Italian Sausage and Fennel Ragù with Penne
This mouthwatering, creamy Italian Sausage and Fennel Ragù with Penne, is bursting with a range of flavours from the sausages, fennel seeds, garlic, chilli and fresh herbs. The cream and wine add a luxurious touch to this delightful pasta sauce, without being too rich or losing its 'comfort food' appeal.
Serves 4 - 6
Ingredients
For the ragù:
- 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided
- 600g Italian sausages, roughly 6 sausages
- 125g/1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 50g/1 stick celery, washed, trimmed and finely chopped
- 75g/1 carrot, washed, trimmed and finely chopped (No need to peel.)
- 16g/4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- ¾ teaspoon fennel seeds
- ¼ teaspoon chilli flakes
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 125ml/½ cup white wine
- 250m/1 cup chicken or beef stock
- 60ml/ ¼ cup double/heavy cream
- ⅛ teaspoon fine salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
To serve:
- your pasta of choice – allow roughly 100g dried pasta per person
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary or shredded basil
- 60g finely grated parmesan, or more!
- crisp green salad served with balsamic dressing
Instructions
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Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
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First, take the skin off the sausages. Use a sharp knife to cut down the length of the sausage, peel the skin off and discard the skin.
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Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a cast iron pan/frying pan over a moderate heat and add the sausages. Use a wooden spoon to break up the meat. Cook for 10 minutes until broken up, cooked through and lightly caramelised.
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Remove the sausages and excess oil from the pan, onto a plate or bowl lined with kitchen towel, to absorb the fat.
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As the sausage cooks, prepare the vegetables. Peel (if necessary) and roughly chop the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and then give them a quick blitz in a food processor. Alternatively, finely chop them by hand.
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Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in the pan over a moderate heat and add the chopped vegetables. Cook, stirring from time to time, for around 5 minutes, until softened and lightly caramelised.
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Now add the fennel seeds, chilli flakes and the rosemary. Cook for a further minute until aromatic.
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Return the sausage to the pan, add the wine, and cook until reduced by half.
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Now add the salt and chicken stock and cook for 10 minutes, lid off, until the stock has reduced by half and thickened.
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Add the cream, bring back to a gentle simmer, taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and freshly ground black pepper .
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To serve: stir the ragù into some hot, cooked pasta, sprinkle with chopped, fresh rosemary or shredded basil and serve with salad on the side. Hand the parmesan round separately.
Recipe Notes
Equipment:
- chopping board and knife
- kitchen scales and measuring spoons
- frying pan or cast iron pan
- measuring jug
- food processor
- plate or bowl lined with baking parchment
Where is this recipe from?
This recipe is slightly tweaked from this Rick Stein Sausage Ragù and Tagliatelle recipe. Most notably, I have by decreased the amount of cream and increased the amount of stock. This makes the dish slightly less rich, thus ensuring it is a great pasta dish to serve all year round. I have also decreased the cooking time from around an hour to around ½ an hour.
I have been making this sauce for years and it never fails to deliver. Just a few points to bear in mind –
- I use shop bought penne pasta which works wonderfully well. Rick Stein, of course, uses homemade tagliatelle, which I’m sure is amazing. However, my recommendation would be to choose your favourite pasta and use that, be it shop bought dried, fresh or homemade.
- Do try and get good quality Italian sausages. They offer a different flavour and texture palate to a lot of British sausages. However, whilst they are easily available in London, this may not be the case outside of larger cities. If you can’t find any, choose some good quality pork sausages and consider increasing the fennel, garlic and chilli, to taste.