I first saw this basic recipe in a nuevo-Italian book a couple years ago. Then I started noticing the sauce in jars at the store. This is how I made it tonight:
Sautee garlic, a thinly-sliced medium onion, and crushed red pepper flakes in olive oil until the onions are soft. Then add a 28oz can of crushed tomatoes. Reduce heat slightly and allow to simmer and thicken. Salt to taste.
Meanwhile, I cooked some rough-cut chicken thighs with salt and pepper in a little more oil in a separate pan. (Let me just say right here that the original recipe was vegetarian and I was really using the chicken to get rid of it - the end result is probably better sans meat as originally intended.) When the chicken was nearly done I transferred it and its drippings to the sauce, increasing the flame to keep things hot and cook the chicken slowly until fully done.
At the same time, my (salted) pasta water was about ready for the penne.
When the pasta was about ready, I turned it down and added ~2 tablespoons of vodka to the sauce. I had one of the little airplane bottles and used about half. Maybe that's more than 2 tbsp, I don't know. I drank the rest of the vodka. Stir the vodka into the sauce, and leave it on the heat for a few more minutes to evaporate some. While this was happening I drained the pasta.
Next I added heavy cream to the sauce. The recipe called for about a cup IIRC, I used slightly less. "To taste" is a good path to follow here. You want to retain some thickness in the sauce but definitely be able to taste the cream. I also tossed in a crumbled up chunk of goat cheese I had hanging around, which is definitely not essential.
I added a few healthy spoonfuls of the sauce to the pasta along with several tablespoons of coarse chopped flat leaf parsley. Don't use curly leaf because it will taste like shit - I speak from experience. I spooned out some noodles, covered them with extra sauce, and cracked a beer. If I had bought wine, it would probably be a chianti (that's what the book called for at least.)
To recap the essential ingredients:
Penne pasta
Heavy whipping cream
Vodka
Garlic
Onion
Crushed tomatoes
Olive oil
Flat leaf parsley
Enjoy!
― Holy makkara, Toivo! (OutDatWay), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 00:46 (nineteen years ago)
i made GNOCCHI with vodka tomata cream sauce tonight. ok so i didn't really "make" it so much as heated up the sauce and boiled the gnocchi but whatever. pretty good but obv nowhere near delicious as the restaurant version i had recently that got me on a gnocchi kick.
― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 03:46 (nineteen years ago)
What does the vodka add to these sauces, specifically, do you think? I have never cooked with vodka come to think of it, although in theory I very much approve.
― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 30 March 2006 15:43 (nineteen years ago)
I've wondered about that quite a bit since I first came across the recipe. It seems to add a bitter yet savory taste, along with the parsley. Either that or it catalyzes a chemical reaction of goodness.
― Holy makkara, Toivo! (OutDatWay), Thursday, 30 March 2006 22:13 (nineteen years ago)
Vodka adds the flavor. And the tang. I dunno, I grew up eating this, it's one of my mother's signature dishes.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 31 March 2006 02:33 (nineteen years ago)
Vodka makes it brighter tasting somehow, and red wine makes it earthier. Both good, and the cook should always have a nip or two of either (or both), to make sure it's not gone off.
― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 31 March 2006 02:47 (nineteen years ago)
I call it the Keith Floyd style, but it's all the same thing really... *hic*
― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 1 April 2006 07:39 (nineteen years ago)
I know it's probably not very sophisticated but as far as I'm concerend penne w/ vodka sauce is the perfect food. Add protein of yr choice and REPEAT AS NEEDED. I think I read somewhere that certain flavor compounds are alcohol-soluble that aren't water soluble...but I can't cite source so it could be BS.
― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 12:40 (nineteen years ago)
three weeks pass...