You can buy pretty good jars of pre-made Vodka sauce at the grocery store (I used to like Trader Joe’s in the US). But if you ever fancy making your own, here’s a tasty KP original recipe for ya! Serve over hot cooked pasta with lots of parmesan cheese. Delish!
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons butter
2 shallots, chopped
2 (14 oz. each) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (14 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 small cans tomato paste
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
Pinch of granulated sugar
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
12 oz. fresh white mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup vodka
2 cups heavy cream
Cooked pasta and freshly grated parmesan cheese, for serving
Directions:
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan, over medium high heat.
- Add shallots and saute until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
- Add chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste to saucepan.
- Using a handheld blender, puree sauce until desired consistency.
- Stir in Italian seasoning, basil, garlic powder, sugar, salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil.
- Cover and reduce heat to low.
- Simmer 1 hour to concentrate flavors.
- While sauce is cooking, heat butter in a skillet over medium heat.
- Add mushrooms and saute until golden.
- Carefully add vodka and simmer 5 minutes to cook off alcohol.
- Stir in heavy cream and just bring to a simmer.
- Pour cream mixture into tomato puree. Stir to combine.
- Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.
- Serve sauce over hot cooked pasta, and top with lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese.
I learned my lesson with the sherry!! I bought a small bottle of vodka–in fact it was flask size. Did feel a bit weird at the checkout buying a flask with Emily in the cart though!!
So now do you have a giant bottle of vodka in addition to the enormous sherry bottle? 😉