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Vodka Rigatoni

Inspired by a bottle of vodka discovered in our liquor cabinet during quarantine and with some guidance from Bon Appetit.

Ingredients

  • Salt
  • 1 large yellow onion; finely chopped
  • 5 garlic cloves; firmly smashed and chopped
  • 4 oz parm
  • 2 T evoo
  • 9 oz tomato paste - if using double concentrate tomato paste, use only 4.5 oz
  • ½ t crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 oz vodka
  • ⅔ heavy cream
  • 1 lb rigatoni - sub penne or other fav tubular pasta
  • 1 cup pasta water
  • Basil and more parm for serving

Method

  1. Heat water over high heat on one of your front burners - when it starts to form bubbles, add salt with your hand, this helps not to over salt, but you want a salty sea of water for your pasta.
  2. Chop the onion and garlic; smash first then chop
  3. Grate 4 oz of parm
  4. Heat dutch oven on high heat on your other front burner, add 2 T evoo and cook onion, garlic until it starts to brown, lower heat to medium and cook about 5-7 minutes.
  5. Add tomato paste and crushed red pepper flakes. Continuously stirring to coat onions and garlic. Color will transform to a deep but bright reddish brown over 5-7 minutes.
  6. Add vodka! Deglaze here for a few minutes, stirring to scrape up bits on the bottom. Reduce heat to low.
  7. Temper the cream! Then add to sauce. Using a heat proof measuring cup, grab ¼ cup of the hot water from the "about to be pasta" water. Mix this with the ⅔ cup cream. Then slowly add tempered cream to the tomato paste mixture, stirring and slowing adding more until a smooth sauce starts to form. Give it a few more stirs and then remove from heat.
  8. Once water is boiling, add rigatoni and cook until just al dente about 10-12 minutes - refer to cooking instructions with your pasta as this can vary.
  9. Using a spider or slotted spoon, transfer pasta to the sauce. All those water droplets are necessary here, full of starch and welcome to the party. Reserve 1 cup pasta water.
  10. Stir sauce to evenly coat all the pasta, then add ½ cup pasta liquid, stirring to create silky, glossy consistency. Typically, ½ cup pasta water is perfect, but add more pasta water if you want/need to thin the sauce. You are going for a smooth - silk degrees - lowdown - barry white - d'angelo - solange mixtape here.
  11. Serve immediately! Finish with basil and more parm.