Ina Garten-Inspired Penne Alla Vodka
The most common thing said about this dish is that the vodka does nothing and you can leave it out. That is not quite right, and the reason is interesting.
A number of the aroma compounds in tomato are soluble in alcohol but poorly soluble in water or fat. In a plain tomato sauce they stay bound up and never reach your nose. Add alcohol and they are released into the sauce and into the steam above it. The vodka itself contributes no flavour — that is the point of using vodka rather than wine — it acts as a solvent for flavour that is already there.
It also helps the cream and tomato stay combined rather than separating, which is the second thing it is quietly doing.
Jump to the recipe ↓Ina Garten-Inspired Penne Alla Vodka
Serves 6 · Main
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Total
- 40 min
Moderate8 steps, 12 ingredients
Ingredients
- 500 g penne
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tbsp tomato purée
- 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
- 120 ml vodka
- 1 x 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
- 200 ml double cream
- 80 g Parmesan, grated, plus more to serve
- 2 tsp kosher salt, black pepper
- handful basil
Method
- Soften the onion in the oil . Add the garlic and chilli.8 minutes
- Add the tomato purée and cook , stirring, until it darkens to brick red.2 minutes
- Pour in the vodka and simmer , until the raw alcohol smell has gone.2–3 minutes
- Add the tinned tomatoes and salt. Simmer.15 minutes
- Stir in the cream and warm through.
- Boil the penne short, reserving a mugful of water.1 minute
- Finish the pasta in the sauce, tossing with a splash of pasta water until it clings.
- Off the heat, add the Parmesan and basil.
Cook the alcohol off, but not entirely
Simmer for two or three minutes after the vodka goes in: enough to lose the raw spirit burn, not so long that all of it evaporates. Some has to remain in the finished sauce for the effect to hold. If it smells sharp, keep going; if it smells of nothing, you have gone too far.
Cook the tomato purée until it darkens
Tomato purée straight from the tube tastes tinny and raw. Fried in the oil with the onions for two full minutes it turns from bright red to brick and loses that edge entirely. This step takes almost no time and is skipped almost universally.
Finish the pasta in the pan
Draining pasta and ladling sauce over it leaves two separate things on a plate. A minute in the pan with the sauce and a splash of starchy water and the sauce grips every tube. This is true of every pasta dish and it is the habit worth building.
Storing
Three days. The sauce alone freezes for three months; cooked pasta in it does not. Reheat gently with a splash of water — a hard boil will split the cream.
Questions people ask
Does the vodka actually do anything?
Yes. It dissolves aroma compounds that water and fat cannot, and it helps hold the cream and tomato together.
Can I leave it out?
You will still have a good tomato cream sauce. It will smell and taste less of tomato than it could.
Can I use gin or wine instead?
Wine brings its own flavour and less alcohol. Gin brings botanicals. Vodka is chosen precisely because it tastes of nothing.
Is there alcohol in the finished dish?
A small amount remains, deliberately. Most of it cooks off.
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