Fennel Sausage Bolognese
What beats a classic, meaty bolognese, dolloped over ribbons of pappardelle? Not much.
That is, until this sausage spin-off came along. This recipe is built with the hallmarks of any good bolognese — a mirepoix, ground meat, dry wine, rich tomato paste and cream — but with an Italian sausage twist.
Fennel is one of my favorite flavors of Italian cooking — and I use a double-dose of it here to take the sausage vibe to the next level.
First adding a full, fresh fennel bulb to the mirepoix adds a deep sweetness to this bolognese, while ground fennel seeds then pack the punch. Both marry perfectly with crumbled sausage itself, sweet and/or hot, depending on your mood.
Speaking of mirepoix, here’s one of my favorite tricks: use a food processor! In addition to saving all of that time chopping, processing the mirepoix to an almost-paste allows the vegetables to meld with this meat sauce even more seamlessly.
Do not sleep on this one — seriously.
Let’s cook!
You’ll need:
1 lb Italian sausage (sweet or hot per preference), casings removed
1 lb ground sirloin (85/15), ideally grass-fed
1 large yellow onion
1 bulb of fennel
4 medium carrots
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
6 oz tomato paste (1 small can)
2 c dry white wine (i.e. Sauvignon Blanc)
1 c chicken stock (low sodium)
1/2 c cream or half-and-half
2 bay leaves
1 tsp whole fennel seeds
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 bunch/package fresh basil leaves
1 lb dried or fresh pasta (recommended: pappardelle)
Quality EVOO
Salt & fresh-cracked pepper
Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated, for serving
Makes 4 good servings, with a little extra bolognese.
Steps:
Prepare your mirepoix — peel carrots and onion, cut into chunks; trim off the stalks, rough bottom and any brown spots of the fennel bulb, and then quarter. Add pieced vegetables to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped, almost to a paste.
Coat the bottom of a large dutch oven with about 1/4 cup of EVOO, heat over medium. Add processed mirepoix and sauté until fragrant and softened, ~10 minutes. Add minced garlic, and cook for 2 min more.
Combine the sausage and ground sirloin with the mirepoix, season well with salt & ground pepper. As the meat starts to brown, use the back of a flat wooden spoon to start breaking it down, actively.
Meanwhile, grind the fennel seeds in a mortar and pestle and mix into the meat. If you’re using sweet sausage but would like spice, feel free to also add 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes (or more, to taste).
Once the meat is well-browned and broken down — another ~10 minutes — add 1 cup of the wine to deglaze, scraping the bottom. As the liquid is reduced (2-3 min), stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2 min more.
Add the second cup of wine, chicken stock, bay leaves and a whole sprig of basil — bring to a boil, and then reduce heat. Simmer for at least 45-60 min, continuing to break down the meat with the back of your spoon occasionally.
Meanwhile, boil and salt a large pot of water for the pasta. After throwing down the pasta, finish the sauce — add 1/2 cup cream, 1/2 tsp nutmeg and ~1/4 cup finely chopped basil leaves. Taste, salt as needed. Remove bay leaves and sprig before serving.
Add 2 tbsp of butter to the drained pasta; once coated, stir in 3-4 good ladles of sauce, tossing well. Serve topped with a scoop of extra sauce, fresh basil and grated cheese.