Sausage Pepper and Polenta Ragu

There can’t be a more luxurious combination of flavours than this Sausage Pepper and Polenta Ragu

Warming you from the inside and out, extra creamy buttery polenta is topped with roasted tomato, pepper and sausage sauce. Sprinkled with plenty of parmesan cheese and when served with a glass of wine, you’ll be smiling for hours after eating.

Take your time when making this dish

It’s true, this isn’t a fast weeknight meal made in 30 minutes. It’s a special dish that you should enjoy cooking and feel heavenly when eating. For all the elements to come together right it will require 1.5 hours of kitchen time.

Roasting tomatoes

Roasting tomatoes until juicy and collapsed will take 45 minutes. The roasting process turns tomatoes sweet, savoury and sticky with umami flavour.

Frying Sausages and preparing peppers

Frying sausages is relatively easy. Probably the safest way to ensure even cooking all the way through to the middle is by browning skin over medium to high heat, turning so all sides are evenly coloured.

Then reduce heat down to medium-low and cover with a lid for a few minutes to create a steam-like environment. This will ensure even cooking right to the middle of each sausage over-cooking and drying out the meat.

Cooking peppers

Preparing and cooking peppers until collapsed takes a little more patience. Peppers are naturally crisp and firm. They require at least 30 minutes of cooking time to develop flavour, relax in texture and become soft and juicy.

Roasted tomato sauce

To create the sauce, roasted tomatoes are then blended chicken stock, poured over peppers and cooked down slowly for 25 minutes. Sausages are then returned to the sauce and simmered gently for a further 5 – 10 minutes to warm through and add savoury juices for extra flavour.

Making Polenta

Making polenta is easy if using instant polenta. It absorbs liquid in a third of the time and is a simple case of stirring, stirring, stirring until no longer grainy. Then, before you know it, in approx 10 minutes, a bowl of buttery, cheesy, creamy warming polenta is ready to eat.

Finish the dish

Prewarming bowls in the oven is a wonderful way to add a comforting touch to any hot dish. It really does make a difference to the overall eating experience. Heat bowls for a few minutes at 100°C or 80°C fan-forced. Divide the polenta between warm bowls, top with sausage pepper ragu and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Sausage Peppers and Polenta

Print Recipe

Warming buttery creamy polenta topped with roasted tomato, pepper and sausage stew. A luxurious lunch or dinner.

• Author: Flaevor
• Total Time: 90 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 8 sausages
• 1 red pepper
• 1 yellow pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 Tbsp fennel seeds
• 6 tomatoes
• Olive oil
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• Salt and pepper
• 250 chicken stock
• Grated parmesan for serving
• Olive oil for drizzling

Polenta

• 1 cup (250ml) instant polenta
• 5 cups light chicken stock (1250ml)
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan (60ml)

 

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 220°C (200°C fan-forced).
2. Cut tomatoes in half, place on a roasting tray, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and roast for 45 minutes.
3. Fry sausages in a little oil until nicely browned and cooked through. Remove and set aside. Keep frying pan and juices for later.
4. Slice peppers in half. Remove stem at top and clean out seeds and excess white parts from the inside. Slice peppers lengthways into strips.
5. Using the sausage pan and its oil, fry peppers along with garlic and crushed fennel for 15 minutes until starting to collapse and gain colour. Season with salt as frying.
6. Remove tomatoes from oven and transfer to a blender. Add chicken stock and blend until smooth.
7. Pour sauce over peppers, bring to the boil then cover and turn to simmer. Let the tomato pepper sauce slowly cooking down for 25 – 30 minutes until peppers are soft and juicy.
8. Cut sausages in half lengthways and add to the tomato peppers sauce. Keep on a very low leat to warm the sausages into the sauce but not over-cook them. Taste and season with salt and pepper as necessary.
9. Prepare polenta. Bring chicken stock to the boil and gently whisk in polenta. Turn to medium-low heat and continue to stir every minute or so until smooth and creamy, approx 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir through butter, add parmesan, and season with salt and pepper.
10. Divide polenta between bowls. Top with sausage ragu. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan.

Keywords: sausage peppers and polenta, sausage peppers and polenta ragu, creamy polenta

If you liked this recipe you might be interested in:

• Gnocchi with Swiss Chard

Swiss version here: Italienisches Polenta Ragu