Venetian bigoli pasta with Luganega sausage
A very tasty and easy to make pasta with sausage ragu recipe from Veneto, which pairs sweet Italian luganega sausage with Venetian bigoli pasta. Of course, you can use other pasta instead. Makes a great family meal or weeknight dinner.
Servings: 4
Calories: 703kcal
Equipment
- 1 large pot for pasta
- 1 large skillet to cook ragu and mix with pasta.
- 1 sharp knife
- 1 chopping board
Ingredients
- 14 ounces bigoli pasta You can also use bucatini, thick spaghetti or short pasta like penne
- 9 ounces luganega sausage or other fresh sweet Italian pork sausage
- 1 white onion peeled and finely chopped
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.
- 1 handful fresh parsley chopped
- 1 cup beef broth or stock cube dissolved in water
- 2.5 ounces dry white wine
- 14 ounces fresh cherry tomatoes or canned and peeled cherry tomatoes
- salt for pasta and to taste
- black pepper to taste
Optional ingredients
- 1 ounce parmigiano, grana or pecorino for serving
- 1 teaspoon peperoncino flakes (optional)
- 1 tablespoon tomato concentrate
Instructions
- Remove the skin from the sausage and break the meat into small piece with your hands or a knife. You want the sausage pieces to be quite small but not as fine as minced meat. Halve the cherry tomatoes. Peel and chop the onion and wash and chop the fresh parsley.
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan or skillet. Add the peeled and chopped onion and peperoncino flakes (if required). Cook until the onion starts to soften.
- Add the sausage meat to the frying pan and brown it.
- Add half a glass of white wine and turn up the heat. When the alcohol has evaporated add the chopped parsley, halved fresh tomatoes and the stock.
- Simmer uncovered on a low to medium heat for 20-25 minutes. Stir occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- While the sauce is cooking, boil a pan of water for the pasta. Add salt once the water starts to boil and bring to the boil again.
- Cook the pasta al dente according to the instructions on the packet.
- When the pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to the pan with the sausage ragu. Mix the pasta and the sauce together well
- Serve immediately with grated Grana or Parmigiano if required and more chopped parsley.
Notes
If you cannot find bigoli pasta this dish is just as delicious with short pasta such as penne or thick spaghetti or bucatini.
There are a number of companies in UK, Ireland, Australia and US that make Italian luganega (lucanica) sausages however, if you can’t find this sausage you can also use other types of fresh Italian pork sausage. Some of these will probably be flavoured with fennel, which adds a slightly different but tasty flavour to the sauce. For this recipe I wouldn’t use sausages with chili in them but rather add some fresh or dried chili when making the sauce if you want it a little spicy.
Cooks tip: Italians add salt to pasta water after it starts to boil. This prevents the salt damaging the pot and means the water will boil faster.
Nutrition
Calories: 703kcal | Carbohydrates: 81g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 46mg | Sodium: 649mg | Potassium: 687mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 618IU | Vitamin C: 26mg | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 3mg