My Best Sausage Ragu
This is the kind of pasta sauce that tastes like you've been cooking all afternoon. Good quality sausages do most of the heavy lifting, creating a rich, flavor packed ragu that's perfect with your favorite pasta.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 600 grams sausages, see note 1
- 1 small onion, finely diced (I like to use a food processor for the vegetables)
- 1 carrot, finely diced
- 2 stalks celery, finely diced
- ½-1 teaspoon fennel seeds, see note 2
- 4 cloves garlic, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup dry white wine, I used a pinot grigio
- 1 cup milk
- 1x 400 gram tin tomatoes, crushed by hand
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 2 sprigs thyme (tie thyme and rosemary together with string)
- 3 wide strips lemon peel
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Squeeze the sausage meat out of the casings.
- Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. (If your sausages are quite lean, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.) Add the sausage meat and cook for 8-10 minutes, breaking it into large chunks and allowing it to brown well before stirring. Transfer to a plate, leaving the fat in the pot.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the onion, carrot and celery with a pinch of salt.
- Cook for at least 15 minutes, stirring regularly, until very soft.
- Stir in the garlic and fennel seeds if using and cook for a further minute.
- Push the vegetables to the sides so there is a gap in the middle and add the tomato paste, letting it cook for about 3 minutes, stirring it regularly. This really helps to develop flavor.
- Stir the tomato paste through the vegetables, then return the sausage meat to the pot, breaking up any large chunks with your spoon.
- Pour in the white wine and let it reduce by about half, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Add the milk, stock and tomatoes, mix well and bring to a very gentle simmer.
- Add the bay leaves, lemon peel and the tied herbs.
- Simmer uncovered on a very low heat for 60-75 minutes, it should just be at a very gentle simmer. Give it a gentle stir occasionally. If a layer of excess fat collects on the surface during cooking, feel free to skim some off the top.
- The finished ragu should still have a little liquid remaining as it will continue to thicken when tossed with the pasta. Watch the video below for the finished consistency.
- Remove the bay leaves, lemon peel and herbs and discard.
- Taste and adjust seasoning, I usually add ¼ - ½ teaspoon pepper and a good pinch of salt. The amount of salt needed will depend on how well seasoned your sausages are.
To serve with pasta
- Boil your pasta in well salted water. This ragu will serve four (about 1 cup sauce per person) and for a meat sauce I allow about 80-100 grams of dried pasta per person.
- Add the cooked pasta straight into the sauce with ¼ cup pasta water over a low heat and toss it over and over. Add a big knob of butter if desired.
- Serve with lots of freshly grated parmesan and some fresh thyme or rosemary leaves.
Video
Notes
1.Sausages - Use the best quality sausages you can find, as they are the star of this recipe. I love pork and fennel sausages, but any good quality pork sausages will work. Look for sausages with visible flecks of fat throughout the meat (see the ingredient photo above in post), as they'll produce the most flavorful ragu. You can also use a combination of 300g pork sausages and 300g beef sausages if you prefer.
2. Fennel seeds - These are optional but add a lovely flavor if you're using plainer pork sausages. If your sausages already contain fennel, reduce the amount to ½ teaspoon or leave them out altogether.
3. Whole tomatoes - I prefer whole peeled tomatoes crushed by hand rather than crushed tomatoes.
4. Lemon peel - Use a vegetable peeler to remove three wide strips of peel, leaving a little of the white pith attached. Stir the sauce gently during cooking so the peel stays intact and is easy to remove before serving.
5. Simmer gently - Keep the ragu at a very gentle simmer rather than a rapid boil. Slow cooking gives the flavors time to develop and keeps the sausage tender.
6. Rendered fat - Depending on the sausages you use, you may notice a layer of fat on the surface as the ragu cooks. Spoon off any excess, leaving just enough behind to keep the sauce rich and glossy.