Pork Ragu

This is the recipe for the sauce that I used on my fresh pasta below. I got this from my sister (do you notice a trend here?), and she got it from Karen Martini. My sister calls this "The best pasta in the world" when she teams it with home made pasta. I have to agree.

I have played around with it a little, the main reason being that I couldn't get hold of the pork and fennel sausages that the recipe asks for. I used plain Italian pork sausages in the end, but it would definitely be better with pork and fennel. Try to find sausages where the meat is still a little chunky (and not minced), it makes the final product so much more special. The other major change I made was to the amount of liquid added to the sauce - the original recipe asks for 750ml of red wine. Yes, a whole bottle. I couldn't bring myself to add that much, and after making it, think it turned out just fine with half the amount.

300g good quality Italian pork sausages
3 sprigs rosemary, leaves removed
3 sprigs thyme, leaves removed
1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp olive oil
2-3 red chillies, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely diced
3 celery stalks, finely diced
1 1/2 onions, finely diced
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 bottle red wine
1 cup water
400g can diced tomatoes

Remove the skin from the sausages and crumble meat. Heat a heavy based pan, and cook sausage meat (with NO oil), stirring regularly until golden brown. Don't worry if it starts sticking. Add the oil and herbs, and stir for 1 minute, then add the chillies and vegetables and cook for 10 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to caramalise. Still don't worry about the sticking. Stir in the tomato paste, sugar, and season with salt and pepper.

Add the wine, and bring to a simmer. Now, scrape all of the yummy stuff that is stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the water and tomatoes, and simmer for 1 hour, or until the sauce is thick.

Serve over your awesome home made pasta with some freshly grated parmesan cheese and the rest of the red wine.

Recipe modified from Karen Martini.