This recipe came straight from a chef from Italy, so you know it’s gotta be good. During a stint in Alabama (yeah, don’t go there), the hotel I was at formed a partnership with a local University, who happened to have an incredible agriculture program. They sold pork to a local business who specialized in making Porchetta (which we’ll do a version of eventually), which is also roasted pork saddle flavored simply with herbs, garlic, and Olive Oil. Every order of Porchetta you got came with some nice crusty bread, and this on the side. You can serve 4 people with this recipe.
3 oz. loose Hot Italian Sausage
1/2 c. fennel, sliced thin or shaved
1/4 c. small diced onion
1/4 c. small diced carrot
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 tsp. chopped sage
1 tsp. dry oregano (you can use fresh, this is just what the old man who ran the place swore by)
1/4 c. white wine
1. Start your sausage off in a saute pan on low heat, rendering out the fat. Break up the sausage as it cooks, we want to ti get all through the ragout. Don’t be afraid to add a little olive oil to grease up the pan if you need to.
2. When your sausage is nice and brown, add your vegetables, garlic, and herbs. Sweat these out for about 5 minutes, stirring every minute or so. We want to let the herbs cook just a bit an release some of their natural oils into the olive oil and rendered sausage fat.
3. Add the beans and wine and let the wine reduce to almost dry. Season it up with some salt and pepper and taste.
4. Now you can stop here, and server these, or you can take it one more step. I like to take 1/8 of the beans out, and either mash them with a masher or give them a rough puree with a touch of water or stock, then add them back to the ragout. This just gives the ragout some body and a slightly nicer mouth feel. totally optional if your’e not up to it though.
The beauty of this recipe is you can do just about anything to it. You can change the Italian sausage out for Andouille and add some Cajun spices for something Louisiana style for example. You want seafood? No problem add some shrimp. You don’t like fennel? No problem, use peppers or something else. Don’t be afraid to mix it up. I’d love to here what some of you are doing with this. Why dont’ you tell me in the comments section
Happy Eating,
-The Doctor