This easy and flavourful ragu is quick to make, uses easily available ingredients and - even better - its fully adaptable to your tastes!
it tastes just as good when made in advance , keeps well in the fridge overnight and freezes beautifully!
What more can you ask for from a recipe!
Perfect over pasta and topped with cheese, with rice, potatoes or mash, as a burrito bowl chilli and really yummy the next day with a big spoonful on a hot baked potato!
Recipe feeds 4 adults
Ingredients:
400g pack of free range pork sausages
1 small onion
1 pepper
1 carrot
1/2 fennel bulb
2 cloves garlic chopped ( or 1 teaspoon of Lazy garlic)
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp smoked paprika
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato puree
Chopped parsley to serve
1 - Finely chop the onion, carrot and pepper and gentle fry over a medium heat. 2 - Once the onions start to turn translucent add in the garlic and chopped fennel and fry for a further minute 3 - Remove the sausages from their skins, and add to the pan, breaking up into small pieces as they start to cook, and then add the fennel seeds, smoked paprika and some black pepper
5 - Once the sausages are cooked through pour in the tin of chopped tomatoes along with 150ml of water and tomato puree
6 - Simmer for 5 minutes or so and taste - if you feel it needs it add some salt - always taste first as some shop bought sausages can be high in salt.
7 - Simmer for a further 20 minutes, if the sauce reduced too much simple add a splash more water.
8 - Turn off the heat and either serve immediately or leave to the side till needed.
I often make a double portion of this and freeze it into portions!
- If you like your ragu with a spicy kick add in 1/2 fine chopped chilli and add at the same time as the garlic.
- Don't like smokey? - Leave out the smoked paprika.
- Like a sweeter flavour, add a teaspoon of sugar, or flavoured sausages such as pork and honey.
- Garlic fiend - double up the amount!
The key here is using good quality sausages - cheaper sausages tend to use less meat and more filler in their sausages, which, once out their skins wont add anything good to this ragu and will take out a lot of the flavour!
Enjoy - and don't be scared to experiment with flavour!
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