Penne alla Vodka
Description
Winner, winner, penne dinner. This sauce is so much better than store bought sauce. Serve it as part of your meal rotation or as a special night dinner.
Ingredients
3 T. unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
pinch red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
4 1/2 oz. tube concentrated tomato paste or 6 oz. can tomato paste
14 1/2 oz. can good quality, whole peeled tomatoes with their liquid
1 c. heavy cream
1 lb. short tubular pasta, like penne (or rigatoni)
1/4 c. vodka, plus more, if desired
2 oz. freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
Directions
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In a large 3 or 4 quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; add onions, garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes; cook, stirring frequently, until onions are very soft but not browned, about 15 minutes; lower heat as needed to prevent browning.
Add tomato paste; cook, stirring, until tomato paste is fragrant and thick, about 3 minutes. Stir in canned tomatoes with their liquid; bring to a simmer; cook, stirring often and crushing the whole tomatoes roughly, until sauce has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.
Add cream; stir. Transfer sauce to a blender; blend until very smooth. (An immersion blender may be used, but try to avoid splattering.) Wipe out pot; return blended sauce to the pot. Season lightly with salt.
In a medium pot of well salted boiling water, cook pasta until just shy of al dente, about 3 minutes less than the package directions. About 1 minute before you transfer pasta to sauce, add vodka to the tomato sauce; bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Before draining, reserve 2 c. pasta cooking water.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer pasta directly to the sauce pot with 1/2 c. pasta water (alternatively, reserve 2 c. pasta water, then drain pasta in a colander, then add to sauce with 1/2 cup of the reserved water).
Increase heat to high; cook, stirring constantly, until pasta is well coated in sauce and reaches the al dente stage, about 3 minutes. If sauce thickens too much before pasta is ready, add more pasta water in 1/4 c. increments as needed.
Remove from heat; stir in cheese until thoroughly incorporated into a smooth and creamy sauce. Season to taste for salt. If vodka taste cannot be detected at all, add a few drops more; stir before serving. (How boozy you want the sauce is a question of taste, but be careful because a heavy hand will ruin the dish.)
Spoon pasta and sauce onto warmed serving plates. Serve immediately topped with grated cheese.
4 servings.