Italian Sausage In Tomato Ragu Recipes

SAUSAGE RAGù

Steps:

• With the tip of a small, sharp knife, slit open the sausage casings. Crumble the meat into a wide, heavy skillet or Dutch oven and set over medium-low heat. If the meat is not rendering enough fat to coat the bottom of the pan as it begins to cook, add olive oil one tablespoon at a time until the meat is frying gently, not steaming. Sauté, breaking up any large chunks, until all the meat has turned opaque (do not let it brown), about 5 minutes.
• Add onion, carrot, celery and parsley and stir. Drizzle in more oil if the pan seems dry. Cook over very low heat, stirring often, until the vegetables have melted in the fat and are beginning to caramelize, and the meat is toasty brown. This may take as long as 40 minutes, but be patient: It is essential to the final flavors.
• Add tomatoes and their juice, breaking up the tomatoes with your hands or with the side of a spoon. Bring to a simmer, then add thyme and rosemary and let simmer, uncovered, until thickened and pan is almost dry, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Mix tomato paste with 1 cup hot water. Add to pan, reduce heat to very low, and continue cooking until the ragù is velvety and dark red, and the top glistens with oil, about 10 minutes more. Remove herb sprigs. Sprinkle black pepper over, stir and taste.
• Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil pasta until just tender. Scoop out 2 cups cooking water, drain pasta and return to pot over low heat. Quickly add a ladleful of ragù, a splash of cooking water, stir well and let cook 1 minute. Taste for doneness. Repeat, adding more cooking water or ragù, or both, until pasta is cooked through and seasoned to your liking.
• Pour hot pasta water into a large serving bowl to heat it. Pour out the water and pour in the pasta. Top with remaining ragù, sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately. Pass grated cheese at the table, if desired.

SAUSAGE RAGU

Steps:

• Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Fry the onion with a pinch of salt for 7 mins. Add the garlic, chilli and rosemary, and cook for 1 min more. Tip in the tomatoes and sugar, and simmer for 20 mins.
• Heat the remaining oil in a medium frying pan over a medium heat. Squeeze the sausagemeat from the skins and fry, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, for 5-7 mins until golden. Add to the sauce with the milk and lemon zest, then simmer for a further 5 mins. To freeze, leave to cool completely and transfer to large freezerproof bags.
• Cook the pasta following pack instructions. Drain and toss with the sauce. Scatter over the parmesan and parsley leaves to serve.

TUSCAN SAUSAGE RAGU

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the sweet and hot Italian sausage until browned, about 10 minutes. Break the meat up into crumbles as it cooks. Stir in the onion, celery, and garlic; cook and stir until the onion is translucent, about 8 more minutes. Pour the mixture into a slow cooker. Pour red wine into the skillet, and stir to dissolve the brown flavor bits from the bottom of the skillet. Pour the wine into the slow cooker. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and salt to taste. Mix well.
• Cover the slow cooker, set to Low, and cook for 5 hours. Pour in the cream, stir, cover, and cook for 1 more hour. Adjust salt again if necessary, and serve.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND BEEF RAGU RECIPE - (4/5)

Steps:

• Heat 1½ tbsp oil over high heat in a large heavy based pot. Add the beef and sausage. Cook, breaking it up as you go, until browned. Use a slotted spoon to remove into a bowl. Heat remaining 1½ tbsp oil in the pot and reduce heat to medium low. Add garlic, onion, carrot and celery. Saute gently for 8 to 10 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Add cooked meat back into the pot along with the remaining Ragu ingredients. Turn heat up and mix to combine. Bring to simmer, then turn the heat down so it is bubbling gently (refer to the video, at 50 seconds). Cover and cook for 2½ hours, stirring once or twice. Remove from heat and remove the lid. The amount of liquid reduces as it cools, you will be surprised, so don't be tempted to return it to the stove without the lid! :) SLOW COOKER: At step 3, transfer everything into a slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, and cook the last 30 minutes or so with the lid off the reduce. To Serve Bring a very large pot of salted water to a rapid boil. Add pasta and cook until just al dente - cooked but still quite firm (I usually go for 2 minutes less than cook time per packet). Meanwhile, heat a large, deep fry pan over medium high heat. Add about 2½ cups of ragu, bring to simmer. Use tongs to transfer pasta straight from the pot to the fry pan PLUS ½ cup of pasta cooking water. Toss gently (I use 2 wooden spatulas) for 1 minute or until the sauce reduces, by which time the sauce will thicken, be glossy, and stick to the pasta. Serve immediately, garnished with Parmigiano-Reggiano if using! NOTES 1. The Italian pork sausages are key to the incredible flavour and richness in this recipe. So please don't think of substituting this with the cheap BBQ sausages (the ones that are an even pink colour), please make sure you get chunky Italian sausages. By "chunky", I mean the sausages where you can see chunks of white fat in the sausages so you know it's made with real meat, not with fillers (like the cheap sausages are). Italian sausages are loaded with fab seasonings. The classic usually has fennel in it, but you can use any Italian sausages you want. I used Chili & Garlic ones once and they were fab! 2. The onion, carrot and celery is a holy trinity referred to as Soffitto. Use a 2:1:1 ratio i.e. The amount of carrots and celery should each be ½ the amount of onion. Or put another way, when you combine the carrots and celery, it should be about the same amount as the onion. 3. My personal opinion for slow cooked dishes like this where wine is not the star ingredient is that you don't need to use an expensive one. Any deep coloured red wine will be fine, just don't use a pinot or rose. I used a Merlot. All the alcohol cooks out so it is perfectly safe for kids so I really urge you to stick to the recipe if you can. But if you can't consume alcohol, you can substitute with non alcoholic red wine or (next best substitute) more beef stock. 4. Better quality (i.e.: more expensive) canned tomatoes tend to be sweeter. So if you feel the sauce is a bit sour, just add a bit of sugar (white or brown), 1 tsp at a time until the sauce is to your taste. 5. As a rule of thumb: 2.5oz/80g dried pasta per person + ¾ cup of ragu per person. To make this for 1 to 3 people, use ½ cup of pasta cooking water, for 4 to 5 people, use ¾ cup. 6. This makes loads. :-) Enough for 8 to 10 people, and it freezes brilliantly. Once it cools, it would also be fabulous to use for lasagna!

