Too Much Vodka Pasta

Shots optional

 
TooMuchVopdkaPasta.jpg

Note from the Editor

This is a surefire crowd pleaser of a dish, although recently I realized that it was because I’ve always made it for friends after getting a bit deep in our cups. It’s very easy to make while intoxicated! This is a heavily modified version of a recipe I found online, but I refined it to lower the amount of dairy (I’m lactose intolerant) to an amount that I can vaguely handle. It’s a sexy, gorgeous dish — I can’t say if I know how it fares for leftovers, because there’s never any left.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup heavy cream (equal parts Lactaid)

  • Olive oil

  • Olive oil

  • Salt (I love fleur de sel or Falksalt for this recipe but it’s your choice)

  • Pepper

  • 2 tbsp butter (I prefer salted Président… it’s so good, I could eat it raw.)

  • 1 container (can or boxed) crushed tomatoes (you can also grate 3 big tomatoes)

  • ¾ cup vodka of your choice

  • 1 tube of tomato paste

  • 2 tbsp minced or puréed garlic

  • ½ onion, diced (I skip the onion because it gives me indigestion but the recipe benefits from it)

  • 1 lb (box) of pasta of your choice

  • Parmesan (optional, but is cheese ever optional?)

  • Basil (optional)

Cooking Instructions

  1. Fill a large pot with salted water and a bit of olive oil and bring to a boil.

  2. While the water is boiling, add a nice glug of olive oil, the butter, garlic and onion (if you’re using it) to a pan and sauté on medium-high heat until the onion and garlic smell delicious. Add the tomato paste and crushed tomato to the mix and cook until it starts to deepen in color (this will happen fast). Add the vodka and cream and reduce heat to low.

  3. The water should be boiling by now, so add the pasta and cook until slightly more al dente than you’d like. Drain.

  4. Taste the pasta sauce - if it still tastes distinctly of vodka, continue to let the sauce simmer for a few more minutes. Once the sauce has a bit of vodka taste but not enough to taste alcoholic, toss in the pasta. The rest of the alcohol will burn off and the pasta will finish cooking.

  5. Add salt and pepper, and parmesan and basil as desired.

 

 
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