This has become one of regular weeknight meals – I make it in big batches and freeze it into portions. It's kind of like a bolognese, but using only sausage meat instead of beef mice, and with a generous provision of red wine, it's rich and hearty. Use good quality, high meat content sausages if you can and don't be shy with the red wine!

Sausages and leeks go really well together, and instead of doing a standard bolognese base of carrots, celery and onions, I've gone for leeks (a decent amount of them) along with onions and garlic. I cook the base slowly until nicely caramelised, giving a deep richness and surprising sweetness to the sauce.

As for the meat, it's a little bit of a faff to remove the sausages from their skins but this is aided by the use of a nice sharp cook's knife: just score each sausage lightly most of the way along its length, and the skin will peel off easily. Then, like I almost always do when preparing meat for a stew or sauce, I brown the sausage meat in a separate pan to get a good bit of colour on them. Essential for depth of flavour!

You might notice the addition of burnt onion powder to this recipe. This is an ingredient I've started including in many of my sauces, especially ones that are naturally quite sweet. The flavour of burnt onion is quite remarkable, having an undeniable bitterness but also a distinct sweetness at the same time. It gives a richness of colour also, which is pleasing to the eye. It is intense though, so needs to be used in moderation. It's super easy to make as well – just thinly slice some onions and bake them in the oven until completely black. Allow to cook, then blitz to a powder in a spice grinder. Check out the recipe here.

Sausage and Red Wine Rigatoni Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 medium leeks, cleaned and roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
  • 3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 450 g good quality sausages, removed from their skins
  • 375 ml red wine
  • 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tsp burnt onion powder
  • 400 ml chicken stock, preferably home-made
  • sea salt and cracked black pepper
  • 1 handful flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
  • 400 g dried rigatoni pasta (or your preferred pasta shape)
  • olive oil, for cooking

Method

  1. Place a large, heavy-based pan over a medium heat and add a generous glug of olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions, mixed herbs and leeks along with a generous pinch of salt. Cook with the lid partially on, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, turn the heat down slightly and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. You should have a lovely rich and caramelised soffrito.

  2. Whilst the leeks and onions are cooking, prepare the sausages: using a sharp knife, cut lightly along the length of each sausage and then peel off the skin. Place a wide frying pan or casserole over a medium-high heat and add a few glugs of oil. When the oil is hot, add the de-skinned sausages and chop them up into chunks with a spoon or spatula. Don't add any seasoning – the sausages will likely be seasoned quite generously already. When the sausage meat is browned all over, remove from the heat and drain off any excess fat in a colander. Place the pan back on the heat and pour in the red wine to deglaze. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, scraping all the caramelised sausage meat residue from the bottom of the pan.

  3. Add the sausage meat and red wine to the pan with the leeks, and add the tinned tomatoes, chicken stock and burnt onion powder. Taste and add more salt and pepper if you think it needs it. Bring to the boil and simmer gently on a low heat for about 1 hour. It should taste rich and sweet, and have thickened somewhat. Cook your pasta until al dente and mix with the sauce, stirring to ensure the pasta is well coated. Finally, add the chopped parsley, mix and serve in bowls with some parmiggiano grated on top.