ITALIAN SAUSAGE IN TOMATO RAGU

Steps:

• Brown the sausages in a large saute pan until good and brown on each side. Remove sausage and put on a plate to catch juices.
• Drain any excess fat from the pan, do not clean pan, keep the bits on the bottom.
• Slice your onion and cook over medium heat until translucent.
• Add garlic to the onions during the last few minutes of cooking, be careful not to burn your garlic.
• Add wine to pan to deglaze.
• Add tomato sauce, chicken stock and soy sauce.
• Cut the sausage into 1/2 inch slices and add back into the pan.
• Chop parsley and add to the pan with red pepper flakes.
• Cook until gravy thickens for about 15 - 20 minutes.

ITALIAN RAGU WITH MEATBALLS AND SAUSAGE

Steps:

• In a large sauce pot (8-quart size minimum), heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil on a very low flame. Add the diced onion and cook slowly until it has turned translucent. Do not brown the onion, but allow it to almost melt away. Add the garlic cloves and very lightly cook them in the oil until golden before adding the tomatoes and all their juices. Add salt and pepper to taste, and the basil leaves and set the heat on low. Allow the tomatoes to cook at very low heat for at least 2 hours before adding the meat.
• Make the meatballs: mix the ground beef and veal together in a large bowl. Combine the bread and milk and mash together to form a paste; add the bread to the ground meat. Add the eggs, garlic, parsley, cheese, salt, and pepper to the meat mixture and combine all the ingredients using your fingers to mix uniformly, but do not over mix or the meat will dry out when cooked. Pick up 2 tablespoons of the mixture and roll it into a ball shape, between the palms of your hands. Do this until you have used all the meat. This should yield approximately 24 meatballs.
• Place the remaining olive oil in a heavy skillet and heat over medium flame. Add the meatballs in 1 layer and brown on all sides before removing. Do this to the remaining meatballs until all are browned to a caramelized color. After all the meatballs have been browned and removed from the skillet, add the sausage links and brown well, following the same method as the meatballs. When all the meat has cooked, add to the tomato ragu, which has been cooking for 2 hours and cook an additional hour. Serve the tomato ragu over rigatoni pasta cooked to manufacturer's directions. Serve the meats on another plate as a second course.

ITALIAN TOMATO SAUSAGE RAGU WITH PENNE

Steps:

• In a large skillet heat oil over medium heat.
• Add in the sausage meat, garlic, oregano and pepper flakes; sauté until brown, breaking up the meat with a fork (about 7 minutes).
• Add in finely chopped carrots, onion and celery; sauté for about 10 minutes.
• Mix in chopped tomatoes; reduce heat, cover and simmer about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add in 1 cup broth and wine; simmer uncovered until liquid is slightly reduced (about 20 minutes).
• Add in the fresh basil; cover and simmer until the veggies are very tender, stirring occasionally.
• Continue to simmer for about 45-50 minutes, adding in more broth by about 1/4 cup if the liquid evaporates to quickly, and cook until the Ragu thickens to desired consistency.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until just firm-tender; drain but reserve about 1/2 cup cooking water.
• Return the pasta to the pot; add in the Ragu; mix to combine.
• Add in about 1/2 - 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese and 2-3 tablespoons olive oil; mix to combine.
• If the mixture seems too dry then add in some of the reserved cooking water from the pasta.
• Season with more salt and pepper.
• Divide on plates and top with more cheese.

SAUSAGE, ARTICHOKE & SUN-DRIED TOMATO RAGU

Steps:

• In a large skillet, cook sausage, beef and onion over medium-high heat until meat is no longer pink, 4-6 minutes, breaking into crumbles; drain. Transfer to a 5- or 6-qt. slow cooker. Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, artichokes, garlic, rosemary, pepper, salt and bay leaf., Cook, covered, on low until heated through, 6-8 hours. Remove bay leaf. Stir in parsley. Serve with spaghetti. If desired, top with grated Parmesan. Freeze option: Freeze cooled sauce in freezer containers. To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight. Heat through in a saucepan, stirring occasionally.