Salsicce en Salsa -- Sausage in Sauce

by djplam

Servings:

INGREDIENTS

1 pound Italian sausage, mild or hot
depending upon taste
¼ cup water
1 medium onion, chopped
1 celery rib (stalk), chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 medium can plum tomatoes, chopped
2 small cans tomato puree
Salt and pepper to taste
2 bay leaves

INSTRUCTIONS

Cook the sausage and water on medium-high heat until all the water evaporates, and the sausage begins to fry. Lower heat and brown sausage on both sides. Once browned, remove from fry pan and hold in reserve.

Add the onion, celery and parsley to the hot skillet. Cook for a few minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the tomatoes and liquid from the can, breaking up the tomatoes as much as possible. Add the tomato puree, salt and pepper. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the sausage back to the fry pan. Cover again and simmer for about an hour and a half. The sausage will be cooked through and be exceptionally tender. Add the bay leaves and cook for about 10 minutes more.

If the sauce appears too thick, add a bit of water, a little at a time. If the sauce is too thin, remove the cover for a few minutes as the sausage cooks. Serve the sauce on any pasta. Serve the sausage as a side dish with the pasta.

CHEF COMMENTS

Pork in any form, sausage, chops, butt, enhances the flavor of any tomato sauce. Cooking the sausage in the sauce (Poaching the sausage), allows all the flavor to stay in the sauce as it is being made. As an added benefit, the flavor of the sauce is throughout the sausage.

* DO NOT PRICK the sausage to allow the fat to escape. It also allows the sausage to harden. If the sausage is one long ‘rope’, coil it, skewer it to hold it in place, and then place the coil in a fry pan with the water.

Taken from my cookbook: The "Old Country" Italisn Cookbook, by Donald J.P. La Marca

Tagged: italian, sausage add tags

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