[1 - 1] so it's last Wednesday and I'm putting
[1 - 2] together my meal plan and I
[3 - 4] ceremoniously asked to learn the same
[4 - 6] question every week babe what do you
[6 - 8] want to eat next week she says the same
[8 - 11] thing every time the first thing is
[11 - 14] shrimp as Lauren loves shrimp second
[14 - 17] thing pasta alla vodka
[27 - 27] vodka sauce is something I don't even
[27 - 29] know about six years ago and now I can't
[29 - 31] live without it it's deep in the
[31 - 33] rotation at my house it's an extremely
[33 - 35] simple very easy to put together pasta
[35 - 38] dish that's basically cream tomato paste
[38 - 40] and Parmesan on top of some dried pasta
[40 - 42] this become my go-to move when I want
[42 - 44] people to think I'm really good at
[44 - 45] cooking I would equate this to going to
[45 - 47] a party picking up that acoustic guitar
[47 - 48] that's in the corner and just like
[48 - 50] effortlessly busting out the first few
[50 - 52] bars of blackboard and everybody's like
[52 - 54] Bravo I know you're such a good guitar
[54 - 56] player and then you're all like oh yeah
[56 - 57] no big deal which is something I know
[57 - 61] how to do so pasta alla vodka is too
[61 - 63] easy and too delicious to not be in your
[63 - 66] repertoire if you haven't made it now is
[66 - 68] the time I'm gonna show you how let's
[68 - 69] get into it for this recipe you're gonna
[69 - 72] need 1 pound of dried fusilli 350 grams
[72 - 74] or 1 cup heavy cream 100 grams or 1/2
[74 - 77] cup parmesan 100 grams or 2 little baby
[77 - 79] bottles of vodka 100 grams or 1/2 cup
[79 - 80] tomato paste basically a whole baby can
[80 - 83] 45 grams or 1/2 cup olive oil 2 grams or
[83 - 85] 1 teaspoon chili flake 60 grams our 1/4
[85 - 87] red onion 3 tablespoons butter and 4
[87 - 89] garlic cloves to start our pasta we need
[89 - 91] to do a little bit of prep we're gonna
[91 - 92] start with some knife work we're gonna
[92 - 95] medium dice a red onion then we're gonna
[95 - 97] slice 4 cloves of garlic just across
[97 - 99] wise nothing too specific here I like to
[99 - 101] keep these a little bit more rustic so
[101 - 103] we can get pops of onion pops of garlic
[103 - 105] in our pasta to the critics out there
[105 - 107] I agree pasta vodka from the outside in
[107 - 110] seems pretty dumb it's just heavy cream
[110 - 112] and tomato paste but I can say for sure
[112 - 114] that there's something else going on
[114 - 117] here that makes it really special it's
[117 - 119] hard to describe what it actually tastes
[119 - 120] like it is like a creamy tomato pasta
[120 - 122] but there's also like a super savory
[122 - 125] aromatic sharpness to it that I also
[125 - 127] can't describe it's spicy it's warm from
[127 - 128] the onions and garlic it's a little bit
[128 - 130] sweet it actually has a good amount of
[130 - 132] acid because of all of the tomato
[132 - 133] products you really have to taste it to
[133 - 135] get it I stumbled across the rest before
[135 - 137] in a magazine on a plane a bunch of
[137 - 138] years ago and I was like oh that looks
[138 - 140] kind of stupid but I tried it and it was
[140 - 143] crazy I was really surprised I'm also
[143 - 145] gonna grate my parmesan on the finest
[145 - 146] side of my box grater I kind of want
[146 - 148] parmesan dust I want something that's
[148 - 150] gonna dissolve into the sauce but also
[150 - 151] sit on top and provide unique little
[151 - 153] granules of parmesan the sour sauce
[153 - 154] we're gonna assemble everything we need
[154 - 156] by our Dutch oven we're gonna heat that
[157 - 160] ium hi and add in our olive oil once
[160 - 161] we're preheated we're gonna add in our
[161 - 163] onions and saute three to four minutes
[163 - 165] on high until starting to look like this
[165 - 167] at this point we're gonna add in our
[167 - 169] chili flake and bloom this in the oil
[169 - 171] we're gonna stir it up and let that fry
[171 - 173] for about 30 seconds before we add in
