- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 12 sweet Italian sausages (about 2 pounds)
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 6 plump garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- ¼ teaspoon peperoncino flakes, or to taste
- 1 cup large green olives, squashed to open and pit them
- 3 large fennel bulbs (3½ to 4 pounds), trimmed and cut into 1-inch chunks
- ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt
- A 13- or 14-inch heavy-bottomed skillet or sauté pan, with a cover
- Pour 2 tablespoons of the olive oil into the big skillet, and set over medium-high heat. Lay in all the sausages; cook them for 5 minutes or more, rolling them over occasionally, until they’re nicely browned on all sides. Pour in the wine, and boil until it is reduced by half. Remove the sausages to a platter, and pour over them the wine remaining in the pan.
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil to the empty skillet, toss in the garlic cloves, and cook for a minute or so, over medium heat, until they’re sizzling. Drop the peperoncino in a hot spot for a few seconds, then scatter the squashed olives in the pan; toss and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add the fennel chunks, and stir them in with the garlic and olives. Season the vegetables with ½ teaspoon salt, cover the skillet, and cook over medium-high heat for 20 minutes, tossing and stirring now and then, until the fennel softens, shrinks, and begins to color. Add a bit of water to the pan if the fennel remains hard and resistant to the bite.
- When the fennel is cooked through, return the sausages and the wine to the skillet. Turn and tumble the meat and vegetables together, and cook uncovered another 5 minutes or so, until everything is deeply caramelized and glazed. Adjust the seasoning to taste; keep cooking and tumbling the sausages and fennel. Serve piping hot.