.
