“Sausage and Fennel” is a classic Tuscan pairing which you may have tried on an Italian holiday, however, an excellent quality Cumberland sausage with its lovely added pepperiness, plus a hit of dried fennel seeds is a wonderful way to recreate these Mediterranean flavours. All the while using the best of British produce and supporting our local farmers! I find the best pasta to use here is a large Rigatoni or Penne style pasta to catch all the beautiful fragrant sauce.

This is a simple & impressive dish; easy to prepare and enjoyed by the whole family while the children are still on their summer break! 

Ingredients: 

• 500g-700g of Rigatoni (any tube style pasta is ideal however any will work perfectly!) 
  
• 2 packs or 800g of Cumberland sausages
  
• 2 banana shallots or 1 large onion (finely chopped)
  
• 2 carrots (finely chopped)
  
• 2 stick celery (finely chopped)
  
• 1 fennel bulb (finely chopped)
  
• 3 garlic cloves (grated)
  
• 1 1/2 tbsp fennel seeds (ground in pestle and mortar)
  
• 150ml white wine
  
• 2tbsp tomato puree
  
• 400g passata
  
• 500ml chicken stock
  
• 1tsp sugar
  
• Olive oil for frying and serving
  
• Salt & Pepper to taste
  

Method: 

1. Remove the sausages from the skin. Heat up a large frying pan with a little oil, add the sausage meat and break up with a wooden spoon. Fry util golden brown. To Note: Depending on your sausage, varying amounts of water / fat will be released, cook until any residual water has evaporated, leaving you with a browned mince texture. This should take around 15mins. Then set aside.
2. Take a large saucepan and add a drizzle of olive oil and start the base of the Ragù! Add the sofrito mix to the pan (shallots or onion, carrots, celery & fennel). Cook the Sofrito for around 5-7 mins until it softens. Add the garlic and fennel seeds to the mix and cook for a further 5 mins.
   
3. At this point, add the tomato puree and cook out for another 2 mins - the pan will start to brown - this is the perfect time to add the white wine & deglaze the pan.
   
4. Return the sausage to the sofrito pan along with the chicken stock passata and sugar, you may need to add a little wine or stock to the frying pan to loosen any sausage that has stuck. This mixture should look like a chunky soup. Bring to the boil and reduce to a low simmer (If you have the rind of parmesan available, add it now for extra umami savoury flavour!) Reduce to a wonderfully thick glossy, rich ragù consistency. 
   
5. Once the ragù has almost reached the desired consistency, get the pasta on! Cook the pasta to the al dente time on packet (or 2 mins less than the cooking time)- aim for a firm texture. Don’t overcook it here, there is plenty of time for it to cook in the ragù!
   
6. When the pasta is ready, drain it through a colander but first YOU MUST reserve some of the pasta cooking water. I use a Pyrex jug or a mug and take at least 2 cups of water - the starch in the water will keep the dish seasoned, hydrated and silky.
   
7. Add the pasta back to the Ragù pan and gently stir it through the sauce gradually adding back the pasta water if it becomes to sticky - be delicate with mixing as you don’t want to break the Rigatoni.
   
8. Serve in bowls with a decent amount of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, a little drizzle of olive oil and a good few turns of pepper. For this I used my Kenton mill from Cole & Mason. 
   

Tip: 

 If you prefer a chunkier ragù, don’t break the sausages up too much, but remember, it needs to be able to hide in the pasta tubes.