Deconstructed Fennel Sausage Ragù

In the ongoing Easy Weekday Meals in Minutes, may I present this Deconstructed Fennel Sausage Ragù!

Yes, a great sauce, basically broken down by it’s ingredients all quickly sautéed together to create an easy sauce for pasta, rice, gnocchi, even polenta or mashed potatoes! Instead of simmering the sauce, letting all the ingredients break down and melt together into one harmonious sauce, why not take the quick route, and sauté them together till cooked but still nice and chunky? It takes a fraction of the time, but still has all the great flavours we want from a slow simmered sauce. In fact, each bite will actually taste unique, as some will be more sausage centric, while others will have luscious caramelized onions or blistered cherry tomatoes as the star. Sometimes it’s just fun to see all the ingredients on the plate!

 Ragù vs Bolognese

Ragù is the Italian word for a meat and tomato sauce.  The word is originally French (ragout) See here for the difference between Ragù and Ragout. Traditionally Ragù is cooked slow for a longer period of time.  By the way, Bolognese is a specific type of Ragù, with specific ingredients and amounts that make it beyond just a Ragù. In other words, Bolognese is a Ragù, but not all Ragù is Bolognese!  We could just refer to Ragù as meat sauce.

For this simple ragù, you will need Italian sausage (hot or mild is fine, hopefully laden with fennel seeds!) cherry tomatoes, a yellow onion, garlic, cinnamon, fennel seeds and saffron.  And of course salt, and pepper. 

We’ll actually start with sautéing the onions in butter and saffron till the soften and turn slightly golden.  Only then will you add the minced garlic, cinnamon (ground or stick), crushed fennel seeds, and sausage meat. This is easily done by squeezing the sausage meat out of the casings into little sections which you will break down with a wooden spoon.  Sauté everything till the sausage meat is beautifully browned.  Only then will you add the cherry tomatoes.

You can used a can of cherry tomatoes, these have already had their skins removed in some cases.  I don’t mind using fresh.  If the ones you have are on the largish side, simply slice them in half. Brown these in with the sausage meat and onions, till they are softened, the skins have blistered open, and the juices are released.  If after 10 minutes, some haven’t opened up, just push down on them with your wooden spoon (just be careful for any splash back!)

Stir everything together, and set on the back burner while you cook up your carb of choice.  Just add some saffron butter to said carb.

The Virtues of Saffron Butter

Whipping up a batch of saffron butter couldn’t be easier.  Simply softened butter and saffron threads are whipped together.  Then spoon it into a jar with a tight seal and use it within a month, storing it in the fridge.  If you really don’t feel like whipping up a batch, then soften some crushed up saffron threads in a tsp or two of hot water, and add them to the butter you will use to sauté the onions etc.  Adding some of the same softened saffron threads and a tbsp of butter to the finished pasta will give it a lovely fragrance and colour. 

Here is the recipe for the most versatile Saffron Butter.

Which Carbs Can You Use?

Naturally, serving this ragù over tagliatelle, fettucini, or even macaroni, if that’s what the kids like, will be great.  But this sauce will be amazing over gnocchi.  Why not boil up some gnocchi, and finish by browning them quickly in some of the saffron butter?  If you are craving polenta, again, make the polenta, and stir some saffron butter through it at the end before using it as a base for the ragù.  Even saffron rice would make a great accompaniment for this ragù.

Final Thoughts

This is an easy, family pleasing dish, since it is related to a classic meat sauce, but with less work and time needed.  It makes for a great dish with all sorts of carbs, even mashed potatoes (what guy will say no to mashed potatoes and a chunky meaty ‘sauce’!?) Make up a double batch and serve it two different ways throughout the week if you have kids with opposing carb desires.  Make both happy this way!

An additional ingredient now that it is autumn, is some fresh sage that I sautéed in some of the oil and a bit more butter added to the bottom of the skillet after the sauce was done. Not necessary, but oh so good! The crispy goodness of browned sage is not to be underestimated!

Love Jen

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Deconstructed Fennel Sausage Ragù

An easy but flavourful meat sauce that eliminates the need for low slow simmering. Italian fennel sausage, golden onions, cherry tomatoes with the fragrance of saffron and cinnamon come together in no time and can be served over your favourite carb of choice!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword cinnamon, hot italian sausage, ragù, saffron butter, sage

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 1 lb Italian fennel sausage, hot or mild, or 450 grams tbsp butter
• 1 pint or 2 cups fresh cherry tomatoes, can also use 8oz can of cherry tomatoes, drained
• salt and coarse ground pepper
• 1 tbsp saffron butter, see Note
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, sliced lengthwise into thin strips
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cinnamon stick, or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 lb of pasta of your choice, see Note
• 1/3 cup Grated parmesan cheese to finish, optional

Optional Finish

• 1 tbsp saffron butter
• 12-16 fresh sage leaves

Instructions

1. Cut the sausages in half crosswise and squeeze out the meat into smallish clumps.
2. Half any cherry tomatoes that are on the larger size.
3. Heat the two butters and olive oil in a large sauce pan or skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring regularly till softened and just turning golden.
4. Add the garlic, cinnamon, and broken up sausage meat. Cook, stirring it all together and breaking up the meat with the back of your spoon, into pleasing bite sized chunks. Cook till the meat is a golden brown, about 10 minutes.
5. Add the cherry cherry tomatoes and cook, simmering the tomatoes until they begin to blister and and warmed through, about 10 minutes. Use the back of your spoon to release some of the juices. Season with a generous amount of salt and pepper.
6. While the tomatoes and meat are simmering, prepare the pasta according to the package directions.
7. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta liquid and drain the pasta. Add the pasta to the ragù and stir through, adding a small amount of the reserved pasta water if needed, to thin out the sauce if needed. Serve with the grated parmesan cheese on top.

Optional Finish

1. Once the sauce and pasta have been removed from the skillet, add 1 tbsp of saffron butter to the remaining oils and juices in the skillet, over medium high heat. When melted add the sage leaves in one layer if possible, and let them simmer till just crisped up, about 2-3 minutes. Serve over the ragù.

Recipe Notes

See here for the Saffron Butter recipe. You can replace this with 1 tsp of crushed saffron threads softened in 2 tsp of boiling water. Add this and 2 tbsp butter. This can replace any references to the saffron butter above.
Feel free to serve this over rice, polenta, mashed potatoes, macaroni, or even couscous.