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Sausage Ragu
A delicious, rich meat sauce with layers upon layers of flavour. The key to a tasty ragù is patience. Getting that depth of flavour takes time—it’ll take around 2 hours from start to finish—but most of that time is hands-off. Serve with pasta or use it as a base for a tasty lasagna.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Pasta, Meat
Ingredients
Scale
- 500 g good-quality pork sausage meat
- extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 sweet onions, finely chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves only, finely chopped
- 6 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
- 2 tbsps double concentrated tomato purée
- 200 ml white wine
- 1 x 400g tin of good-quality whole peeled plum tomatoes, hand-crushed
- 150 ml chicken stock
- 150 ml whole milk
Instructions
- Form your sausage meat into ping-pong ball-sized meatballs (they don’t need to be perfect; they’ll be ground up later). While this might seem like a superfluous step, it actually adds huge depth of flavour. Forming the sausage meat into meatballs enables you to get a great sear on the meat (sear = flavour!) without overcooking it. A great tip I learnt from Bon Appétit.
- Heat a splash of extra-virgin olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat (I like to use a Dutch oven). Sear the meatballs, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides. If it looks like the bottom of the pot is catching, lower the heat – browning is good, burning not so much! Once browned, transfer the meatballs to a plate or shallow bowl.
- Turn the heat down to medium. Add the onions and season with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until nice and soft, around 5 minutes. Add the garlic, rosemary and sage and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Add the tomato purée and cook, stirring frequently, until it begins to darken, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the white wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is reduced by around ¾, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the crushed tinned tomatoes, chicken stock and milk and turn the heat up-to high. Season with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper and stir to combine. Return the sausage meatballs to the pot and bring the sauce to a simmer.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours, or until the sausage meatballs are nice and tender.
- Using a potato masher, break up the meatballs into a nice mince. Season, to taste, then serve. Enjoy!
