I have been carrying this recipe in a journal since 2005. I started working on this while I lived in Australia and by looking through my journal, it was the first day I went to ALL my classes haha. I was watching Desperate Housewives this night and making gnocchi all vodka.
Since living in Australia, I have been making this same recipe
I paired this one with SuperGay Vodka, because it’s queer owned, organic, and batched in upstate New York. Love the founders - this one is for you Aaron.
Ingredients:
2/3 cup vodka (obvi needed for this)
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup canned tomato paste
1 can whole peeled tomatoes (28oz), drained + cut into rough pieces
1/2 lb Bacon or Pancetta, diced
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) salted butter
2 cloves garlic, pressed
3/4 cup Locatelli or finely grated parmesan
Salt + Pepper to taste
1 lb of Pasta - penne recommended, but choose your journey
1/4 Fresh Basil, chopped
Sauté bacon in medium pot. Render till crispy. Remove bacon from pan and set aside in bowl for later. In ‘pot-o-gold’ with bacon fat, add diced onion. Cook until translucent, above 5 minutes. Add garlic. Cook another minute or so, be careful not to overcook garlic. Sh*t browns real quick. Just cook enough to make fragrant. Add butter. I just love the texture butter adds to this. It’s totally not needed, but it makes the sauce more “velvety.” Once butter is melted, add diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook another 5 minutes or so, stirring often to meld flavors.
Add Vodka to pan. Bring to a simmer for 6-10 minutes or so. Cooking off the alcohol. Add the heavy cream, stir. This will give you the gorgeous pink-ish color you are looking for. Heat till simmering a bit. Stir in cheese + basil. Stir. Carefully taste. Add salt + pepper. You will know when the sauce is ready. It’s going to stick to the back of your spoon and be right where you want it.
I love salt, so I will always add more salt. You could add crushed red pepper into the sauce now, or just let peeps add at the table.
Cook pasta per instructions on box. There is no magic here. I like my pasta al dentè, so I tend to undercook pasta for more bite.
Add cooked Pasta to sauce, stir. This is pretty sexual. It should be. You are adding pasta to sauce to coat. I want the pasta dripping in sauce. It’s so good.
Serve. Eat.