Penne with Vodka Sauce

This pasta dish is so freaking delicious! The sauce is so good. It’s simple and quick enough to make during the week, but special and impressive enough to make for a nice dinner. Top it off with even more parmesan and torn basil and it’s absolutely to die for.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb penne (or any other large tube pasta)
• 3/4 cup heavy cream, room temperature
  • You could also do 1 cup of heavy cream and withhold the 1/4 cup boiling salted water.
• 1/4 cup boiling salted water
• 2 ounces vodka (plus more if needed)
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper
• 4 garlic cloves, minced or thinly sliced (plus more if your cloves are on the small side)
• 1 yellow onion (medium to large), peeled & chopped
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, or enough to cover the bottom of your pan
• 1 tube double-concentrated tomato paste (4.5 or 4.6 oz tube)
• 2 to 4 ounces Parmesan cheese, finely grated
  • You’ll use about half for the sauce, and the rest for topping (I say about half because I sometimes add more than half). If you don’t plan on topping the pasta with cheese, you only need 2 ounces.
• 1 cup reserved pasta water
• Coarse kosher salt
• Basil leaves, torn, for serving

Directions:

1. Fill a large pot with enough water to cover 1 lb of pasta. Add in a handful of salt, and bring the water to a boil.
2. Heat the olive oil in a deep, heavy bottomed pan (or pot) over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the onion, garlic and oregano. Sauté, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes or until the onion is translucent and starting to lightly brown.
3. Add the red pepper flakes and stir to incorporate. Allow the red pepper flakes to bloom for about 30 seconds to a minute.
4. Add the tube of tomato paste and stir until everything is evenly coated. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until the tomato paste has turned deep red in color.
5. Add the vodka to the pan to deglaze, and then stir to incorporate. Scrape any bits off the bottom of the pan that might have stuck. If the heat was too high and the vodka immediately evaporates, add a splash more if needed. Adjust your heat to low before the next step.
6. If you are choosing not to use water, and adding a full cup of heavy cream to the sauce: heat the heavy cream until it is starting to warm, but not boil. If using water: scoop 1/4 cup of boiling water from your pot, and while it is still hot, add 3/4 cup of heavy cream (this will heat the cream for you).
7. Add the cream to the pan slowly, stirring constantly, until it is fully incorporated, and the sauce is uniform in color. Remove the pan from heat. If you don’t want chunky onion and garlic in your sauce, carefully transfer the sauce to a blender, blend until smooth, then add back to your pan.
8. Once your water is boiling, add the penne to the pot and cook according to the package’s instructions for al dente pasta. Before draining the water, reserve about 1 cup of pasta water which will be used to bring the sauce together.
9. Heat your pan of sauce over low heat. Once the pasta has finished cooking, transfer the pasta to the pan with the sauce (either by scooping the pasta using a spider or slotted spoon, which is what I do, or by straining the pasta and adding it to the sauce. Don’t worry about any pasta water carrying over to the sauce, you actually want this to happen).
10. Add in 1/2 cup of pasta water to your pan of sauce and pasta, and stir to incorporate. Add in about half of the parmesan cheese gradually, stirring in between each addition, then continue stirring until the cheese is melted and incorporated fully. The sauce should be loose enough to easily coat all pasta, and be glossy and smooth. If it is too thick, thin it out by adding more pasta water, one splash at a time, as needed. Add salt, if necessary. The sauce should be salty enough between the pasta water and parmesan, but this will depend on how salted the pasta water was. Make sure to taste the sauce before adding more salt to avoid over-salting.
11. Plate the pasta and top it with the remaining cheese and torn basil leaves.
12. Serve & enjoy!