Penne Alla Vodka is an extremely simple dish that became popular in the 1980’s. It can be made in less than 15 minutes with near no prep time. This dish is like a less spicy version of Carbone’s famous version.
You can customize this dish with some grilled chicken using this recipe or pancetta or whatever else you want, but this recipe is the basic classic. The best part is unlike some recipes that involve alcohol, you can literally use the cheapest vodka possible. I use a Ukrainian vodka called Nemiroff that’s about $6 a liter.
If you don’t feel like making the sauce from scratch you can cheat and use a regular red sauce. Just heat it up in a pan, add vodka and heavy cream and cheese and voila. Of course making a quality red sauce is much more work, so the cheat only works if you have leftovers.
Ingredients:
- 400 grams Penne Pasta
- 400 grams Canned Whole Tomatoes
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 2 Shallots (minced)
- 3 cloves of Garlic (crushed)
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 3/4 cup Heavy Cream
- 3 Tbsp Vodka
- 1/2 cup Freshly Grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese
- Salt for the Pasta Water
- Curly Parsley to garnish
Penne Alla Vodka Instructions:
1. In a pot begin to boil heavily salted water. Heavily salted. Like…the ocean. Add in the dry penne and follow the boiling instructions on the package.
2. In a hot pan melt the butter and add the minced shallot. When translucent add in the crushed garlic. Wait 20 seconds or so watching carefully not to burn the garlic, then add in the can of tomatoes and black pepper.
3. Smash the tomatoes in the pan using the back of a wooden spoon and lower the heat to medium. Add the vodka and stir. Add in the Heavy Cream and continue stirring.
4. By now the Penne should be fully cooked. Scoop a tablespoon of the starchy salty pasta water into the sauce, drain the pasta, then add the cooked pasta to the sauce. Toss to mix.
5. Plate the pasta and grate over your preferred amount of Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese. Sprinkle some curly parsley as garnish
Note:
You may notice that there isn’t added salt in this penne alla vodka recipe. The reason for this is as long as you properly salt the water the pasta will boil in, the dish will be perfectly salted. This is why you should only add 1 tbsp of the pasta water to the cooking sauce. On top of this, quality Parmigiano Reggiano is a very salty cheese so that is another avenue for salty goodness.
However as with all of my recipes involving sauces, you should taste as you go. If you find the tomato sauce too sweet or just not salty enough to your liking, then you can of course add some extra salt.
Penne Alla Vodka
Ingredients
- 400 Grams Penne Pasta
- 400 Grams Canned Whole Tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp Butter
- 2 Shallots
- 3 Cloves garlic
- 1 Tsp Cracked Black Pepper
- 3/4 Cup Heavy Cream
- 3 Tbsp Vodka
- 1/2 Cup Parmigiano Reggiano
- Salt for the pasta water
- Curly Parsley garnish
Instructions
- In a pot begin to boil heavily salted water. Heavily salted. Like…the ocean. Add in the Penne and follow the boiling instructions on the package.
- In a hot pan melt the butter and add the minced shallot. When translucent add in the crushed garlic. Wait 20 seconds or so watching carefully not to burn the garlic, then add in the can of tomatoes and black pepper.
- Smash the tomatoes in the pan using the back of a wooden spoon and lower the heat to medium. Add the vodka and stir. Add in the Heavy Cream and continue stirring.
- By now the Penne should be fully cooked. Scoop a tablespoon of the starchy salty pasta water into the sauce, drain the pasta, then add the cooked pasta to the sauce. Toss to mix.
- Plate the pasta and grate over your preferred amount of Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese. Sprinkle some curly parsley as garnish
