This recipe has vodka in it so it’s technically a cocktail. And it’s pasta. A combination of two incredible things!

As always, if you dig this recipe, tag me at @draggedthroughthegarden on instagram and we can talk about pasta.

Penne Alla Vodka. Stirred, not shaken.

PENNE ALLA VODKA

prep time: 15 minutes
cook time: 30 minutes

No cashews required.

To reiterate, this dish is pretty easy to make and most of the time that goes into it is simmer time. So you can clean up whatever mess you make. This recipe will be split into two halves. The soup itself, and the bread that accompanies.

What you’ll need:

sweet onion
garlic
vegan butter
olive oil
penne
canned tomatoes
vodka (or vinegar)
soy milk
oat flour
salt
pepper
cayenne pepper
dried basil
fresh basil
mozz/parm (for topping)

First, dice up half of a white onion and a whole bulb of garlic. You can use less garlic if you want, but the more the better. Heat up some olive oil in a pan and toss in your onion and garlic. Add salt, pepper and cayenne and let them cook for a few. Stir frequently to prevent burning. Add half a cup of vodka into the pan and let the alcohol cook out for a few minutes. If you don’t wanna use vodka, you can use some kind of vinegar as a substitute.

You don’t have to dice them super fine, because they will end up in the blender. The vodka will take only about two minutes to cook out.

Next open your can of tomatoes, and add three cups right into the pan. Splash a little extra olive oil in there too. Stir up the whole mess so your tomatoes cook out.

You could just stop the recipe here and enjoy a deconstructed Bloody Mary!

Add some dried basil and continue to stir. Once your mixture looks….mixed, throw all of the contents of your pan into a blender. Throw a few leaves of fresh basil in there too.

Pulse the contents of your blender until it reaches the desired consistency you want. I went extra smooth but having some texture in there won’t hurt.

Leave your newly blended red soup in the container for now.

Next, you can cook your pasta. Follow the directions on your penne and don’t forget to salt your water when you boil it. Once they are cooked, drain the pasta but leave some of the water in the pot and put your penne back in there. Add a generous splash of olive oil to prevent the pasta from sticking to the pot.

Next, you’re going to make a roux and the second part of your sauce. This will act as the heavy cream/cashew/whatever substitute and bring some real thiccness to your sauce. If you don’t want the sauce super thicc, cut the amounts in half. Personally, I made it quite thicc. THICC.

After your pan is cooled off, give it a good wipe and get all the tomato junk out of there. Once it’s clean, add a big ol’ knob of vegan butter in there along with a splash of olive oil. Using a sieve, add an equal amount of oat flour right into the pan and STIR! STIR! STIR! To reiterate for the thousandth time, always sieve your flour to prevent clumping.

Once your roux looks like that, heat up a cup of soy milk in the microwave for like 30 seconds. Almond or oat will work fine, coconut will be too sweet. Once it’s warm, add it little by little into the pan and keep stirring. You warm the soy milk up some so your mixture doesn't just harden up right off the bat.

Now, go find the blender contents of tomato juice you made earlier and whisk that right into your pan as well. Do this on a medium-low flame and gradually bring the temperature up.

Now take your penne and add it directly into the sauce and stir til everything is coated evenly.

Simmer the pasta in the sauce for a little bit and chop down from of that fresh basil. If you have mozz/parm on hand, grate that and use them both for topping. You can use parsley too if you’d like.

Now you can eat your pasta and pair it with bread because you know what goes well with carbs? More carbs.