Penne alla Vodka
Recipes Italian Main Dish Pasta Quick and Easy Vegetarian
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.