Rigatoni with Vodka Sauce

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter

• 1 medium yellow onion, diced

• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced or thinly sliced

• Pinch or more of red pepper flakes

• Kosher salt

• One 4.5 ounce tube of concentrated tomato paste or 6-ounce can tomato paste

• One 14.5 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 1 lb. of rigatoni or penne

• 1/4 cup vodka

• ½ cup grated parmesan, plus more for serving

Instructions

In a large saucepan or small dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat.  Add onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, season with salt and cook stirring frequently over a lower heat to prevent browning, about 10 minutes.

Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, until tomato paste is fragrant and thick, about 3 minutes.  Stir in canned tomatoes with their liquid stirring and crushing them, until thickened slightly about 10 minutes.

Add cream and stir to incorporate.  Transfer sauce to a blender and blend until very smooth, then return to pot and season slightly with salt.

In a medium pot of very salty boiling water, cook pasta until shy of al dente, about 3 minutes less than the package recommends.  About 1 minute before you add pasta to the sauce, add the vodka to tomato sauce and bring to gentle simmer.

Using a slotted spoon or spider skimmer, transfer pasta directly to sauce with a ½ cup of pasta water.  (You can also reserve about 2 cups of pasta water, and drain pasta then add to the sauce).  Increase heat to high and cook, stirring constantly until pasta is coated and reaches al dente…about 3 minutes.  Add more pasta water if sauce is too thick.  

Remove from heat and stir in cheese.  Season with more salt if necessary and serve with more cheese.

-Shelby