Italian Sausage Ragu

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of olive oil

• 1/2 of a yellow onion; finely diced

• 2 cloves of garlic; finely diced

• 6 fresh basil leaves

• 3 (about 1 lb) fresh mild Italian sausages (I prefer pork but you can use chicken)

• 1/2 cup of red wine

• 1 (28 oz.) can of whole peeled tomatoes

• Kosher salt

• 1 lb (box) of small sized pasta of your choice

• Parmesan cheese for topping

In a Dutch oven, heat up your oil and once it is warm, add in your diced onion and garlic and season with salt. Cook until glossy.

Add in your basil leaves and mix, frying the basil for about 2 minutes.

Break apart your mild Italian sausage into the onion mixture and cook it until slightly browned. You will want to break apart the sausage meat as it cooks so you have nice crumbled pieces of sausage.

While your sausage is cooking, pour your canned, whole tomatoes into a bowl and crush the whole tomatoes with your hand. This should make a chunky tomato sauce.

Back to the sauce- add in your wine once your sausage is starting to brown to deglaze the pan. Cook until the wine no longer smells of alcohol (about 2-3 minutes).

Add in your can of crushed tomatoes and season again with salt.

Mix everything up and set on a simmer for about 40 minutes, uncovered. You want your sauce to reduce a decent amount (about by half), so you have a thicker sauce.

You will want to cook your pasta when you are about 10 minutes out and reserve some of the pasta water to add to your sauce.

Using a slotted spoon, move your cooked pasta into your sauce and mix. If your sauce if looking too thick or not glossy, add in some of your reserved pasta water.

Serve with a generous helping of freshly grated parmesan cheese.