Pork and Fennel Ragù

Name: Pork and Fennel Ragù
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 1 tbsp fennel seeds; salt and pepper; 1 tbsp tomato purée; 1 large onion, finely diced; 3 tbsp sunflower or light olive oil, for frying; 2 celery sticks, finely diced; 1 large or 2 small fennel bulbs, finely diced; 1 x 400 g tin chopped tomatoes, or a punnet (480–500 g) of fresh tomatoes, diced; 125 ml dry white wine; 1 tsp dried oregano; 6 pork sausages, outer casings removed, meat crumbled; 2 carrots, peeled and finely diced; ¼ tsp chilli flakes; 1 bay leaf; 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, grated or crushed

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Spring and Summer Cooking with a Veg Box (Riverford Companions)

By Guy Watson

Published 2015

About

Fennel is a good base for soups and slow-cooked dishes, losing its strong pungent aniseed favour for a softer taste once cooked. A ragù is the Italian word for a meat-based sauce, usually served with pasta, but you could also serve this with cooked polenta or rice. For 4 people use about 400g uncooked pasta.

Ingredients

1 large onion, finely diced
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
2 celery sticks, finely diced

Main course
Pasta
Summer
September
August
July

Method

Fry the onion, carrot, celery and fennel in the oil for 20 minutes, stirring now and then and adding a splash of water, if necessary, to stop it sticking. Add the sausage meat and fry for about 5 minutes to brown it.

Add the fennel seeds, oregano and garlic and fry for 2 minutes, then add the tomato purée and wine. Simmer for 3–4 minutes, or until the wine has been absorbed, then add th