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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.