This is a perfect recipe for Cucina Bizzarra: an American desecration of a classic Italian dish -- pasta with tomato sauce -- that somehow still manages to taste good. Apparenly, penne alla vodka is the winner of a '70s recipe contest promoting vodka. Restaurants in US have featured it ever since (I saw it on the menu this Friday, with Tequila providing the octane).Place the pasta pot on the heater. Chop up canned whole tomatoes -- some coarsely, some finely -- discarding the cores. Also mince the onions and dice the garlic. Heat oil over medium heat, cook chopped onions and tomato paste for a few minutes, then add garlic and hot pepper flakes, and in less than a minute stir in tomatoes and vodka. For best timing start simmering the sauce at the same time that you drop the pasta into the boiling pot of water. Salt both. Stir cream into the sauce after 8-10 minutes and soon after toss the pasta in it. Add fresh basil and parmesano to taste.
- 1 big can (28-oz) whole tomatoes
- 1/2 small onion, minced
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 tsp hot red pepper flakes
- 1/3 cup vodka
- 1/2 cup ("heavy") cream
- 1 lb penne pasta
- fresh basil
- Parmesan cheese
- olive oil
- salt