Sugo Finto or Scappato is an Italian sauce that literally translates to “fake” or “escaped” sauce. It’s perfect as a pasta sauce but its’ great with bread, gnocchi, lasagne and more.
The sauce is prepared exactly like the classic ragù sauce, but without meat so “escaped “in the sense that the meat has escaped from the pot. This dish is typical of Italian cucina povera when meat wasn’t an option or it was reserved for special occasions but people did their best to bring something good and tasty to the table with what was available.
It’s basically a vegetable ragu when you taste it it seems impossible that there are only vegetables, tomato oil and red wine.
Sugo finto is super simple to make but incredibly delicious.
What you need for this easy sugo finto recipe
- Soffritto: onion, carrot and celery
- Fresh sage
- Garlic
- Bay leaves
- Fresh Rosemary
- Fresh Parsley
- Olive oil
- Red wine
- Tomato passata or chopped tomatoes
- Salt and pepper
Step by step instructions
- Chop all the herbs and dice the onion, carrot and celery. This is the soffritto base, which is a delicious aromatic mix that is a must for most sauces, soups, stews in any Italian kitchen, and it’s an essential flavour base for this recipe too.
- Heat up the olive oil in a pan, then add onion, carrot and celery and let it cook for 10 minutes, add garlic and herbs and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the wine and let it cook until evaporated
- Add tomato passata and fill up the bottle/can with vegetable stock and add it to the pot. Leave to cook on low heat for about 20/30 minutes, the more the better really, you keep checking on it and add water if necessary.
- The sauce will reduce and become thicker.. You can season pasta with it , have it with polenta or bread! A real treat!
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Sugo Finto – Italian “Fake Sauce”
Ingredients
- 1 big onion
- 2 carrots
- 2 stalk of celery peel off the top layer
- 2-3 sage leaves chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 rosemary sprig
- 2 bay leaves
- A handful of parsley chopped
- 4 tbsp Olive oil
- 250 ml red wine
- 600 g tomato passata / chopped tomatoes
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Chop all the fresh herbs and dice the onion, carrot and celery.
- Heat up the olive oil in a pan, then add onion, carrot and celery, the herbs, whole garlic, bay leaves and rosemary. let it cook for 10 minutes, until lightly browned.
- Add the wine and let it cook until evaporated. Add tomato passata and fill up the bottle/can with vegetable stock and add it to the pot.
- Leave to cook on low heat for about 20/30 minutes, the more the better really, you keep checking on it and add water if necessary. The sauce will reduce and become thicker.. You can season pasta with it , have it with polenta or bread! A real treat!
