Hard work, serious cravings and a simple recipe: Penne Alla Vodka with Sausage

Penne Alla Vodka, a retro classic of uncertain heritage, combines tomatoes, butter, cream and vodka to create a lively, rich dinner. Leave out the sausage for a satisfying vegetarian meal. Recipe below.

FOR A SINGLE PERSON, OUR OLDER DAUGHTER OWNS A LOT OF STUFF. We know because we just helped her move. Professional movers were hired, but there were still things to pack and label (including six bookcases overflowing with books and a surprisingly vast collection of thrift-shopped ’80s prom dresses), stuff to sort and organize, donations to haul and deliver, recycling to, well, recycle.

Our role in this happened over multiple visits to Detroit, the most recent being a four-day full body workout and sleep deprivation experiment. Food happened only sporadically, mostly takeout and things foraged from our daughter’s fridge. Marion and I did get delicious burgers and cocktails one night at the bar of Red Dunn Kitchen in the hip, affordable Trumbull & Porter Hotel. We stayed at the hotel that night when high winds caused power outages across wide swaths of the city—yeah, that happened too.

So Sunday night, on the way back to Chicago, we of course talked about what we most wanted to eat when we got home. What Marion craved was pasta. The next day, an email in my inbox promised 55+ summer pastas. Flipping through them, I found Penne Alla Vodka, a ’70s Italian American classic (or invented in Italy in the ’60s and exported to America, depending on whose story you believe). The recipe looked doable, even to post-move me, and pretty darned good. So I picked up the couple of ingredients I didn’t have on hand, spent less than 45 minutes in the kitchen and Bob’s your uncle—or perhaps Roberto è tuo zio.

Penne Alla Vodka combines tomatoes, heavy cream, butter and vodka to create a smooth, orange-colored, tangy/rich sauce that coats the pasta rather than pooling in the pan or serving dishes. Crushed red pepper delivers a nice kick. And I added mild Italian sausage because we were both craving animal protein, but you can leave it out and have a satisfying vegetarian dish. Most recipes call for using canned crushed tomatoes, but I used canned petite diced tomatoes and still achieved the classic orange hue, along with little bites of tomato.

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Penne Alla Vodka with Sausage

Penne Alla Vodka, a retro classic of uncertain heritage, combines tomatoes, butter, cream and vodka to create a lively, rich dinner. Leave out the sausage to make it vegetarian.

Course Pasta

Cuisine Italian

Servings 2 to 3

Ingredients

• salt
• 1/2 pound dried penne rigate
• 1/2 pound sausage (leave it out for a vegetarian version)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1 14- ounce can petite diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup vodka
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pats
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and generously season with salt. Cook pasta until not quite al dente, 1 or 2 minutes short of package instructions. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water, and set aside.
• While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium flame. Add sausage and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned (you don’t have to cook completely—it will cook longer in sauce). Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate with a slotted spoon.
• Drain all but 2 tablespoons of oil from pan and cook onions until softened, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and crushed red pepper to pan and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 45 seconds.
• Add tomatoes and vodka, and season with salt and pepper. Return sausage to pan and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in heavy cream and butter.
• Add pasta to vodka sauce, tossing to combine. If sauce is too thick, add small amounts of pasta water, a little at a time. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until pasta has absorbed some of the sauce and become al dente. Top with Parmesan and parsley. Serve.

Kitchen Notes

How hot? The 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper added a decent kick to this dish—just how we like it. Depending on your heat tolerance, you can reduce that amount to 1/4 teaspoon. And honestly, plenty of recipes don’t call for it at all.