Eliza Dolbey's Sausage Ragu
The perfect meal to be enjoyed during the colder months
This is the perfect meal to be enjoyed during the colder months. It is rich, comforting, and easy to make. When you proudly bring it to the table, your cabin mate will be warmed up in an instant and no doubt sufficiently impressed!
Ingredients
For 2 people:
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Olive oil (provided in the cabin)
Salt
A pinch of dried chilli
A splash of white/red wine
Dried Penne for 2
A large handful of Cavolo Nero/spinach, roughly chopped
4 sausages (best quality you are able to find, fennel are the best or those packed with herbs)
Tin of plum tomatoes
Grated Pecorino or Parmesan to serve
Butter to finish (optional)
Start off by releasing the sausage meat from their skins and breaking them up into small nuggets using your fingers.
Get your frying pan on a medium heat and start frying your sausage meat in olive oil, breaking the larger pieces up a bit.
When it is cooked through, and the meat is caramelized a little bit, add in your finely chopped garlic and a pinch of dried chilli. Cook for 2 minutes more to soften the garlic.
Next, add a splash of either red or white wine. Whatever you have brought with you to the cabin. If you don’t have any, don’t worry, this step can be omitted. When your wine has evaporated off, add half a tin of your plum tomatoes drained of their liquid, adding a pinch of salt. Break up the tomatoes with your wooden spoon to speed up the cooking time.
Cook this down for 10 minutes, until it is thick and coating the sausage meat. Stirring frequently so the meat doesn’t catch.
Next, get your pasta in a pot of boiling seasoned water and cook a few minutes less than suggested on the packet to ensure it’s al dente.
Near the end of cooking, add to the pasta water your large handful of cavolo nero chopped up and a minute or so later drain the pasta, reserving a mug full of pasta water.
Stir the al dente pasta and cavolo nero into the sausage sauce. Add 2 tablespoons of the pasta water and toss until the nuggets of sausage meat start to get caught inside the penne pieces. Add a handful of grated Pecorino/Parmesan cheese and a knob of butter to bring it all together.
Eliza Dolbey is the Head Chef at River Cafe, an internationally celebrated restaurant known for its seasonal Italian cuisine and its alumni of renowned chefs including Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Eliza has been at River Cafe for 8 years, having risen through the ranks with her focus on locally sourced ingredients and commitment to sustainability. She also loves going off-grid on adventures and now is a proud owner of an Unyoked cap.