A classic dish of penne alla vodka gets a nutritional boost from frozen spinach, making the dish pantry-safe. Cookbook author Julia Turshen turns to this recipe when she wants something as simple as pasta with tomato sauce, but with a little more excitement. If you prefer to prepare it without alcohol, just leave out the vodka.
Storage: Refrigerate for up to 4 days.
Ingredients
Servings: 4–6 (makes 9 cups)
Directions
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Step 1
Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat.
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2nd step
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat oil until shimmering. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook, stirring, until incredibly fragrant and the tomato paste has darkened slightly, about 2 minutes. Add the vodka and bring the mixture to a boil. Let it boil vigorously to eliminate the harshness of the vodka, less than a minute. Add the crushed tomatoes and heavy cream, reduce the heat to low and season with salt. Cover the pot to prevent splashing and let the sauce simmer while you cook the pasta.
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Step 3
Generously salt the boiling water, add the pasta and cook 2 minutes less than package directions for al dente. (It finishes cooking in the sauce.) Transfer 1 cup of the pasta cooking water to the sauce mixture, then drain the pasta and return it to the now empty pot. Pour the vodka sauce over the pasta and add the spinach. Reduce the heat and cook, stirring to combine the pasta with the sauce and spinach, until the pasta is al dente and has absorbed some of the sauce, and the spinach is heated through, about 2 minutes .
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Step 4
Divide into bowls, top with cheese and serve hot.
Replacements
Gluten free? >> Use your favorite gluten-free pasta.
Vegan? >> Use an unsweetened non-dairy creamer in place of heavy cream and add 1/4 cup nutritional yeast on top of the sauce instead of cheese.
Instead of spinach >> substitute with frozen kale or frozen peas.
Can’t drink alcohol? >> Leave aside the vodka.
Variants
To turn this into baked pasta, skip the last 2 minutes of cooking on the stove and place half of the sauced pasta in a 9×13-inch baking dish, sprinkle with 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella and 1 /2 cup. grated parmesan, then repeat once more. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until beautifully browned and the edges are bubbly.
