Italian Sausage Ragù Bianco with Parmesan & Thyme Crumb

Name: Italian Sausage Ragù Bianco with Parmesan & Thyme Crumb
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 277 min
Total time: 292 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 500 g Italian sausages; 1 tbsp Olive oil; 1 Banana shallot; 1 Fennel bulb; 3 Garlic cloves; 150 ml Dry white wine; 75 ml Dry vermouth; 400 ml Beef stock; 1 Bouquet garni; 100 ml Whole milk; 40 g Parmesan; 1 handful Fresh thyme leaves; Freshly cracked black pepper; Salt; 60 g Panko breadcrumbs; 30 g Parmesan; glug Olive oil; 1 tsp Fresh thyme leaves; Freshly cracked black pepper; 350 g Rigatoni or another chunky pasta; Parmesan; Extra virgin olive oil; Fresh thyme; Freshly cracked black pepper

I LOVE a ragù bianco. It has all the comfort and richness of a traditional slow-cooked ragù, especially when sometimes you’re not craving the heaviness of red wine and tomato. This one uses Italian sausage, fennel and shallot cooked down really slowly with white wine, vermouth and beef stock. Then, right at the end, we add a little milk which softens everything and gives you this ridiculously silky sauce that works its way into every single tube of pasta. If you have the time, I would 100% make this the day before. Four hours of slow cooking gives you something delicious, but leaving it overnight and reheating it the following day makes it even better. Everything settles, the flavour gets deeper and, importantly, you can remove any excess fat that has solidified on the top. Then we finish the whole thing with a crispy Parmesan and thyme crumb because apparently pasta covered in slow-cooked sausage wasn't enough.

Prep

15m

Cook

4h 37m

Total

4h 52m

Italian Sausage Ragù Bianco with Parmesan & Thyme Crumb

I LOVE a ragù bianco. It has all the comfort and richness of a traditional slow-cooked ragù, especially when sometimes you’re not craving the heaviness of red wine and tomato. This one uses Italian sausage, fennel and shallot cooked down really slowly with white wine, vermouth and beef stock. Then, right at the end, we add a little milk which softens everything and gives you this ridiculously silky sauce that works its way into every single tube of pasta. If you have the time, I would 100% make this the day before. Four hours of slow cooking gives you something delicious, but leaving it overnight and reheating it the following day makes it even better. Everything settles, the flavour gets deeper and, importantly, you can remove any excess fat that has solidified on the top. Then we finish the whole thing with a crispy Parmesan and thyme crumb because apparently pasta covered in slow-cooked sausage wasn't enough.

Prep

15m

Cook

4h 37m

Total

4h 52m

Ingredients

Method

Nutrition

Turn cooking mode on

Step 1

Remove the sausage meat from its skins. Add a splash of olive oil to a large heavy-based pan over a medium-high heat, then add the sausage. Break it up with a wooden spoon, leaving some slightly larger pieces rather than pulverising it into mince.

For

For the ragù bianco

500

Italian sausages, good-quality, skins removed

tbsp

Olive oil

Per Serving

Calories

1030kcal

Fat

53g

Saturates