Bolognese tagliatelle with sausage ragù

Forget the cliché of "spag bog", this tagliatelle with sausage ragù is actually an authentic Bolognese favourite. While this is an authentic Bologna-style recipe, there's also an easy hack for those who find it hard to get their hands on proper Italian salisiccia.

Got me under your skin

The Bolognese roll their eyes whenever anyone mentions "spaghetti Bolognese". For a start, Bologna is a city far more in love with tagliatelle than spaghetti. And, the beef ragù with which they dish up their tagliatelle bears only a passing resemblance to the dish falsely attributed to them all over the world.

Some food historians argue that this particular form of beef ragù originated in Imola, some 38km away. Today Imola has been absorbed into the Metropolitan city of Bologna, but in the 18th century it was literally a whole other city. Others point out that slapping it on spaghetti most likely originated with Italian immigrants to NYC where cheap industrially produced spaghetti was readily available as early the 1850s. It's something that irks the good people of Bologna, who like to point out that thicker ribbon pastas like tagliatelle or pappardelle are far better suited to soaking up juicy ragù.

But, beef 'n tomato sauces are not the only thing—we haven't touched on the university yet— for which the city is famed. Another popular dish is tagliatelle served with ragù di salsiccia, technically what I'm making here, also sometimes called "white ragù", though there's more than one sort.

This one is made with salsiccia, those delicious Italian sausages that come in about as many varieties as the regions that produce them. I'm using a spiced salsiccia in the Calabrian style. But the recipe below covers what to do if you have none of that near to hand.

This is a "slow but steady" recipe. It's easy to cook but you need to allow at least 1 hour to get it optimal.

I'm serving it here with a salad of utter simplicity; one of my favourites. It's simply Lamb's lettuce dressed with balsamico and a little walnut oil. Less of a salad and more of a side veg. I also love this pasta with steamed green asparagus (sprue) dressed in the same way. But, there's nothing to stop you serving it with a more elaborate salad. However, I always avoid serving it with any salad that uses tomatoes since this is that rare beast in my canon: an Italian dish that doesn't contain tomatoes.

In winter months I prefer to serve it with piping hot small beetroot roasted with garlic and poppy seeds.

The quantities in this recipe will serve 3 to 4 diners. Please note that the images here are from cooking it scaled down and are therefore not indicative of cooking quantities.

3 top tips to get this recipe right:

• If you can't get "fresh" salsiccia—not the dried kind—where you live, don't use sausages, such as British sausages, that contain rusk. Instead use pork sausage meat or finely minced pork without gristle or too much fat

• Depending on what kind of salsiccia you're using, you may not need to add the chilli flakes or the fennel seeds. Check the ingredients of the particular salsiccia you're using because different regional recipes use different ingredients. Add the chilli flakes and/or fennel seeds as needed

• Many recipes for this sauce use double cream rather than single cream. It definitely means it thickens more quickly, but I tend to only use double cream in winter months, the single cream being better suited to warmer months

Shopping list

for the tagliatelle with sausage ragù

• Approx. 90g (dried) tagliatelle per diner; or equivalent "ribbon" pasta

• 1 medium red onion (or brown); finely cubed

• Approx. 4 to 6 salsiccia of choice OR pork sausage meat; 400g of minced (largely) pork meat, basically

• 3 sticks of celery, finely sliced

• 2 cloves of garlic, grated or finely chopped

• A large sprig of fresh rosemary; leaves stripped from stem, finely chopped

• A generous clutch of parsley; roughly chopped

• 200ml dry white wine

• 200ml chicken stock (or vegetable stock)

• ½ tspn chilli flakes (optional; don't add if already in the salsiccia)

• ½ tspn fennel seeds, crushed (optional; don't add if there is fennel in the salsiccia)

• 200ml single cream

• 2 tbspns virgin olive oil

• salt and pepper to taste

• 1 bay leaf—dried or fresh

• Parmigiano Reggiano (or Gran Padano); grated (optional)

for the salad

• Lamb's lettuce, washed and drained

• Balsamic vinegar

• Walnut oil

Cooking Method

the tagliatelle with sausage ragù

1. Gently heat the olive oil in a reasonably deep pan with a lid. Remove the meat in the salsiccia from the skins—or break up the pork sausage meat—and cook on a low-to-medium heat for about 10 to 12 mins, stirring frequently

2. Add the onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf and chopped rosemary and stir in. After a few mins, add the fennel seeds and chilli flakes (if using). Cook on a low-to-medium heat for another 15mins, stirring occasionally

3. Pour in the wine and increase to a medium heat. Stir occasionally as the liquid cooks off in the uncovered pan. When it's reduced—to about half the volume of liquid when you poured it in—add the cream and the stock. Season with salt and pepper and gently stir in

4. Cover and reduce to a low-to-medium heat and simmer gently for about 30mins, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. If the sauce reduces too quickly, simply add additional hot water (or stock). Conversely, if it's reducing too slowly, remove the lid and allow the liquid to evaporate off as the sauce simmers

5. Time cooking your pasta so it coincides with the sauce being ready. About 5 mins before you plan to serve, add the chopped parsley and stir in. Increase the heat and simmer heartily, uncovered, until it achieves the preferred consistency

6. Add the drained, cooked pasta to the pan with the ragù, adding 2tbspns of "pasta water", stirring in. When the pasta is coated in the sauce and optimally cooked, remove from the heat. Remove the bay leaf and allow to rest for a minute or so

7. Plate and take to table with the side salad or other side dish of choice. Dress with Parmigiano Reggiano (or other relevant cheese) at table as preferred

Alternatives

Oddly, I have achieved brilliant lacto-vegetarian results with this dish using Quorn "mince" and soya mince cooked in pretty much exactly the same way as the salsiccia—I think it's the longer-slower cooking method that makes it work. But, of course cream is an intrinsic part of this dish and I've never tried it without it.

Maybe snappy vegans know exactly what's needed—my friend's whipsmart daughter to whom I taught this recipe as a kid reports that plant-based Elmlea "cream" works well. I'm simply not that experienced in cooking with plant-based alternatives to cream.

Pairings

This is one of those dishes—as many oenologists will concur—that is rather "colour agnostic" because pork cooked in this manner behaves more like "white meat" than red. And I tend to be led by season rather than the meat on this one.

Thus, in the summer months, I default to either the silky stylings of a chablis, Pouilly-Fumé or Pouilly-Fuissé—all of which can cope with the semi-rich pork and cream combo. Or, I like taking it in another direction altogether with an achingly fresh Ribolla Gialla, preferably one of those beautiful Slovenian (aka Rebula) ones. If you can manage to get your hands on this Edi Simic - Goriska Brda number, don't hesitate for a minute; best all-time pairing I ever had with this dish.

In the colder months, I think it works well with less aggressive reds such as umpteen Sangiovese wines on the softer side, a lot of Barbera d'Asti Superiore numbers and curveballs such as this Argentinian Apelación La Consulta Cabernet Sauvignon. To date my favourite unexpected red pairing has been with Château Gruaud Larose, St-Julien 2CC 2004, mainly because I wasn't in charge of the wine and merely cooking the dinner...