Penne alla Vodka
393kcal12.3g protein17.3g fat40.9g carbs~$1.03/ serving*Estimates computed from the ingredient list; cost uses average US supermarket prices. Not a substitute for packaging measurements or your receipt.
Contains gluten, dairy
Restrictions
Containsgluten · dairyIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.
Diets
VegetarianPescatarianNo pork
Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.
Ingredients
Servings:
| 7 oz |  pasta (penne or rigatoni) |
| 3 tbsp |  tomato paste |
| 3 tbsp |  vodka |
| ⅓ cup |  cream (heavy whipping) |
| 1 unit |  onion (finely diced) |
| 3 clove |  garlic (minced) |
| 2 tbsp |  butter |
| ½ cup |  cheese (parmesan, grated) |
| 1 tbsp | salt (for the pasta water) |
Optional
Not counted above. The dish works without them.
| ½ tsp |  chili (red pepper flakes) |
| 2 tbsp |  basil (torn) |
| 1 tbsp | olive oil |
Steps
- Sweat7 minbutter, medium-low, no colour on the onionbutter (+ olive oil) + onion until soft, then + garlic (+ chilli flakes) for a further minute. Garlic last and briefly — it has a fraction of the onion's water and burns in the time the onion needs
- Caramelize5 mintomato paste smeared across the pan, medium, stirred constantly+ tomato paste, cooked until it darkens from bright red to brick and starts to stick and smell sweet rather than tinny. This is the step most versions rush: raw paste is sharp and metallic, and five minutes of direct contact with hot fat browns its sugars and amino acids into something much deeper. Keep it moving; it scorches quickly once dry
- Deglaze3 minvodka in, scraped, until the pan is nearly dry+ vodka, which lifts the browned paste off the pan and then cooks away. Give it long enough that no raw spirit smell remains — ethanol boils at 78°C, so this is quick, but leaving it short is the one way this ingredient makes the dish worse instead of better
- Boil9 minwell salted, to 2 minutes short of the packet, water reservedpasta, keeping two cups of the water. Undercooked on purpose — the last two minutes happen in the sauce, where the pasta absorbs tomato and cream instead of water
- Reduce4 mincream in, low, half a cup of pasta water+ cream + pasta water, simmered gently until it coats a spoon. Add the cream after the vodka has gone: dairy dropped into a hot acidic pan can curdle, and the alcohol makes that likelier
- Emulsify4 mindrained pasta into the sauce, tossed hard, cheese off the heatpasta + sauce, tossed over medium heat until it clings, then + parmesan off the heat. The starch in the pasta water is what binds the fat from the cream and butter into a single glossy sauce rather than a pink liquid with grease at the edges. Loosen with more pasta water as needed and serve at once (+ basil)