I’m going out on a limb here by saying I don’t like vodka, so the idea of vodka sauce never really appealed to me. I couldn’t imagine it tasting good with pasta.  A few days ago, my friend Karen brought some really yummy spinach and cheese stuffed gnocchi with vodka sauce for her lunch. Of course I tried it and thought it was delicious.  I was thinking about trying a new recipe for dinner this week and decided to give the vodka sauce a try.  I searched for a few recipes online and ended up using one from cooks.com. I changed a few things as I went along and kept my fingers crossed.  It was a very simple recipe and tasted really, really good.

Ingredients

• 1 cup vodka
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I skipped this, but may try it next time)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 pound prosciutto, chopped (I used 4 thin slices of pancetta instead)
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium shallot, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine vodka and red pepper flakes. Set aside for 1 hour.(see note above)
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
3. Saute pancetta, garlic, shallots, salt and pepper until pancetta is evenly browned.
4. Pour in vodka mixture, and simmer 10 minutes.
   
5. Add tomatoes, and stir in with 2 cans of tomato sauce, parsley and basil.
   
6. Simmer 15 minutes.
7. Stir in 1 cup heavy cream, and cook 2 minutes.
   

   

My Notes:
1 cup of vodka seemed like a lot, so I cut it back to 3/4 cup.  After tasting the sauce, I will try it with the recommended 1 cup next time.  Zoe was eating with us tonight, so I did not add the crushed pepper flakes.  Jose and Jason both said they’d like it with a bit of heat, so I may add them to the vodka next time, like the recipe states. I did not have prosciutto so I used thinly sliced pancetta instead. Next time, I’ll use a chunk so I can dice it better, but it worked out ok. I did not add the 1 cup of water because the sauce would have been too runny.  I recommend keeping it handy just in case the sauce needs to be thinned out.  Also, I am not sure 2 cans of tomato sauce are needed. I’m not even sure one is.  I would cut back to one can, and then try it with out any and see if it makes a difference.  Finally, in my photo you see half and half.  After I took the photo, I realized I had heavy cream in the fridge so I DID use that as the recipe stated.

Ciao!