Garganelli with Spicy Sausage Ragu

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The name garganelli comes from the dialect word garganel, meaning chicken’s gullet – exactly what that beautiful ridged imprint on the pasta resembles. Typically these ridges are made with a tool called a pettine, however you can quite easily use a gnocchi board in place. Or you could make this shape without any tool at all and keep it smooth (scifuloti).

What I love about using sausage meat in a ragu is that you can quickly pack a punch of flavour by using a good quality sausages fragranced with herbs/fennel/you name it, and build on that with all of the wonderful extras in the sauce. I tend to go for an Italian-style sausage and add extra fennel seeds to really bring the flavour out.

Sun-dried tomatoes, chillis, fresh Roma tomatoes, white wine and stock make the base of this ragu, resulting in a light and spicy sauce that feels fresh and delicate all at the same time.

Serves four

Ingredients

Pasta dough  

• 360g tipo 00

• 135g whole eggs

• 85g egg yolks

• Fine semolina (for dusting)

Spicy Sausage Ragu

• 1 tsp fennel seeds (2 tsp if using plain pork sausages)

• EVOO 

• 650g Italian pork sausage meat (you can also use plain pork), approx 8 links with the meat removed from the sausage casing

• 1 large brown onion, finely diced

• 2 celery sticks, finely diced

• 4 garlic cloves, whole but slightly crushed

• 100g sun-dried tomatoes

• 40g hot Italian chilli – you can find this sold in jars at most delis or supermarkets, it’s a semi-paste of hot chillis

• 1 cup dry white wine

• 3-4 large Roma tomatoes, peeled

• 1 cup of chicken stock

• 2 sprigs of rosemary

• Pecorino Romano, to serve

Method

Pasta Dough

1. Place the flour in a mound on your work surface and make a well in the centre.

2. Add your eggs and begin to whisk to until you have a thick custard-like consistency, incorporating a little bit of flour as you do.

3. Switch to a bench scraper and start to flip the flour from the outer edge over and onto the egg mix, using a cutting motion to then mix it in. Continue to do this around all sides until you have a shaggy dough.

4. Begin kneading the dough vigorously for a good 10 minutes until the dough is springy and elastic, and not sticking to your hands at all

5. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.

Shaping the garganelli

1. Divide the dough into four pieces. Work with one at a time – flatten the piece with your hand or a rolling pin before passing it through the thickest setting on your pasta machine. Fold the edges in to create a neat rectangle that fits the width of your pasta machine, and run it through the thickest setting again until your dough is uniform in shape

2. Continue passing your dough through the machine, working through until you get to setting 4 (on a Marcato machine) – we want the dough relatively thick for this so that the garganelli will keep its shape when rolled against the pettine.

3. Cut the sheet of dough into 3cm squares with a straight wheel cutter or knife.

4. Place one square at a time diagonally on the pettine or gnocchi board so you have a corner at both north and south. Using a small dowel (or the handle of a wooden spoon), roll the corner closest to you up around the dowel and away from you, until the two corners overlap to form a tube.

5. Gently slide the garganelli off the dowel and set aside on a baking sheet lined with fine semolina. 

Spicy Sausage Ragu

1. In a dry pan, gently toast the fennel seeds until fragrant – a minute or two. Remove from the heat and transfer to a pestle and mortar and grind the seeds until they form a powder.

2. Place all of the sausage meat removed from its casing into a large bowl. Use a whisk to break the meat up into smaller pieces.

3. Heat 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a pan and add the sausage meat along with a pinch of salt and the fennel powder. Sauté the sausage until brown and slightly crispy – we want good colour on the meat.

4. Remove the sausage from the pan and set aside, reserving as much oil and fat in the pan as possible.

5. Add the chopped onion and celery to the same pan and cook gently for around 7 minutes, until soft and slightly translucent. Add the garlic cloves and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes.

6. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and hot chilli to a blender and pulse to form a paste. Add this to the onion and celery and cook until slightly caramelised and darker in colour – a few minutes – before adding the sausage back to the pan.

7. Add the white wine to deglaze the pan and let it reduce, before crushing in the fresh tomatoes with your hands and adding the stock and rosemary sprigs.

8. Cover with a cartouche and simmer gently for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add splashes of stock or water as needed so the ragu doesn’t completely dry out. Check the seasoning, adding salt as required/to taste.

9. Remove the garlic cloves and rosemary before serving.

Finishing touches

1. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and salt generously.

2. Drop in the garganelli and cook for 2-3 minutes or until al dente.

3. Using a spider, lift the garganelli straight out of the water and into the ragu. Toss well to coat.

4. Divide between bowls, drizzle with EVOO and serve with grated Pecorino Romano.