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Pasta in Vodka Sauce +

An easy dish that can be tailored to your taste with a variety of ingredients. I make this with shrimp, spinach and mushrooms. Use your preferred ingredients to make it your own. Perfectly served with garlic bread and maybe an Italian side salad.
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Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • ¼ cup olive oil or avocado oil, divided
  • 1 lb raw frozen shrimp, thawed, rinsed & shelled can be omitted
  • 8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms can be omitted
  • 4 cloves minced or finely grated garlic
  • ¼ cup tomato paste
  • ¼ cup vodka
  • 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • fine salt
  • freshly ground pepper
  • 1 lb pasta, such as penne, farfalle (bowtie), campanelle (fluted), cellentani (corkscrew)
  • 10 oz chopped fresh spinach (or frozen, thawed & squeeze-drained)
  • grated parmesan, romano cheese for garnish topping

Method
 

  1. Prepare all ingredients to their listed state, i.e. slice mushrooms, chop fresh spinach, measure and set aside liquid ingredients, open canned ingredients, shell shrimp, mince garlic, add water & salt to large pot for pasta, etc.
  2. In a large pot, bring your generously salted water to a boil over high heat, then let simmer until ready for pasta. (You will use this pot to add the sauce/main ingredients when it is done, so select a good-sized pot.)
  3. Skip this step if you are NOT adding extra ingredients. If using extra ingredients, adjust as needed to fit your choices. In a deep-sided frying pan, heat about one-half of the oil over medium heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the shrimp and toss until just pink, then remove to a bowl and set aside. Add the mushrooms to the frying pan and saute until slightly browned. Remove mushrooms and add to the bowl with the shrimp.
  4. Add the remaining oil (or all of it if not using extra ingredients) and heat until shimmering. Add the garlic and tomato paste, stirring consistently until fragrant and darkened in color, about 2 minutes.
  5. Add the vodka and bring the mixture to a bubbly boil. Let the mixture bubble vigorously to cook off the harshness of the alcohol in the vodka, less than a minute or so.
  6. Add the crushed tomatoes, heavy cream, and chopped fresh spinach.* Stir to evenly combine. Reduce the heat to low and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let simmer and cover to prevent splattering while you cook the pasta.
    *(If using frozen spinach, do not add until the end.)
  7. Increase the heat under the simmering pot of water to boiling, then add pasta. Boil for 2 minutes less than suggested on the pasta package to an al dente or firm texture. (It will finish cooking in the sauce.)
  8. Before draining the pasta, reserve 1 cup of the pasta water and mix it into the vodka sauce. Drain pasta and return to the pot.
  9. Pour the vodka sauce over the pasta, add the set-aside shrimp and mushrooms (and frozen spinach if using) to the mix, and then stir until all ingredients are evenly covered in sauce. Put low flame/heat under the pot and cook for about 2 minutes so that the pasta can absorb some of the sauce.
  10. Dish into individual serving bowls and top with grated cheese, if desired. Mangia!

Notes

You can find the original recipe here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/penne-vodka-sauce-spinach/