Vodka Pasta!

 

Ever had a recipe just follow you around? One you keep seeing and then find yourself dreaming about? I’ve had that recently.

It started when I saw the Pasta Alla Vodka Recipe on The Pioneer Woman a while back. I was intrigued by it but put it to the back of my mind. I was reminded of it again though when I watched the recipe being cooked on YouTube by Laura Vitale, from Laurainthekitchen.com. Then on Wednesday, I saw it on Babaduck Babbles and was drooling at, even looking at the recipe on Thursday to drool some more. Friday I treated myself to Donal Skehan’s new book, Kitchen Hero and lo and behold, what’s the very first recipe in the book? Vodka Penne! So that night I made myself a dish and it was so good I made it again Saturday for lunch!

And one of the best things about it is it’s super quick and super simple to make!

Vodka Pasta

Serves 4

Ingredients

350g Penne

25g Butter

125g bacon, chopped (or pancetta)

1 onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped

4 tbsp Vodka

200ml Double Cream

3 tbsp tomato purée

Salt and pepper, to taste

Freshly grated cheese (parmesan is best, I only had cheddar)

Fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

Method

1. In a large saucepan, cook pasta as instructed.

2. Heat butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add bacon bit and fry for 3-5 minutes, until golden.

3. Add in onion and garlic to bacon and fry for 1 minute or so.

4. Add the vodka and allow to simmer for a minute before adding tomato purée and cream. Simmer gently for 5 minutes until sauce has thickened.

5. Test the sauce for taste and add salt and pepper accordingly.

6. Drain pasta and add sauce. Mix well to make sure the sauce clings nicely to the pasta. Place in serving bowls and garnish with grated Parmesan.

7. Dig and enjoy!

Adapted from Kitchen Hero by Donal Skehan (who in turn thanks Lorraine Fanneran of La Cucina restaurant in Limerick).

This sauce is beautiful, the right combination of creamy and tomatoey. It’s thick and clings to the pasta nicely. Don’t just use penne, in fact I didn’t either days I made it. First night I used Fusilli (a mixture of white and brown) and on Saturday I used Tripoline. And I’d just like to point out that while I may not have had any fancy pants Parmesan to use, the vodka I added was Grey Goose *increases fanciness of dish x10*. Though saying that, I don’t think it really wants what kind of vodka is used (correct me if I’m wrong!).

Go on, try it, you won’t be disappointed. I’m not the only one enjoying the craze these days, Mammy’s Kitchen had a bowl yesterday and was equally impressed as I was!