Penne alla Vodka
Nigella Lawson's recipe. I like to add a pinch of red pepper flakes and a big handful of fresh basil. Sometimes I sprinkle with pine nuts. Yum!
Nigella Lawson's recipe. I like to add a pinch of red pepper flakes and a big handful of fresh basil. Sometimes I sprinkle with pine nuts. Yum!
- Carbohydrate 71.7215031000692 g
- Cholesterol 103.329513782633 mg
- Fat 13.3333030052625 g
- Fiber 1.87099381277561 g
- Protein 15.9103571767512 g
- Saturated Fat 5.74080824514631 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (257g)
- Sodium 315.016104067825 mg
- Sugar 69.8505092872935 g
- Trans Fat 3.98300777226294 g
- Calories 498 calories
Step-by-step
- Place a large saute pan over medium low heat and add onion, oil and a sprinkling of salt. Saute until slightly carmelized, about 10 minutes.
- Add tomatoes and their juices, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add cream, and remove from heat.
- Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and toss with butter, vodka and a pinch of salt. Add tomato mixture, mix well, and topwith parmesan.
Standard recipes rarely account for the physical reality of starch cooling inside a refrigerator. Pasta absorbs liquid continuously as it sits, turning a glossy sauce into a bound, heavy mass by day two. Reheating requires deliberate intervention rather than direct heat, which breaks dairy emulsions instantly. Adding two tablespoons of water per serving to the pan before applying medium-low heat restores the original moisture content without diluting the tomato concentration.
Fat separation presents the primary risk during second-day warming. Butter and heavy cream destabilize when subjected to aggressive heat, resulting in an oily sheen on the pan surface. Maintaining burner temperatures below 200 degrees Fahrenheit protects the emulsion, ensuring the dairy reintegrates smoothly with the starch from the penne.
Substitutions alter these structural balances significantly. Omitting garlic-infused oil in favor of standard olive oil and raw minced cloves changes the aromatic profile and introduces solids that burn faster during the initial ten-minute onion saute. Utilizing half-and-half instead of heavy cream reduces viscosity by roughly forty percent, requiring a longer simmer time to achieve comparable coating thickness on the pasta tubes.
