Drunk on Pasta: 100% Clean Vodka Pasta Sauce

If you haven't noticed already I am crazy about making sauces, mainly because gluten-free pasta just doesn't taste the same as the real stuff. Regardless, I can't claim to be a sauce expert, specialist or even a sauce consultant but I AM someone who just delights in making them.

My best friend is actually in culinary school and could probably put my sauces to shame but this blog isn't about first class recipes, it's about recipes that an everyday person can make easily. So as you read over my blog please keep in mind I am just your average girl who has a 40 hour a week job that tries to find easy and delicious ways to be healthy.

So vodka sauce has always been one of my favorite sauces to flood my pasta with and although it is not the healthiest sauce, it can be healthier if you make it yourself!

Necessary ingredients:

Tomatoes (5 big ones, or 7 roma ones)
Heavy Cream ( 1 cup)
Red Pepper Flakes (less than a handful)
Parmesan ( 1/2 cup)
Onion ( 1/2 cup, finely chopped)
Garlic (1-2 clove, finely chopped)
Vodka (1 cup)
Mushrooms (optional)
Red Bell Pepper (option)
Herbs (optional)


First step is to cut up all of your tomatoes and bake them! You can make sauce by putting them on the stove top, but I am a big fan of baking the tomatoes and while they bake cutting up the other ingredients. So set your oven to 350 degrees and throw the tomatoes in the pan with some olive oil drizzled over the top with your herbs and red bell pepper.
Let it bake for 15 minutes.

In the meantime...slice up your onions, garlic and mushrooms finely and put them in a pan on the stove-top on low heat with some olive oil. Letting garlic simmer is just by far the best thing you can do to add flavor to your food and a nice smell to your house. During this time I also tend to get water boiling for the pasta.

After the tomatoes are nice and soft go ahead and put them in the blender for 10 seconds max and then pour into the pan with the garlic and onion. If you notice, the pan I use is more of a wok so that the sauce doesn't spill everywhere.

I then turn the heat up to high and bring the tomatoes to a boil. Once at a boil pour the cream and vodka in and let it sit on low heat for 4-5 minutes. I added some red flakes and cheese after everything looked and smelled perfect. The sauce turned out AMAZING, and even though it is not as healthy as a pure tomato sauce, this sauce has very little sodium because I added zero salt. When you have garlic, onions and herbs there is no need for other seasonings!

I think a sauce like this is fun to make and can be made differently according to a person's taste. I would be interested to see what other vodka sauce recipes are out there, but in this moment right now..I am enjoying this rich sauce poured over my gluten-free pasta and ground beef.

Enjoy!

xxooxox