Sausage Ragu
I went out for dinner with work colleagues last week and had a fantastic penne and sausage ragu. My attempt to re-create it doesn't even come close on flavour, texture, colour or any other metric, but it is a very tasty dish!
Stats
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 3/4 hours
Ingredients
- 190g rosemary & thyme seasoned sausages (approx weight of 6 chipolatas from Waitrose)
- 1 carrot
- 1 red onion
- 1 stalk of celery
- 1 can of peeled cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp olive oil
- 1tsp tomato puree
- 50ml water
- 1tsp worcestershire sauce
- 1tsp fresh thyme, chopped
- 1/2tsp dried rosemary
Method
- Chop the carrot, red onion and celery into the smallest pieces you can possibly manage
- Remove the sausage meat from the skins, separating it into pea-sized chunks
- Warm the olive oil in a pan and add the sausage meat pieces, stir regularly for 10 to 15 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through
- Add the chopped vegetables and cook on the lowest possible heat for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring regularly. You want the veg to be softened, browned and breaking down into the oil and sausage pieces
- Add the tinned cherry tomatoes and stiry them round to break them up, being careful to not break apart the nuggets of sausage meat
- Add the rosemary, thyme and worcestershire sauce then cook on a low heat for 30 minutes, or until thickened
- Add the water and tomato puree and cook until again thickened, about another 15 to 20 minutes
Once the ragu is thickened and cooked, season to taste and serve with a pasta that has a decent bite to it, giant penne are perfect.