Sausage + Veggie Ragu Sauce
Okay so I kinda made this up as I went along. I mentioned on instagram the other day that I needed to start adding more veggies back into my life now that I am past the extreme nausea phase of pregnancy. So instead of just making normal sauce for my pasta, I decided to toss some veggies in. Looking back I (maybe?) would’ve done things in a slightly different order (just the order of which veggies went into the pot first) but in the end I don’t think it matters too much. Let me explain…
I started by sautéing the carrots and mushrooms together, once those were soft and fragrant I added in minced garlic. Then, I realized I forgot to add in some diced onion so I put that in AFTER the carrots/mushrooms. In hindsight I probably would’ve done the onions first and let those get a little softer, BUT I decided to let the sauce simmer together for about 45 minutes so it actually doesn’t really matter and I’m glad I did it this way. (These are the thoughts that went back in forth in my head as I was making it)
If you want to make this the “quick” way. Sauté and let the onions get soft first, then add the carrots/mushroom and then once those are soft and fragrant, add the minced garlic. You’ll then add in the sausage and let it cook all the way through before adding in the tomato sauce. Letting it all simmer together for about 15-20 minutes. If you have more time follow the directions below!
Okay so everything else is pretty straight forward (and i’m sorry if the first three paragraphs are just me rambling and don’t make sense), so here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
2 T extra virgin olive oil
3 large carrots (shredded)
1 container sliced onions (shredded)
1 medium onion (diced)
5 garlic cloves (minced)
2 generous pinches of kosher salt
ground black pepper to taste
1lb ground pork sausage (or sausage/meat of your choice! also, I used a hot sausage)
29oz can of your favorite tomato sauce
Directions:
In a medium pot over medium heat, add shredded carrots and mushrooms with 1 T of extra virgin olive oil, black pepper and a generous pinch of kosher salt. Once the carrots and mushrooms soften or become fragrant, add in the minced garlic and let simmer together until garlic becomes fragrant.
Add in diced onion with the other 1 T of extra virgin olive oil and let this get about halfway soft. You wanna just eyeball this, it doesn’t need to be cooked all the way because it will have time to do that when the sauce simmers later. Once the onion is halfway soft, add in the pork sausage and mix it all together.
Let the sausage brown, then add in the tomato sauce with the second generous pinch of kosher salt.
Mix everything together and let simmer for 45 minutes on medium to low heat. Every so often check on it and give it a little stir! If it is excessively bubbling, stir it around and turn the heat to low!
Enjoy over top of your favorite pasta or zucchini noodles!
