Pasta alla Vodka (aka the king of pantry pastas)
Pasta alla vodka is one of THE MOST flavorful pastas and you probably have what you need to make it in your pantry right now. If you don't I'll give you options.
Ingredients
- 20 g garlic, minced/pressed
- 75 g shallots, minced
- 30-40 g calabrian chile, chopped
- olive oil
- kosher salt
- 2-3 g chile flake
- 170 g tomato paste, 1 small can
- 100 mL vodka, sub in white wine if you don't have vodka on hand
- 350 g heavy cream, if you don't have cream on hand, use evaporated milk + additional butter and parmesan
- 60-100 g pasta water or hot water
- 1 lb fusilli or pasta of choice
- 75 g unsalted butter
- 50-75 g aged parmesan, grated
Instructions
- Preheat large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium. Add 40g or ¼ cup olive oil to the heavy bottomed pot, followed by shallots, garlic, and a pinch of salt. Stir and sweat for 1-2 minutes.
- When translucent, add chile flake and calabrian chiles. Stir to bloom for about a minute. Then stir in the tomato paste and cook, stirring frequently, for about 2 minutes to bloom that and cook off any raw flavor.
- Deglaze with vodka and cook for about 1 minute to cook off most of the alcohol.
- Once thickened and vodka has mostly evaporated, stir in the cream and remove from heat and set aside while you cook your noodles. Add in a few ounces of hot water just to make sure the sauce doesn't get too think while it sits.
- Bring large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the fusilli noodles until al dente, or to your desired doneness. Somewhere around 8-10 minutes.
- When done, reserve 1-2 cups of pasta water and strain off the noodles.
- Over medium low heat, stir in the drained pasta along with butter and ½ cup or 120g of pasta water with the vodka sauce. Gently stir to melt butter and combine.
- Once butter is melted in, add an additional ½ cup or 120g of pasta cooking liquid followed by more parmesan.
- Remove from heat and stir to combine. If needed, adjust sauce consistency by adding more pasta water to thin it out or more cheese and/or butter to thicken sauce.
- Taste for seasoning and add salt if needed. Plate up and garnish with a sprinkle of parmesan, black pepper, a sprinkle of chile flakes, a drizzle of olive oil, and fresh basil if you have it.
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