- Looking to make a restaurant-quality Italian dish at home?
Then you've gotta try my penne alla vodka recipe.
Creamy, delicious, lots of tomato flavor,
and it goes with everything.
Hey, you're watching Preppy Kitchen, where I, John Kanell,
teach you how to make delicious home-cooked dishes
to share with your family and friends.
This penne alla vodka will be ready before you know it,
so let's get started.
First off, we have a little prep to do.
1 1/2 cups of diced onion,
that's about two smallish to medium onions.
However, you could add way more if you'd like.
Really quickly, I just wanna show you how I chop onions.
Use your knuckles as a guide.
When the knife is closer to your hand,
you actually have a lot more awareness and control,
so don't make big movements.
The knife is moving very little,
but your knuckles are guiding it
away from your precious fingertips,
which you need for so many things.
And then you can just give it a rough chop
after it's sliced.
Tragic if I cut myself after showing you this.
Oh my gosh, the fumes.
(chuckles)
(screaming and laughing) My eyes!
Okay, I'm better.
Last bit of prep, we have to mince some garlic up.
My recipe calls for four cloves, however,
four to six, four to eight, one head of garlic,
it's really totally up to you.
I would never judge
using more garlic than the recipe calls for.
And I say this all the time,
but whenever I see a recipe calling for garlic,
I know that people at home are gonna be
doubling or tripling the amount of garlic.
You can let me know in the comments
if you follow the recipe exactly.
It's always nice to give your garlic
a little smash or press,
helps to release the oils and it gets the skin right off.
All right, that's all done, dry your eyes,
and now get that Dutch oven or a large pot out.
Into a Dutch oven or a large pot over medium heat
we're gonna add about 1/4 cup, or 60 mL, of olive oil.
You'll know the olive oil is about ready for your onion
when you see it just starting to shimmer on the surface.
It's not ready.
Once your oil's heated up
and you see a little bit of a shimmer on the surface,
you're ready to add the onion, so just dump it all in.
But not the garlic, that burns easily.
Move it around so it's all coated with oil.
(onions sizzling)
We're gonna cook this down for about five minutes
while stirring occasionally,
but right now we have to add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt,
a good pinch of red pepper flakes.
When I saw this at the store,
I basically died and I had to buy it.
Brass, check.
Greek keys on it, and it's from Greece, check.
I'm Greek too, so...
Anyways, we're adding in 1/2 teaspoon or so of black pepper.
Stir, stir, stir.
We just wanna make sure that the onions
are all nice and softened, but not burning,
so just keep an eye on it and move it around.
It's so funny, because I actually don't at all like
penne alla vodka out of a bottle or a can,
but when you make it at home, it is completely different.
It's transcendently delicious.
Oh my gosh, you gotta make this recipe.
My onion's all softened,
and right now we're gonna add in that garlic.
We're gonna stir this around occasionally,
make sure it doesn't burn,
and just wait till it softens a bit,
probably around two minutes.
After the garlic's cooked for a little bit,
it's time to add in the signature flavor, besides tomato:
vodka, and it's not just a little drop,
it's a full cup, or 240 mLs.
I mean, it's a lot, but this is penne alla vodka.
Pour it in.
You wanna cook the alcohol off,
as well as using this to deglaze the pan,
so you're releasing those little brown bits.
Kind of stir it around, it's capturing all the flavor
of the caramelized garlic and onion in the Dutch oven.
If you're wondering what's the deal
with all the vodka in this sauce,
it's not for the alcohol, that all burns off.
However, the vodka has a sharp acidity
that really pairs well with the tomatoes,
and it gives you a nice depth of flavor
in the sauce as well.
By the by, just use a vodka that you would actually drink,
kinda the same rule as you would have
for using wine in a sauce.
It smells delicious. (chuckles)
As it's cooking down,
I'm adding about 2 tablespoons of tomato paste.
There you go. Plop it in and stir it around.
You wanna get it to dissolve a bit.
Once the tomato paste has cooked down a little bit,
it's time to add in one full 28-ounce can
of whole tomatoes or crushed tomatoes.
Here's the deal,
you can add the crushed tomatoes in, stir it up,
but if you add in the whole tomatoes,
and I'm gonna use my clean hands, so don't worry,
we're gonna break these up like this,
just by squeezing them.
It's a little gory, but it works,
and it gives you a lot of really great texture.
So if you like some texture in your sauce,
use the whole tomatoes.
If you don't, just use crushed tomatoes
and it'll come out delicious as well.
I really enjoy using the whole tomatoes in this recipe,
but my husband Bryan is a crushed tomato fan.
He's like, "What are these pieces?"
I'm like, "These are tomatoes." He's like, "Hm."
Whoa. Be careful, though, they're juicy.
Wash that hand. (chuckles)
After all the tomatoes are added in, reduce to low,
and we're gonna simmer this down for a while.
And while it's simmering,
let's add a little bit more salt to taste,
around one teaspoon.
Okay, stir that in.
We're gonna let this simmer down
for about 25 minutes, half an hour.
You wanna give all the garlic
and the onion and the red pepper time
to seep into the tomato and really flavor the sauce.
It definitely changes things,
so you can't skimp on the simmer time.
While this is simmering, though,
let's add some salt to boiling water and make our pasta.
(pasta clattering)
Once your pasta's ready, don't drain it.
Reserve a cup, or 240 mL, of the pasta water.
It's really good for loosening the sauce later if needed.
Drain the pasta, put it back in the pot,
and now let's finish off our sauce.
Take a look at this, you can see it's really silky,
it's cooked down, and the flavors have melded quite nicely.
Let's take this off heat.
We're gonna stir in 1/2 cup, or 120 mL, of heavy cream.
In you go.
It adds a lot of luxurious richness,
and it's just gonna make you have
a beautiful, silky mouthfeel to accompany this pasta.
Sauce.
Our final addition is about 1/2 cup of nice Parmesan cheese.
This is shaved, you could freshly grate yours if you'd like,
but it will melt either way.
We're just gonna stir it together,
and it'll all melt and be delicious.
Look at this sauce. This is so good.
My penne's cooked to al dente,
meaning it has a little toothiness to it
and it's not completely soft.
As we add it into our sauce,
it'll absorb some of the flavor and continue cooking a bit.
Stir the pasta in, and if you feel the sauce
is a little bit on the thick side,
go ahead and drizzle in some of the reserved pasta water.
This has starch the pasta threw off,
so it's gonna give you a nice
kinda silky binding agent situation,
as opposed to just dumping water in.
There we go.
This is ready for dinner tonight,
but first let's have a bite together,
I'm gonna plate some up.
I garnished my dish with a little bit more Parmesan,
a sprinkling of fresh basil leaves,
and now we're ready for a bite.
If you like this recipe, check out my Savory playlist.
All of my savory recipes in one playlist for you.
But now it's time for a bite.
Maybe a couple bites.
That is so good.
If you've only had penne alla vodka out of a jar,
you've gotta make this, your mind will be blown.
All right, I hope you get a chance to make this recipe,
and if you like my videos,
hit that Like button and subscribe,
and I'll see you in the next Savory video.