Pork & Fennel Ragu
Ingredients
- fine salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ tbsp fennel seeds
- 3 sausages large, good quality, preferably with fennel
- 250 g rigatoni
- 400 g tomato passata
- 50 g frozen spinach
- 1 pinch chilli flakes
- sea salt
- ground black pepper
To serve
- 1 good handful fresh basil
- Parmesan cheese shavings to serve
Equipment
Chopping board
Cutting knife
Large pot
Colander
Large frying pan
Wooden spoon
Vegetable peeler
Instructions
- Fill a large pot with water and add plenty of fine salt. Allow to come to the boil while you do your other prep.
- Finely chop the garlic.
- Remove the sausages from their casings by slicing down the length of the sausage with the tip of a knife and pulling the sausage meat from their casings. Set aside on a plate.
- Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat. Add the garlic and fennel seeds and fry for 30 seconds or until aromatic and the garlic begins to go golden.
- Add in the sausage meat and fry until lightly browned, breaking up with the back of a wooden spoon as it fries.
- Cook the rigatoni for 12 minutes or so or until al dente, then drain.
- Pour in the tomato passata, then add in the frozen spinach, breaking up with a wooden spoon. Bring to a steady simmer and cook for 10 minutes until thickened slightly. Check for seasoning and add salt and red chilli flakes as required.
- Add the pasta back to the pan of ragu and stir to combine completely.
- Serve with fresh basil and Parmesan shavings.
Notes
Now most Italian nonnas would insist a ragu needs to be slow-cooked, but this is a cheat’s version using the best-quality pork sausages you can lay your hands on. The sausage meat is squeezed from the casings and fried until tender and sweet before being smothered in tomato sauce and tossed through freshly cooked pasta. As pasta sauces go, there are few that can deliver instant flavour like this one!
Nutrition
Calories: 771kcal