Italian Sausage Ragu

Plated. This recipe is from @typeets, when I realized I had the polenta, but needed inspiration for something to put on it.

First, most of the mise en place - some mildly italian sausage, most of a red onion, some red pepper - just because I had the onion and pepper. A couple of cans of crushed tomatoes with italian herbs.

Break up the mildly italian sausage, and start to cook it. See here we have pink and light-brown visible. When we're done, that light brown will be dark brown and tasty.

Oh man, I nearly forgot an opportunity to add some umami! At 2 o'clock in the picture is some tomato paste, browning in the oil that's come off the sausage. This technique is called "pincer" in French. Browning tomato paste is a good thing. Just below that, at nearly 3 o'clock is an Italian version of the same - it's not tomato paste, it's anchovy paste. Even if you don't like anchovies, this works. It doesn't end up with an anchovy taste because there's not enough of it for that, but there is enough to boost the meaty flavours. You'll let the anchovy paste break up and vanish into the oil. About 10-15 minutes cooking time for this step.

Apply knife liberally to non-meat ingredients.

By now, you can see that the meat has some good dark-brown on it. The best way to achieve this is with a secret chef technique of leaving the stuff alone in the pan for long enough, before you stir! I've now added the onions and I'm going to let them soften. About 5 minutes.

Add cans of tomatoes.

Boost that umami with a splash of soy sauce. Not so much that it tastes of soy, but it'll make everything taste better. Like with the browned tomato paste, and the anchovy paste.

BOOOST that umami!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOST!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST!

By now I've simmered the mixture a little to thicken, but not all the way. I want the cutting board that the bell pepper is on, so I've added the peppers now. I could have waited some more, so that they didn't cook so much by the time it's ready. Whatever, it's personal preference for that.

This was all started because I had a store-bought tube of firm polenta. I cut rounds, put them on the non-stick skillet with a little oil and let them cook until they browned nicely.

And served some for the baby.