italian sausage ragu

Recipe video above. Take your meat sauce to the next level by using sausages instead of plain beef to make an incredible Sausage Ragu! Like Shredded Beef Ragu, cooking this sausage pasta sauce long and slow gives it time to develop deep, complex flavours. Complete your Italian feast with Garlic Bread, a garden salad with Italian Dressing and a beautiful Tiramisu.

Sausage ragu with pappardelle pasta

olive oil

onion (, finely chopped)

garlic (, finely minced)

carrot

celery (,

fennel seeds

/ 12 oz pork sausages

/ 12 oz beef sausages (, meat removed from casings (Note 2))

tomato paste

pinot noir red wine ((sub 0% alcohol red wine

chicken stock/broth (, low sodium)

400 grams/14 oz can crushed tomato

thyme ((or 1/2 tsp dried))

bay leaves ((fresh better, else dried))

tsp cooking salt / kosher salt

tsp black pepper

tsp chilli flakes

Parmesan or parmigiano reggiano (, finely grated, for serving)

Parsley (, finely chopped, optional garnish (just a pinch))

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced).

Soffrito - Heat the oil in a large heavy based pot (with a lid) over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery and fennel seeds. Cook for 8 minutes until the carrot is soft and sweet, but not golden.

Cook sausage - Turn the heat up to high and add the sausage. Cook, breaking it up as you go, as best you can. It doesn&#39;t crumble as well as mince/ground meat but that&#39;s ok, we will break it up more later.

Deglaze - Once the meat is no longer pink (it doesn&#39;t really brown), add the tomato paste. Cook for 1 minute. Add the wine and let it simmer rapidly for 2 minutes until reduced by half, stirring regularly to scrape the base of the pot clean.

Slow cook #1 (1 hr) - Add the remaining ragu ingredients. Stir, bring to a simmer, put the lid on and place it in the oven for 1 hour.

Slow cook #2 (45 min) - Remove from the oven and use a potato masher to mash the meat finer. Put the lid back on, and return to the oven for 45 minutes. The sauce will be quite thick, it gets loosened when tossed with the pasta.

Salt - Taste and add more salt if desired. (Sausages vary in saltiness so I always start with less)

Cook pasta - Cook the pappardelle according to the packet instructions. Just before draining, scoop out 1 1/2 cups of the cooking water and set it aside.

Toss with sauce - Have the ragu pot on the stove over medium heat. Add the pasta into the pot along with 1/2 cup of the pasta cook water. Use two spatulas to toss the pasta until the ragu is tangled in the pasta strands and it is stained red from the sauce. Use extra pasta cooking water if needed to loosen it up.

Serve in pre-warmed bowls, garnish with parmesan and a pinch of parsley if desired. Eat immediately!

Pasta:

I decided to use a mix of dry and fresh mushrooms for this recipe. And only sausage meat. Great combination. But as I mentioned early on, any meat will do.

Mushrooms, Sausage Ragu with Polenta

sausage meat

pancetta (chopped)

Shimeji mushrooms

dry porcini

bay leaves

red wine

carrots

onion

garlic (peeled and hard end removed)

parsley (chopped)

tomatoes

chicken stock

mushrooms soaking water

salt and pepper

cheese

water

instant polenta

salt

In a heavy large enamel cast iron pot heat the olive oil the garlic over medium heat. Once the garlic is brown, but not burned, remove and discard.

Add the onions, parsley, and carrots, and mix well. When the onions are translucent, add the sausage meat and pancetta, and separate them well with the back of a wooden spoon. Add the tomato paste and mix well.

Cook the meats until all the liquid is evaporated.

Add the bay leaves, red wine, chopped porcini mushrooms, Chinese mushrooms half of the strained mushrooms liquid. Mix well.

The chicken stock is added it to your ragu to keep it moist.

Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Mix well, lower the heat to simmer, cover, and cook stirring occasionally for 1 hour to 1 ½ hours.

Taste and adjust the salt and pepper to your liking. Add more wine if too dry. Cook uncovered for another 30 minutes.

Remove the bay leaves before serving.

TO PREPARE THE MUSHROOMS RAGU

Bring the water to a boil. Gradually add the polenta and whisk vigorously to prevent lumps from forming.  Change to a wooden spoon and continue to stir until it becomes thicker, around 6 minutes.

TO MAKE POLENTA

Remove the polenta from the heat and place on a plate or platter. Add the mushrooms ragu over it. Sprinkle a very generous amount of parmesan cheese over it.Serve hot and immediately.

ASSEMBLE

Perfect dish for a cold winter day! I love that you used used to pick mushrooms with your grandmother. What a beautiful memory.

Oh my this looks like the perfect recipe for winter! Adding the polenta is genius!

What a wonderful recipe! Love that you use pancetta, it adds an extra special touch! Simply delicious!

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Sausage ragu with pappardelle pasta

Sausage ragu with pappardelle pasta

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Top 4 italian sausage ragu recipes from across the web

The most viewed italian sausage ragu recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Sausage ragu with pappardelle pasta

Sausage ragu with pappardelle pasta

Sausage ragu with pappardelle pasta

Mushrooms, Sausage Ragu with Polent...

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