Penne with Vodka Sauce (p. 328), Madras (p. 58) and White Russian (p. 58)

I had no idea what I wanted to make on Saturday night--but I knew I wanted it to be fast! I settled on Penne with Vodka Sauce (p. 328). First off, I had bought a bottle of plain vodka, so it didn't need to be Penne with Vanilla Vodka sauce, unlike the Vanilla Bloody Mary catastrophe. Secondly, I had never had penne with vodka sauce and it sounded interesting. Looking the recipe over was eye-opening--this is the least spiced pasta sauce I've ever seen.


The first step is to soften some butter in olive oil and add some garlic. I love garlic, so I added extra.







Next step...add tomatoes, vodka, and crushed red pepper! I'm a big proponent of the idea--don't cook with any alcohol that you wouldn't drink...





It looked pretty tasty...




And then heavy cream is added in to give it that pinky tinge of all vodka sauces...





The drained penne is then drained and added to the sauce. Parmesan is mixed in and it's ready to go. Easy and fast!




It was good! Really good! And Josh liked it to. This is a nice dish to add into the rotation when we need something quick to heat up (and are out of real sauce).


I HATE reheated pasta because it gets mushy. How I get around this (a lesson taught to me by my mom) is to fry it up in some olive oil. That way the mushyness is totally averted. I imagine this is what they did before microwaves--I'm not a fan of microwaves anyway because they make everything.



I decided to mix us up a couple drinks to go with dinner (because I'm woefully behind on that chapter). The first drink I made--the Madras (p. 58). Vodka, cranberry juice, and orange juice--2 oz of each.




Now, I know that I always say that TJOC underseasons food. Let me state for the record that they mix a stout cocktail. The drink was good--but plenty strong! And the cranberry and orange tasted like grapefruit, which was strange. Very drinkable though!




I followed that up with a White Russian (p. 58). Vodka, heavy cream, and Kahlua--yum! Very very tasty. TJOC says that a Black Russian is the same thing without the cream--I always thought a Black Russian included coffee. Does anyone know the answer to that?