# Vodka Sauce: Your Thoughts and Recipes.



## Mylegsbig (Jan 25, 2006)

Just looking for some discussion and info on Vodka Sauce.  What is your recipe you use for it?  What type of flavors does it go well with?  Any general tips or random info on making this sauce that you can give me?  I am planning on making one in the  next couple days want to get all the info i can.

Thanks in advance.


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## mish (Jan 25, 2006)

I posted a recipe for Vodka Pie. I'll see if I can find my recipe for Penne in Vodka Cream Sauce... but if someone has a recipe to share, would be appreciated.

Just noticed your siggie. That's not a pic of you (avatar)? Thought I recognized you from the California Highway Patrol - lol j/k.


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## GB (Jan 25, 2006)

This is my favorite. I think it is even better the next day.

PENNE ALA VODKA

One 35-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano) with their liquid
1 pound penne
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
10 cloves garlic, peeled
Crushed hot red pepper
1/4 cup vodka
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil for finishing the sauce, if you like
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for passing if you like

Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil in an 8-quart pot over high heat.

Pour the tomatoes and their liquid into the work bowl of a food processor. Using quick on/off pulses, process the tomatoes just until they are finely chopped. (Longer processing will aerate the tomatoes, turning them pink.)

Stir the penne into the boiling water. Bring the water back to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook the pasta, semi-covered, stirring occasionally, until done, 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Whack the garlic cloves with the side of a knife and add them to the hot oil. Cook, shaking the skillet, until the garlic is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Lower the work bowl with the tomatoes close to the skillet and carefully - they will splatter - slide the tomatoes into the pan. Bring to a boil, season lightly with salt and generously with crushed red pepper, and boil 2 minutes. Pour in the vodka, lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer, and simmer until the pasta is ready.

Just before the pasta is done, fish the garlic cloves out of the sauce and pour in the cream. Add the 2 tablespoons butter or oil, if using, and swirl the skillet to incorporate into the sauce. If the skillet is large enough to accommodate the sauce and pasta, fish the pasta out of the boiling water with a large wire skimmer and drop it directly into the sauce in the skillet. If not, drain the pasta, return it to the pot, and pour in the sauce. Bring the sauce and pasta to a boil, stirring to coat the pasta with sauce. Check the seasoning, adding salt and red pepper if necessary. Sprinkle the parsley over the pasta and boil until the sauce is reduced enough to cling to the pasta.

Remove the pot from the heat, sprinkle 3/4 cup of the cheese over the pasta, and toss to mix. Serve immediately,


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## Mylegsbig (Jan 25, 2006)

Pour in the vodka, lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer, and simmer until the pasta is ready.


Just before the pasta is done, fish the garlic cloves out of the sauce and pour in the cream. Add the 2 tablespoons butter or oil, if using, and swirl the skillet to incorporate into the sauce. If the skillet is large enough to accommodate the sauce and pasta, fish the pasta out of the boiling water with a large wire skimmer and drop it directly into the sauce in the skillet. If not, drain the pasta, return it to the pot, and pour in the sauce. Bring the sauce and pasta to a boil, stirring to coat the pasta with sauce. Check the seasoning, adding salt and red pepper if necessary. Sprinkle the parsley over the pasta and boil until the sauce is reduced enough to cling to the pasta.

**** im not understanding this part....  the exact order you stir the pasta into the sauce.... 

thanks for the recipe btw that is the one i will try in the next couple of days if i can get to understand it better....


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## GB (Jan 26, 2006)

Mylegsbig said:
			
		

> **** im not understanding this part....  the exact order you stir the pasta into the sauce....


You basically just want to do this as your last step. Once the sauce and past are both done cooking then you add the pasta to the sauce (or vice versa) just to combine.


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## Michelemarie (Jan 26, 2006)

GB's sauce is mouthwatering, I have a similar one - I get complimented and asked for the recipe every time i make it:

saute a red onion in some butter and olive oil til opaque - 
add a can of diced tomatoes-undrained (fresh didn't seem to work as well)
simmer for 20 minutes
add 1/4 cup of vodka and a tsp of red pepper flakes
add 2 cup of heavy whipping cream
combine with pasta, top with fresh parm

again, GB is much more professional than me - maybe he can doctor mine up - it is good though, i promise you that.  i am gonna try GB's next time, though.


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## GB (Jan 26, 2006)

LOL you give me too much credit Michelemarie  I think your sauce sounds delicious!


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## mish (Jan 26, 2006)

Mylegsbig said:
			
		

> Just looking for some discussion and info on Vodka Sauce. What is your *recipe* you *use *for it? What type of flavors does it go well with?


 
I would use the sauce in any dish/recipe calling for a tomato-based sauce. Try making the sauce first, to see if you like the taste/flavor, and you can put it in a jar in the fridge to use whenever you like. Some thoughts/ideas - pizza, pasta (lasagna, penne/ziti, ravioli, manicotti, etc), linguine and clams, seafood - maybe jazz up a shrimp cocktail or a chicken cacciatore (sp?).

This is one recipe I would like to try *without* a jarred sauce.

Penne in Vodka Cream Sauce

1 pkg 500 g Penne Rigate 
4 - 5 slices bacon, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped 
1/3 cup vodka
1 jar (700 mL) Five Cheese Pasta Sauce
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh Flat Leaf/Italian parsley

Cook penne rigate according to package directions. Sauté bacon 2-3 minutes. Add onion and sauté until tender. Add vodka; cook 1 minute or until most of the vodka has reduced. Stir pasta sauce and cream; simmer 4-5 minutes. Toss penne rigate with sauce and serve topped with parsley.

Here is the recipe for Vodka Pie:

*Vodka Pie*

1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms of choice
3 slices prosciutto, chopped
4 ounces vodka
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

Melt butter in skillet. Add red onion, mushrooms, & prosciutto. Saute for 2-4 minutes. Add vodka and continue to saute until vodka is reduced. Add tomato sauce & heavy cream. Saute for additional 4-5 minutes. Cool down for about 5 minutes. Ladel over pizza dough and bake.

Use your favorite pizza dough recipe or a prepared pizza shell and adjust cooking time and temperature.


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## jennyema (Jan 26, 2006)

You really should *add the vodka to the tomatoes and not vice versa*. In other words, add tomatoes to the pan first. 

I posted something from Shirley Corriher on another of Big's threads but the basic food science is that the only purpose for using vodka in these type of sauces is for what the alcohol does to the other ingredients, most specifically tomatoes. Note that vodka is used rather than wine. That's because it has very little taste on its own (as opposed to wine). It's only purpose is to add alcohol which releases flavor componenets in the tomatoes.

If you add the vodka first and simmer some of the alcohol off to temper the harshness, you are working against yourself.

Adding the vodka to the tomatoes and then simmering them together both cooks off some of the alcohol to smooth it out while also allowing it to do its magic on the tomatoes.

Here's my other post

This is from it: "_"Remember that some flavors dissolve in water and some in fat. Alcohol dissolves both fat and water and some things that don't dissolve in either fat or water. Patricia Wells, the famous Paris restaurant critic, once asked me why a little vodka makes such a difference in the taste of a tomato sauce. Vodka doesn't have much taste, and the sauce was boiled for 20 minutes after the vodka was added, so a lot of it boiled off. There must be a flavor component in tomatoes that dissolves in alcohol . Once the alcohol has dissolved the flavor and pulled it out into the sauce, it doesn't matter what happens to the alcohol ; it has done its job."_


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