Fabulous Penne a La Vodka

Submitted by mosma

"This is the best Penne a la Vodka I have ever had! I cannot even order it in restaurants anymore, since it will never stand up to this fantastic recipe!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 15mins
• Ingredients: 15
• Serves: 6-8

ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1⁄4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 6 -8 fresh basil leaves, chopped or 1/8 teaspoon dried basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 8 tablespoons butter, divided
• 12 ounces fresh white mushrooms, quartered, about 3 cups
• 1⁄8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 1⁄2 cup vodka
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 1⁄2 lbs rigatoni pasta or 1 1/2 lbs penne
• 1⁄4 cup dry parmesan cheese, plus additional for the table

directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan; when hot, saute the onions until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes to the saucepan.
2. Stir in the oregano, basil, salt and pepper and simmer 1 hour to concentrate flavors.
3. While the sauce is cooking, heat 4 T of the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Saute the mushrooms and hot pepper flakes until the mushrooms are golden.
4. Carefully add the vodka and simmer for 5 minutes to cook off the alcohol.
5. Add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer; pour the cream mixture into the tomato puree; stir to mix. Keep the sauce warm while cooking the pasta.
6. Add the kosher salt to 6 quarts of water. Bring to a rolling boil. Add pasta to boiling water; cook uncovered until pasta is al dente, about 12 minutes. Drain well.
7. Melt the remaining 4 T of butter in a large skillet. Stir in pasta to glaze, then add Parmesan cheese and mix thoroughly. Stir in 1/3 or the sauce and mix with the pasta; divide among plates. Top each plate with some additional sauce; pass remaining sauce and additional cheese at the table.

Reviews

[Michelle Figueroa]

All I can add is WOW. This is my first taste of penne vodka and now I can't even imagine ordering it in a restaurant. I picked the recipe but asked my husband to cook it one night after work, thinking it was a quick dinner. It took him a long time and we had a good joke over that.......the first night we ate this, we both went on and one about how good it was. For leftovers, we put this in a dish and topped with parmesan cheese. He then baked it and it was just as fabulous as it was the first night. For two people, this could be three dinners! I can't wait to make this for company. Thank you so much for posting.

 

[PatchesNY]

Absolutely perfect!!!!!!!! This is hands down the number 1 Alla Vodka recipe there is! We have a restaurant on Long Island in NY called Cirella's and it is the only place that can compare. There is no restaurant that can touch Cirella's so the fact that this recipe is on the same level is really saying something!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TOP NOTCH AN ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE RECIPE!!

 

[MUFFYW]

This recipe is FABULOUS. I made it both w/ fresh basil and dried and of course, fresh is best, but dried was good too. Only change I made is using tomato sauce instead of crushed, only because I would then have to deseed it because a family member can't have seeds. I made 1 1/2 times the red sauce and added all of the white sauce and it was just delicious. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.

 

[cf____]

This was restaurant quality for sure! Made as written except only sautéed mushrooms in 2 T of butter, and used only 2 C of whip cream, we didn't miss the extra fat a bit! Tasted so rich and flavorful. I hadn't had vodka in pasta before and the alcohol flavor completely cooked off. Thank you, we will be making this again.

 

[tamarams]

This recipe is awesome! I added chicken to my penne a la vodka and it came out Absolutely delicious! My hubby felt like we were eating restaurant grade pasta! DELICIOUS!