Pioneer Woman's Vodka Sauce

By cassiestott

Ingredients

• 1 pound Pasta
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Chopped Finely
• 2 cloves (to 3 Cloves) Garlic, Chopped
• 3/4 cups (to 1 Cup) Vodka
• 1 can (About 14 Oz.) Tomato Puree
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• 1 pinch Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon (to 1/2 Teaspoon) Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
• 1 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 40mins
Adapted from thepioneerwoman.com

Preparation

Step 1

In any event, cook 1 pound of pasta according to package directions, being careful NOT to overcook it. Overcooked pasta is a sacrilege.

In a skillet over medium to medium-low heat, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter. Add onions until translucent.

Add the chopped garlic on top…

Stir around to combine.

Let this cook for two minutes over medium-low heat. You want it to sizzle, but not burn.

After two minutes, pour in 3/4 cup of vodka. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, go ahead and make it a cup. Either way is fine.

Let this mixture cook for three minutes. It’ll start reducing just a bit.

Next, pour in 1 can of tomato puree. You can definitely use tomato sauce, too, but it’ll result in a slightly thinner vodka sauce. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Stir the mixture…

Until it’s thoroughly combined.

REDUCE HEAT TO LOW.

Pour in 1 cup of heavy cream. No, you can’t use whole milk. No, you can’t use half-n-half. Where’s your pluck? Where’s your courage?

Gently stir the mixture…

Until it’s a creamy, dreamy, light-colored mixture.

Make sure the heat is very, very low—I put it on the lowest simmer possible. Then sprinkle in a healthy pinch of red pepper flakes. This is optional if you can’t HANDLE the heat.

Add at LEAST 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

This is important: cooking with wine decreases the need for much salt. But cooking with vodka doesn’t—you really need to make sure you salt this adequately.

Give it a stir, making sure the heat’s not too high.

Next, because you’re a rebel like me, add one more tablespoon of butter.

QUICK TIP: Just before you drain the pasta, stick a cup in there and retrieve a cup or so of the cooking water. That way, if the pasta sauce winds up being too gloopy or thick after you toss it with the pasta, you can splash some in to make it stirrable.

Turn off the skillet. Then drain the pasta and add it to the skillet. I usually add in about 3/4 of the pasta first to make sure I’ll have enough sauce, then add in the rest if necessary.

Once it’s all tossed together, add in most of the grated Parmesan and toss it together, too.