We’ve been eating a lot of pasta lately. For some reason, it took me quite a long time to realize pasta could be an easy dinner. I don’t need to bust out the KitchenAid with the pasta roller attachment and make pasta from scratch, I can just use dried noodles. I don’t need to buy raw pine nuts, toast them, grind them in my mortar and pestle with basil and parmesan (or however you make pesto), I can just use pesto from the store. Sure, I’ll still make these things from scratch from time to time, but that’s not necessary to “eat a meal”.

Something I’ve been cooking lately that’s slightly more effort than pesto pasta is pasta with vodka sauce. I looked around online and saw what various recipes said to get an idea for what to do, then just used my cooking intuition to land on this recipe. This recipe uses things that we typically already have in the fridge and comes together in under 30 minutes.

I also want to note that we are currently obsessed with the Etto “trombe” pasta. Highly recommend.

Recipe

This recipe will make enough for one “girlfriend is out of town” serving. This does not reheat very well. The recipe listed will be for the “basic” version, but it’s very easy to add some kind of vegetable or protein to this. I will just saute some mushrooms or something (in the same pan I then use for the sauce) and then set them aside, to be added back in when the pasta goes into the sauce.

Ingredients

• pasta
• 1/4 large yellow onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
• 2-3 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• vodka
• parmesan, grated
• red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper to taste

*Note: I’m not measuring when I cook this so I estimated some quantities. Trust your gut and follow your heart, that’s cooking baby! There are some photos for a visual reference at the end of this post.

Method

1. Get a pot of heavily salted water boiling and prepare ingredients.
2. Saute onion in olive oil until translucent and softened.
3. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and saute for 1 minute.
4. Add tomato paste and cook for a few minutes, until color darkens. Some may stick to the bottom of the pan, be careful not to burn.
5. Add pasta to boiling water. (Note: This is when I typically add the pasta to the water. You will cook the pasta for maybe 1 minute less than it says on the package, so adjust accordingly. You want the sauce to be ready before the pasta is ready)
6. Deglaze with vodka, cook until reduced.
7. Add heavy cream and bring to a simmer.
8. Reserve 1 cup pasta water before draining pasta. Drain pasta when slightly more al dente than you want. Add pasta to sauce and cook for a few minutes more. Add pasta water to loosen the sauce and get it to the consistency you want.
9. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remember that the pasta water will be salty!
10. When pasta and sauce are done, turn off heat and stir in parmesan.
11. Serve and enjoy!

Photos

Here are some photos of every step of the process.

Almost all the ingredients you will need

Devastatingly, these were left out of the aesthetic ingredient picture

I had some zucchini to add to the pasta tonight

Onion sauteed for a few minutes, adding garlic and pepper flake and saute for 1 minute more

Add in the tomato paste and cook

Deglaze with vodka and let it reduce

Add in the cream and mix to combine

Let the sauce simmer gently while the pasta finishes cooking

Add the pasta to the sauce with any veggie you have and cook for a few minutes. Add pasta water as needed to adjust consistency.

Turn off heat and add parmesan, stir through

All this done in 32 minutes, surely would be under 30 minutes if I wasn’t taking all these pictures

Delicious bowl of pasta

• Recipes