[173 - 178] our garlic so what are the details we
[178 - 180] need to hit to make you a pasta vodka
[180 - 182] legend in your own house the first thing
[182 - 183] is pasta you can find a hundred percent
[183 - 186] semolina bronze cup pasta that would be
[186 - 188] best-case-scenario fresh extruded pasta
[188 - 190] works really well too I'm using a fresh
[190 - 192] extruded fusilli penne is a shape that a
[192 - 194] lot of people use for pasta alla vodka
[194 - 196] and if you like that shape totally go
[196 - 198] for it it'll work just fine it's just
[198 - 198] not my favorite
[198 - 201] I prefer fusilli the second thing we
[201 - 203] want to pay attention to here is balance
[203 - 205] I'm using more tomato paste and more
[205 - 207] vodka than you'll see in a lot of
[207 - 208] recipes I want to make sure we're
[208 - 210] busting the acid in the sauce that we
[210 - 212] can counteract the fat in that one cup
[212 - 213] of heavy cream doubling down on the
[213 - 215] vodka to really helps us sort of build
[215 - 218] on that umami fruity quality of the
[218 - 219] tomato making sure that we're not
[219 - 220] overcooking the vodka and the sauce also
[220 - 223] helps us sort of maintain a sharpness to
[223 - 224] it so it one more thing I'm using
[224 - 226] parmigiano-reggiano here the 18-month
[226 - 229] imported stuff dog if you got the good
[229 - 231] stuff use that so I'm gonna check back
[231 - 232] on my aromatics and we're starting to
[232 - 234] take on a little bit of color the oil
[234 - 236] starting to get red and perfumed from
[236 - 237] the chili flake and I'm gonna add some
[237 - 239] Calabrian chilies I really tried to
[239 - 241] leave these out I did but I just can't
[241 - 243] they're my absolute favorite I know a
[243 - 244] lot of you guys out there don't have
[244 - 246] them and you can't get them if you got
[246 - 247] them and you like Calabrian chilies
[247 - 249] throw them in there they're delicious
[249 - 251] they bring a little bit of funky fruity
[251 - 253] sweetness to the table and I just
[253 - 254] couldn't do it I just couldn't leave
[254 - 256] them out I tried at this point we're
[256 - 257] gonna add our tomato paste and fry it
[257 - 259] for a few seconds to get a little bit of
[259 - 260] an amber color and start blooming it
[260 - 262] straight out of the canned tomato paste
[262 - 263] can taste a little bit catch it be a
[263 - 265] little bit like cafeteria food so we're
[265 - 267] gonna fry them this oil to bloom it out
[267 - 268] a little bit makes it just a little bit
[268 - 270] more delicious a little bit more robust
[270 - 271] once we've woken up and fried our tomato
[271 - 273] paste we're gonna deglaze with our vodka
[273 - 275] we're gonna cook that off for about 15
[275 - 277] seconds or until its evaporated so I
[277 - 278] scoured the internet to find the answer
[278 - 280] to the question why vodka basically the
[280 - 282] alcohol in the vodka combines with the
[282 - 285] tomato and some sort of fruity aromatic
[285 - 287] esters are produced that aren't there
[287 - 288] otherwise the way I look at it is it
[288 - 290] makes things a little bit more aromatic
[290 - 292] and it brings a little bit of a sharp
[292 - 293] x-factor to it that you just can't put
[293 - 295] your finger on I've made it without it's
[295 - 296] not as good gotta have vodka
[296 - 298] maybe that's hocus-pocus I can't say for
[298 - 301] sure but I'm not making it without it at
[301 - 302] this point we're gonna add in our cream
[302 - 304] and bring it to a simmer we're looking
[304 - 306] to cook this for about 4 to 5 minutes to
[306 - 307] finish this sauce we just want to take
[307 - 309] the raw edge off the vodka and make sure
[309 - 311] that the garlic and onions are all the
[311 - 313] way tender at this point taste the sauce
[313 - 314] if it needs a little bit of salt we're
[314 - 316] gonna do that to taste usually about a
[316 - 318] teaspoon at this point if the sauce
[318 - 320] tastes good we can either use it right
