Italian cooking is so simple, easy and basic, I often wonder how or why people who are not Italian get some crazy ideas.

For example, you have also probably heard that you should throw pasta against the wall to see if it is ready; if it sticks, it's done.

This was obviously a joke, but some have actually taken it seriously!

I have written about other pasta no-nos previously, so I won't repeat them now, but since spring is in full bloom and outdoor barbecues are not far behind, I thought it would be fun to discuss a typical Italian favorite: sausage and peppers.

There are a lot of really good variations that people have improvised for their personal taste and many of them are great.

None of the great variations, however, include boiling the sausage before finishing it in a saute pan or on the grill. Boiling sausage, to me, gives it a really weird flavor.

It never tastes right once it's been boiled; it's in the same category for me as cooking pasta without putting salt in the cooking water. You can never correct the taste.

Olive oil, garlic, basil, parsley, salt and pepper are the simple, routine ingredients used in many Italian recipes, but they take on a different taste depending on the food that they compliment. Also depending on if they're cooked or raw.

Italian cooking also, for most of us “old timers,” includes a garden.

Not as big as in past years, but never-the-less, a garden. Most Italians I know have their own basil, oregano, parsley and rosemary plants in their backyard or on their windowsill.

My sister-in-law still plants her own garlic with enough of a yield to not only supply herself for the winter, but she generously gives it away to many friends.

Other typical gardens include Swiss chard, peppers (both red and green), asparagus, lettuce, green beans, yellow squash and, of course, zucchini.

Shopping is so much easier for two reasons; first, we use the same routine ingredients again and again plus secondly, because we have many of the regular items, we serve in our gardens.

This month my recipes are for a couple of sausage and pepper variations. As always, if you like to experiment; go for it. Make a dish your own!

Like Veronica's improvisation of using Hershey's chocolate syrup as a sweetener for a sauce she was making.

She liked it so much, she told me she decided to keep it her secret ingredient. I laughed and told her that since I wrote about it in one of my columns, it now is her secret along with anyone who happened to read my article in The Citizen.

Oh well, it can still be her Florida secret.

I just remembered I was going to do pesto sauce this month, but I got this idea in my head for sausage and completely forgot.

Hope you don't mind, but I'll do it next month instead. Thanks for being patient and understanding.

Bob Leonardi, of Auburn, ran a successful restaurant business, catering, and gourmet food store in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for 15 years.

Sausage, peppers, onions and marinara sauce hoagies

1 pound sausage

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1/2 cup or so olive oil

4 large green peppers, cored and cut

1 or 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce

1 medium Spanish onion

2 or 3 hoagie rolls

Black pepper to taste

Follow same cooking method as the other recipe only start the onion first until they soften a little before adding the garlic or the peppers. I like my onions caramelized meaning they should be brown when they are done.

When everything is cooked, simply assemble the hoagies as you like them with the sausage, peppers and onions topped with the marinara sauce.

Toast the rolls first if you like, but if they are good, crusty decent Italian rolls, they do not need to be toasted.

For other variations, you can add cheese to the hoagie.

Or you can do sausage and peppers and potatoes and eggs - many, many different combinations.

Be creative and enjoy.

Sausage and peppers

1 pound sausage

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1/2 cup or so olive oil

4 large green peppers, cored and cut approximately 1-inch thick

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a tablespoon or so of oil in a saute pan (you don't need much because the sausage fat will melt and provide the remaining liquid to cook with; so only use a small amount to coat the bottom of the pan). Saute sausage until well browned on all sides. Cover and cook slowly, for about 30 minutes, until sausage is well cooked. Remove to platter and keep warm.

Place about 1/4 cup of the remaining oil in the pan and heat over medium heat. Add minced garlic before the oil gets too hot and saute for 30 seconds or so before adding about half the peppers. Stir and add the other half of the peppers. Then stir frequently until peppers are softened to your preference.

Return the sausage to the pan and cook with the peppers. Season with salt and pepper to taste and allow all the flavors to blend together.

For cooking on a barbecue grill, you would cook the peppers the same way but cook the sausage over a low flame so it does not get burned. The grease from the sausage will cause some flame-ups so for that reason you have to keep the flame low. Then you should cover the sausage so it cooks all the way through. If you don't have a lid on your grill, simply use a pot cover but check it frequently. When the sausage is cooked, you should still combine it with the peppers in the pan to allow the flavors to blend.