A white vodka pasta.
Ryan Michelle Bathe is my
P-I-C, partner in cooking!
(both cheer)
We're making a white pasta sauce.
And this is optional-- Okay.
But we're starting with a little bit of chopped pancetta,
that's cooking out in olive oil with a dab of butter.
Then you gather that chopped fennel, you add it to the pan
(rapid tapping)
Okay. With your pancetta,
and we can also add a small onion which we also chopped.
And then just turn your heat up a little bit, Ryan,
so that it gets-- Okay.
So that it gets going for us.
Now, mine is getting nice and mushy,
so I'm gonna add some garlic.
Okay.
Okay, now we're gonna add a little sprinkle of flour,
you only need about a tablespoon.
Okay.
We're making a little, teeny-tiny, itty-bitty bit of roux.
Ah, okay. And now we're gonna add
a good 1/2 cup of vodka.
So I don't measure,
I do two slow turns of the pan, about 1/2 a cup.
Now we're going to let the alcohol burn off
and let the liquid reduce.
Okay. And we're gonna add
a squirt of the lemon, okay?
Mm-hmm. A big, old squirt of lemon.
Now we're gonna drop our pasta,
I have egg tagliatelle, you have fettuccine.
Salt your water, it's always important to salt the water
when we cook dry pasta because--
Okay.
We are seasoning the pasta itself.
Okay. Okay?
And then drop her right in there,
and it should take about six or seven minutes
for it to be a little bit shy of al dente.
Back in our pan it looks like this delicious, heavenly mush.
Okay, now we're gonna add the half-and-half for the cream,
and then you gotta turn the stove as low as she goes.
Okay, half-and-half cream.
♪ Low, low, low, low, low, low, low. ♪
Okay.
And now we're gonna add your choice,
if you want spicy add red pepper.
My mom and my sis like white pepper,
I'm gonna add a little white pepper.
All right.
And we're gonna add a little bit of grated nutmeg.
You don't want it to taste like eggnog,
just go a little around the pan.
Okay. That's about good.
I put in about 1/8 of a teaspoon.
All right, now-- All right.
Take your jar for your dressing,
(glass clinking)
and I put in one shallot graded or chopped, this big.
I grate it, so it's easy.
But I have-- Okay.
One small shallot and I have a fat clove of garlic, okay?
That's what I have here.
Okay. Put it in your jar.
Put that in your jar.
I have dry thyme and dry parsley.
About a teaspoon each. Okay.
That goes right in there. Okay.
Salt and pepper,
about a teaspoon each.
And then a drizzle-- Okay.
Of honey or a teaspoon of sugar.
I'm putting in a good old round teaspoon of Dijon,
three tablespoons, I just count to three slowly,
of white balsamic or white wine vinegar.
And then you're gonna add
about 1/3 of a cup of olive oil, EVOO,
and just (muffled speech) on.
Make sure it's on nice and tight,
you don't want to ruin that pretty dress
and give it a shake. That's nice, than you.
Shake, shake, shake, shake,
shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake.
And that's all there is to that.
Now comes the exciting part.
Take a little of your starchy cooking water, reserve that.
Okay? Okay.
Off to the side about, I don't know, about 1/2 a cup
and then we're going to turn off the stove
and we're going to drain the pasta.
So we're gonna add all the pasta to all the sauce,
a little grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
I'm putting in a good handful of grated cheese here.
Then turn off your sauce, as well, turn everybody off.
And we just-- Everybody's off.
Start working it together.
And then as you go,
Ryan, add a little of your starchy water
to loosen it up and keep it moving.
I'm gonna put the pasta right on the table in the pan.
You can transfer it to a platter if you like.
I want you to try one piece of it though,
you gotta steal some.
And then I'm gonna pour-- Oh, yeah.
The dressing down over our salad.
Okay.
And that's a beautiful meal that we just made,
literally together, in less than 20 minutes.
(sparkly chime)