In this recipe I have written up a quick tomato sauce that I used for the Ragu. If time is short for you, pick up a jar of go
od quality marinara or arrabiata sauce when you get the rest of your ingredients at the market. I used fresh pasta for this recipe because I love the way it absorbs the sauce. Now a days the markets have a wonderful selection of fresh pastas in all different shapes. Dried pasta works as well just remember to reserve some of the pasta liquid because it has the starch from the cooked pasta and thickens the sauce perfectly.
ingredients ~
- 1 lb of pasta
- 1 – 28 ounce of can of san marzano tomatoes (whole and hand crushed)
- 4 Italian sausages (chicken or pork) removed from casings or 1 lb of bulk
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 shallots, small diced
- 1/2 bulb of fennel, small diced
- 1/4 cup mined parsley
- 1 sprig of rosemary
- 2 sprigs of thyme, stripped from the stem
- 1 t red pepper flakes, or heat to taste
- 2 T tomato paste
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 t Sous Salt Sun Dried Tomato or Porcini Mushroom & pepper to taste
directions ~
In a dutch oven heat 2 T of olive oil until shimmering. Add the meat to the oil breaking it up into pieces. Saute until the meat has turned lightly brown. Remember color is flavor. Remove the meat from the pot but leave the rendered fat.
To the pot add the shallots and fennel and cook for 5 minutes until tender. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds or so. Then put the tomato paste in the pot and brown it slightly for 2 minutes. Add the meat back to the pot. Cook the meat with the vegetables for about 20 minutes until they begin to caramelize in the fat.
While the pot it rendering it’s deliciousness move on to the tomato prep. Take the tomatoes out of the can, pour them into a bowl and hand crush the whole tomatoes. Then add the tomatoes and their juice to the pot with the meat and vegetables. Add the thyme and the rosemary spring. Add the Sous Salt & pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer, uncovered simmer for 20 minutes or longer if like a thicker sauce.
Cooking longer only sweetens the sauce so it won’t hurt it to go for an hour if you have the time and enjoy the smells in your kitchen. Just remember to check it occasionally and add a bit of chicken stock to avoid scorching. You can always adjust the thickness of the sauce on the pasta with the pasta water.
Now it’s time to prep the pasta. Bring a large pot of salty water to a boil. Cook the pasta to al dente which means its a bit toothy. Thats because you are going to finish it with the sauce as the pasta finishes cooking it actually absorbs the sauce. You can almost see the pasta puff with the sauce thats when you know its perfect!
Reserve 1 cup of pasta water. Drain the pasta. Put the pasta back in the pot with 1- 2 cups of your tomato sauce depending on how saucy you like your finished dish. Add 1 cup of water to the pasta and sauce. Don’t worry it will look watery but the pasta needs to absorb the water with the sauce. Add the parsley at this point as well.
Top with additional sauce, a drizzle of olive oil, some parmesan and you are ready to eat!