Sausage Ragout Sauce

As much as I love to eat vegetables, it's important to note that there is a lot more than chard, cardoons, and salad greens at the market.  While there are a lot of reasons to eat local food, what has really emerged from this experience thus far is:  It's really not that difficult!   Aside from the abundance of vegetables, I've found some amazing cheeses, breads, and delicious sustainably raised meats.   

Last weekend, I bought a package of loose sausage from the DuPont Circle market.  Aside from being delicious in a breakfast omelet, I decided to use it to make a ragout sauce (as another way to use all those vegetables from market). I know that I claim everything I make is delicious, but this truly is one of my favorite pasta sauces.

Note: I used organic canned tomatoes.  I'd like to can fresh local tomatoes this summer, but until then Organic seemed like the next best choice after local.

Ingredients:

• 1 TBS of olive oil
• Half of a medium onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced (I used about 3 baby carrots)
• 1 rib of celery, diced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 pound of loose pork sausage
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 28 ounce can of tomatoes
• 1 TBS tomato paste
• 2 TBS red wine
• pinch of Italian herbs (I used fresh oregano from my window wells)

fresh pasta of your choice (a thicker noodle works best with this type of sauce)

Directions:

Saute the onion, carrot, and celery in olive oil until they begin to get tender.  Add the garlic and cook for about one more minute.  Remove these ingredients from the pan into a small bowl. 

Place the pork sausage in the same pan and brown for about five minutes.

Return the sauteed vegetables to the pan.  Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine, and bay leaf.

Reduce heat to low.  Cover the pan and simmer for at least thirty minutes.  While the sauce is simmering, cook your pasta. 

If using fresh herbs, add them during the last few minutes of cooking.  If using dried herbs, you can add them earlier in the cooking process.

Enjoy!

Comments

[kate]

I love the new look!! Everything looks so delicious.