pasta alla vodka
this was taught to me by a dear friend whose skill i aspire to one day match. we are both college students and have found this to be a quick, cheap, simple, and amazing dish every time. ive used it to impress friends, family, and my partner.
no real measurements. use your heart (and intuition).
ingredients:
- 1 yellow or white onion
- 1 8oz can or tube of tomato paste
- heavy cream or half & half
- vodka (white wine works in a pinch)
- fresh parmesan (not the pre-grated stuff)
- however many cloves of garlic your heart desires
- crushed red pepper flake
- fresh basil
- salt & pepper
- olive oil
- whatever kind of pasta you want, but my favorite for this recipe is penne. spaghetti works great too.
- reserved pasta water
- this recipe works best with a stainless steel or aluminum pan but a nonstick skillet will work just fine
directions:
the pasta
follow the instructions on the package for your chosen pasta.
remember to salt your pasta water like you would a well-seasoned soup.
DO NOT FORGET to drain some of the pasta water into a measuring cup!! you'll need it for the sauce.
the sauce should come together pretty quickly while the pasta cooks. ideally your pasta should be done cooking by the time you add the tomato paste to the sauce. i'd recommend throwing your pasta in to cook when you start dicing the onions for the sauce.
the sauce
dice your onion into small pieces
crush or mince your garlic
chiffonade (stack leaves into one big leaf like russian dolls and then roll into a bundle, then cut into strips) your basil
heat pan over medium heat
add about a tablespoon of olive oil and heat. you'll know it's hot enough when it starts sliding around the pan like water.
sauté onions until soft and translucent, add your garlic and red pepper flake once the onions are about halfway cooked.
season with salt and pepper. be generous.
once the garlic has a little color and has become fragrant, add in your tomato paste and stir it around the pan, incorporating the onions and garlic into it. it should form like a tomato-onion-garlic-blob.
allow this to cook and dry out a bit, letting it caramelize in the pan. if using a stainless steel or aluminum pan, look for brown bits of fond sticking to the bottom of the pan.
add your vodka, just enough to loosen up the tomato-blob into a more easily workable consistency.
immediately scrape up that brown fond in the bottom of the pan as soon as you add the vodka.
if you timed everything right, by now your pasta should be done and you should have some pasta water reserved. add pasta water until just before your desired sauce consistency.
add your heavy cream and half and half until you get your desired sauce consistency and stir until the sauce turns a beautiful iconic orange color.
grate in fresh parmesan cheese to emulsify into the sauce
add your pasta to the sauce
add about 3/4 of the chiffonade basil
stir to combine everything
serve in a bowl or on a plate (or just on the bare table, see if i care), grate extra parmesan cheese over top, then add a few cracks of black pepper if you feel like it. garnish with leftover strips of basil. enjoy.
