Italian Sausage Ragù with Fennel Seeds and Chilli

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This mouth-watering, Italian Sausage Ragù with Fennel Seeds and Chilli is bursting with a range of flavours from the sausages, fennel seeds, garlic, chilli and tomatoes. The fennel seeds, chilli and wine add a flavourful touch to this delightful pasta sauce, without being too rich or losing its ‘comfort food’ appeal. For all the delicious and harmonious flavours, it is still, thankfully, remarkably quick and simple to make and ideal for a weeknight supper or a night in with guests.

Do try and get good quality Italian sausages. They offer a different flavour and texture palate to a lot of British sausages. However, whilst they are readily available in London, this may not be the case outside of larger cities. If you can’t find any, choose some good quality pork sausages and consider increasing the fennel, garlic and chilli, to taste.

How to make Italian Sausage Ragù with Fennel Seeds and Chilli

Collect all your ingredients together:

Ragù –

• olive oil, divided and if necessary
• Italian sausages or pork sausages
• onion, peeled and finely chopped
• celery, trimmed and finely chopped
• carrot, trimmed and finely chopped
• cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• fennel seeds, or more to taste
• chilli flakes
• chopped fresh rosemary or dried rosemary
• bay leaf
• white wine
• chicken stock
• tins of tomatoes, whole or chopped
• tomato paste
• brown sugar, to taste
• lemon xest
• fine salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Penne –

• penne pasta
• fine salt
• chopped parsley

To serve –

• chopped fresh parsley
• finely grated parmesan
• crisp green salad served with balsamic dressing

How to make this fabulous ragù sauce:

1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
2. Take the skin off the sausages and break up the meat.
3. Heat the 1 teaspoon olive oil in a frying pan, over a moderately hot temperature, and cook the sausage for 5 – 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Stir from time to time. Break the meat up as you stir.
4. Remove the sausage meat from the pan onto a plate lined with kitchen paper to absorb any fat. Tip all bar 1 tablespoon fat from the pan. If there is no additional fat, add 1 tablespoon olive oil.
5. Turn the heat down to moderate and add the onion, celery and carrot. Cook for 5 minutes, until soft and slightly caramelised.
6. Add the garlic, fennel seeds, chilli, rosemary and bay and cook for a further 1 minute, or until aromatic.
7. Return the sausage to the pan. Add the wine, bring to the boil and reduce by half.
8. Now add the chicken stock and reduce by half.
9. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt and the freshly ground black pepper.
10. Simmer, with the lid half on for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more sugar, salt and/or pepper, if necessary.
11. Stir in the lemon zest and cook for a further 2 – 3 minutes.
12. 10 minutes before the ragù is ready, cook the penne (see below).
13. To serve: add the penne to the ragù with ½ cup of pasta water. Mix well ensuring that the pasta is coated in the ragù. Add extra pasta water as necessary. Sprinkle with some chopped parsley and serve with salad and fresh or garlic bread on the side. Hand around the finely grated parmesan cheese separately.

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Cook the pasta:

1. Cook the penne in boiling, salted water until al dente, according to packet instructions.
2. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water and drain the pasta.

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