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A very nice gourmet version of the penne with vodka based sauce recipes.
Flavorful ingredients such as pancetta (or smoked bacon), red pepper flakes,
(chili pequins), non fat half and half (you can use the real stuff if you
want), and tomatoes, enlivens this penne with vodka based sauce immensely.
We use pancetta or bacon more and more as a flavoring agent.
In what would otherwise be a rather mundane, light tomato-based fish stew,
crispy bacon bits really kicks it up to a gourmet dish with sensational
layers of flavor. Many plain tomato sauces can benefit from this smoky
"enhancement".
Also, we use non-fat half and half more and more to cut the
fat, finding that the results are acceptably similar to using the whole fat
product.
Anyway, here is another example of how we are trying to make
your cooking life more "interesting".
New Italian Recipes Presents:
Penne With Vodka And Tomato-Cream Sauce
Ingredients:
About 4 slices of pancetta or smoked bacon, diced and cooked until crisp.
Drain on a paper towel.
1 lb. dried Italian tubular pasta,-such as penne, cooked to desired doneness
and drained but not rinsed. (Leave the starch intact. It helps to hold the
sauce).
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced.
1/2 red or green bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup diced celery
3-5 cloves garlic, sliced. (Sliced garlic that is not razor thin will hold
up better in cooking. Finely diced is easily burned and may turn bitter)
1 T flour
2 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 t crushed red peppers-(hot red pepper flakes), or to taste
2 cups
homemade tomato sauce.
3/4 cup chicken stock
2 T Vodka
1 c non-fat half and half
2 T freshly chopped rosemary leaves
3-4 T fresh Italian, flat-leaf parsley, diced
1/4 cup parmigiano-reggianno, grated.
Preparation:
In a sauce pan, prepare the tomato sauce. (Tomato Sauce Recipe Link)
Over medium low heat, warm 1-2 T olive oil in skillet.
Add the onions, bell pepper and celery and "sweat" for about
5 minutes. (This is the famed Cajun "trinity", by the way, but it works
really well in Italian, also).
Add garlic and sauté for about 2 more minutes.
Add flour. Mix in well until flour soaks up juices.
Add balsamic vinegar. Reduce liquid by about half.
Add bacon or pancetta and red pepper flakes.
Add the tomato sauce and chicken stock, rosemary and vodka.
Reduce liquid by about half.
Add the cooked and drained pasta and combine it with the
penne with vodka sauce. (Note:) Time the pasta so it goes directly from the
drainer into the sauce, that is the best method we've found to produce
"perfectly done" pasta.
Add the half and half, stir it in quickly, then remove the
pan from the heat.
Garnish with Parsley and parmigiano-reggiano.
Vodka with penne is a rich dish, but the sauce is very light
from the tomato standpoint. You might try a cabernet sauvignon of a light
red zinfandel with this one.
Similar sauces to this one work well when you add a lot of
basil into the tomato sauce as you make it. By that, I mean a couple of cups
of loosely chopped basil, much more than is called for in the
basic, homemade tomato sauce recipe. Experiment. That's what gourmet
cooking is all about.
Buon appetito always!
Brought to you with love from
Aunt Aletha and Dear Old Dave
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