[320 - 322] away or set it aside cool it down and use it
[322 - 323] or set it aside cool it down and use it at a later time we're gonna go right
[323 - 325] away so I'm gonna bring four quarts of
[325 - 327] water in a large pot to a boil and once
[327 - 328] it's boiling I'm gonna season it
[328 - 330] generously with salt probably about 2 to
[330 - 332] 3 tablespoons once we're up to a simmer
[332 - 334] I'm gonna drop my pasta I'm only using 8
[334 - 336] ounces of pasta here because it's just
[336 - 337] Lauren and I for dinner
[337 - 338] the recipe calls for a pound and it
[338 - 340] makes four portions well I'm cooking the
[340 - 342] pasta I'm gonna start slowly warming up
[342 - 344] a large nonstick saute pan to my left
[344 - 346] and then I'm I tossed in about 1 cup of
[346 - 349] pasta water and half of my vodka sauce
[349 - 350] and bring that to a simmer
[350 - 352] fresh extruded pasta only takes about 4
[352 - 354] minutes to cook so I'm gonna taste a
[354 - 355] piece here just trying to get it to the
[355 - 358] el dente texture so let's talk about al
[358 - 359] dente I feel like it's something that a
[359 - 361] lot of food media has kind of scared
[362 - 364] people into doing to their pasta they
[364 - 365] got people convinced that pasta is
[365 - 367] really hard to cook and that they've
[367 - 369] been overcooking it for years and maybe
[369 - 371] they're overreacting and habitually
[371 - 373] under cooking their pasta now the way I
[373 - 374] see it is pasta with a little bit of
[374 - 376] texture is good pasta with no texture is
[376 - 379] bad cook it to about 95 percent of where
[379 - 381] you think it's perfect we're gonna
[381 - 382] finish it in the sauce a little bit and
[382 - 383] that will take it to a hundred percent
[383 - 385] once we got the pasta cooked to where we
[385 - 387] like it we're gonna drain it off and
[387 - 388] save a half cup of the cooking liquid
[388 - 390] the pastas gonna go right into our
[390 - 392] saucepan and we're gonna cut in our
[392 - 394] butter we're gonna let that soften for
[394 - 395] just a second and then we're gonna give
[395 - 397] it a toss toss to emulsify at this point
[397 - 398] we're gonna add our additional 1/2 cup
[398 - 400] of water and continue to toss toss toss
[400 - 402] we're gonna taste the pasta season it
[402 - 403] with salt if you think it needs a little
[403 - 405] bit of help and then we're gonna turn it
[405 - 407] off the heat I'm gonna add about 1/3 of
[407 - 409] my Parmesan cheese and toss toss once
[409 - 412] more and taste it again it's time to
[412 - 413] serve we had a lot of choices for
[413 - 415] garnish we can go chili oil parmesan
[415 - 418] black pepper chili flake basil it's up
[418 - 420] to you but I say parmesan and basil are
[420 - 421] essential so that's it we've got some
[422 - 423] delicious tasting pasta we're gonna
[424 - 426] that's vodka sauce it really is that
[426 - 462] easy let's check it out somehow with all
[462 - 464] this fat it still has plenty of asset
[464 - 470] it's very bright mild he mm-hmm I mean
[470 - 472] who doesn't love creamy pasta the first
[472 - 474] things that's like kind of embarrassing
[474 - 476] to admit but Korean pasta is awesome
[482 - 482] so clearly Lauren loves this pasta and I
[482 - 484] love it too it's incredibly easy to make
[484 - 485] and people are gonna think you're very
[485 - 487] good at cooking if you make it for them
[487 - 489] there's a lot of flavor packed into
[489 - 490] something that basically comes out of
[490 - 492] your pantry if you're getting a lot of
[492 - 493] value out of this content a good way to
[493 - 495] support us is to subscribe
[495 - 496] it lets YouTube know that weeds and
[496 - 498] sardines is an up-and-coming
[498 - 500] cutting-edge on-trend culinary
[500 - 504] powerhouse that it should promote as
[504 - 507] always please tell a friend thank you
[507 - 508] for sticking around thank you for your
[508 - 510] time and attention and we'll see you