Sugo di Salsiccie
If you read this blog often, you may have noticed that I have a fondness for foods that are a touch on the expensive side. In truth, the foods that I choose to write about are those that are out of the ordinary and also coincidently, just happen to be a bit dear. We are all accustomed to dishes with chicken and beef. Or potatoes and carrots. I just don’t see the point in writing about everyday food. Nor do I want to write of the common and mundane. How boring. The reason I write this blog is because I want to inspire others to eat more glamorously.
But in reality, if Mike and I ate pigeons and black truffles every night, I think our rent wouldn’t get paid. So yes, we do eat a lot of “normal” food too. And one of those economical ingredients I take advantage of is sausage. They are inexpensive and yummy and I buy several varieties from the butcher and freeze them to use later. However, there are times that it feels as though sausages are coming out of our nostrils from over consumption and too many dinners. As a result I am always trying to think up of fresh, new ways to serve and eat them.
One of my favorite ways to cook sausages is to remove the meat from the casing to turn them into a luscious sauce for homemade tagliatelle. For this dish I use spicy Italian style sausages, made from pork, chilies and small chunks of fat. I know a lot of people find the idea of fats in food repulsive, but I absolutely love it.
Fat is what gives food rich taste and full, rounded texture. Low fat food is devoid of both these qualities and that is why low fat food and diets are unsatisfying, and in the long term unsustainable. Please don’t get the wrong idea with this bold statement. Everything should be in moderation. I don’t mean one should go and gorge on a tub of margarine.
When I talk of fat, I mean natural and delicious ones. Like pure olive and nut oils. Unsalted cultured butter. And yes, that too includes duck fat and pork fat.
Not hideous and dangerous man made hydrogenated grease, which is what margarine is. I have never understood why in this day and age people eat such a vile concoction. These hard and saturated fats taste dreadful and are bad for ones health. I avoid them like the plague and they definitely have no place in my cooking.
Anyway, back to the sausages.
Buy sausages from a real butcher- not the supermarket. Ask the butcher what he puts into the sausages. The best sausages are those made from pure meat and fat with seasonings, spices and herbs. Try to stay away from sausage meat that is made into a fine paste from meat scraps with extenders and binders. The more unadulterated the mix, the better the sausages will taste.
Ingredients
1 large red onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 star anise
2- 3 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
350g spicy pork sausage meat (use an Italian style or Spanish chorizo)
150ml rose wine
400g tin Italian cherry tomatoes (pureed in a mouli)
250 ml very good homemade stock (stock cubes will be too salty with sausage meat)
1 tsp brown sugar
Plenty of freshly chopped parsley
Black and white pepper
Method
Place the onion, celery and star anise into a saucepan with the olive oil. Cook over a low heat for 30 minutes (or until the onion is reduced and caramelized).
Add the sausage meat. Turn the heat to high and cook to just remove the raw color from the meat. Do not brown, it makes the meat hard.
Deglaze with the wine and simmer for a moment.
Add the tomatoes, stock and sugar. If you don’t have homemade stock, just use water. Simmer for 1 hour.
Season the sauce with pepper and finish with lots of parsley. You probably will not need salt, but add it if you think it needs it.
This amount of sauce is perfect for 300g of fresh homemade tagliatelle.
Serve sprinkled with a hard but mild tasting ewes’ milk cheese. I particularly like this sauce with a Spanish Manchego. Try to avoid Grana or Parmaggiano. I don’t think they combine well with chili.
Enough for 3 serves.
But in reality, if Mike and I ate pigeons and black truffles every night, I think our rent wouldn’t get paid. So yes, we do eat a lot of “normal” food too. And one of those economical ingredients I take advantage of is sausage. They are inexpensive and yummy and I buy several varieties from the butcher and freeze them to use later. However, there are times that it feels as though sausages are coming out of our nostrils from over consumption and too many dinners. As a result I am always trying to think up of fresh, new ways to serve and eat them.
One of my favorite ways to cook sausages is to remove the meat from the casing to turn them into a luscious sauce for homemade tagliatelle. For this dish I use spicy Italian style sausages, made from pork, chilies and small chunks of fat. I know a lot of people find the idea of fats in food repulsive, but I absolutely love it.
Fat is what gives food rich taste and full, rounded texture. Low fat food is devoid of both these qualities and that is why low fat food and diets are unsatisfying, and in the long term unsustainable. Please don’t get the wrong idea with this bold statement. Everything should be in moderation. I don’t mean one should go and gorge on a tub of margarine.
When I talk of fat, I mean natural and delicious ones. Like pure olive and nut oils. Unsalted cultured butter. And yes, that too includes duck fat and pork fat.
Not hideous and dangerous man made hydrogenated grease, which is what margarine is. I have never understood why in this day and age people eat such a vile concoction. These hard and saturated fats taste dreadful and are bad for ones health. I avoid them like the plague and they definitely have no place in my cooking.
Anyway, back to the sausages.
Buy sausages from a real butcher- not the supermarket. Ask the butcher what he puts into the sausages. The best sausages are those made from pure meat and fat with seasonings, spices and herbs. Try to stay away from sausage meat that is made into a fine paste from meat scraps with extenders and binders. The more unadulterated the mix, the better the sausages will taste.
Ingredients1 large red onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 star anise
2- 3 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
350g spicy pork sausage meat (use an Italian style or Spanish chorizo)
150ml rose wine
400g tin Italian cherry tomatoes (pureed in a mouli)
250 ml very good homemade stock (stock cubes will be too salty with sausage meat)
1 tsp brown sugar
Plenty of freshly chopped parsley
Black and white pepper
Method
Place the onion, celery and star anise into a saucepan with the olive oil. Cook over a low heat for 30 minutes (or until the onion is reduced and caramelized).
Add the sausage meat. Turn the heat to high and cook to just remove the raw color from the meat. Do not brown, it makes the meat hard.
Deglaze with the wine and simmer for a moment.
Add the tomatoes, stock and sugar. If you don’t have homemade stock, just use water. Simmer for 1 hour.
Season the sauce with pepper and finish with lots of parsley. You probably will not need salt, but add it if you think it needs it.
This amount of sauce is perfect for 300g of fresh homemade tagliatelle.
Serve sprinkled with a hard but mild tasting ewes’ milk cheese. I particularly like this sauce with a Spanish Manchego. Try to avoid Grana or Parmaggiano. I don’t think they combine well with chili.
Enough for 3 serves.
