Hi friends!
This week I am so freaking excited to share one of my all-time favorite pasta recipes with you. That’s right, we’re talking about Rigatoni with Vodka Sauce.
This recipe has been on my list to share for a while now because it’s incredibly simple for how delicious it is. You likely have everything you need for it already in your pantry (minus heavy whipping cream— and if you have that 24/7, I like your style), and with the first bite, it immediately brings you comfort. Ask my friend Caroline Killeen (of @killeenworks)— this is her favorite recipe I make.
But it’s not just the tomato-y, spicy sauce that makes this dish so comforting to me. The reason it actually means so much to me is because every time I eat it, I’m transported back to my old home in Kansas City. I’m sitting around our big dining room table with my roommates Marin, Daniella and Katherine. We’re passing around meatballs and salad and bread drenched in olive oil. Wine has been poured. Dean Martin is playing over the speakers, and we’re all salivating waiting to take a big bite of rigatoni.
Of course, the dinner was always from our favorite neighborhood spot, Italian Delight. I’m slightly concerned for their business with us leaving the neighborhood. I mean, if I was ever a regular at a place, this would be the place. We ordered it to celebrate birthdays and promotions. We ordered it when we were sad and needed comfort food. It was our go-to spot for just about everything.
And while this recipe is not Italian Delight, it does come damn near close.
This is what you’ll need:
Salt
1 medium onion
4 garlic cloves
4 oz Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 4.5 oz tube tomato paste
½ tsp crushed red pepper
2 oz vodka
¾ cup heavy cream
1 lb rigatoni
Basil leaves
Start by dicing the onion and garlic. I prefer to chop them on the smaller side, so I’m not getting big bites of onion in my sauce, but do what you like.
Bring a big pot of water to boil. Make this water salty. Salty like the sea. That means heavy pinches of salt. Don’t be shy about this step.
While your water is coming to a boil, add your olive oil, onion and garlic to a dutch oven. If you don’t have a dutch oven, another large heavy-bottomed pot will also work. Cook the onion and garlic until soft and golden. About 5-7 minutes.
Add an entire 4.5 oz tube of tomato paste to the onion-garlic mixture with a big pinch of red pepper flakes. I like my pasta spicy, but if you don’t, just use a baby pinch! Cook this until the tomato paste turns a deep red and it’s starting to stick to the bottom of the pan. Approximately 5-7 minutes.
Next, add 2 oz of vodka. This will deglaze your pan aka un-stick all the bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pot. Reduce the heat to low.
At this point, I’d drop the rigatoni into your salted water. I highly recommend using rigatoni (my favorite pasta shape), but penne or ziti will also work well. Once you drop your pasta, give it a good stir so they don’t all stick to the bottom. Follow the pasta cooking directions on the box. Usually, it should be 7-9 minutes for al dente.
With a glass measuring cup (like this one), scoop out ¼ cup of pasta water. Add ¾ cup of heavy cream to this water— this brings up the temperature of the cream so when you add it to your sauce, it doesn’t break. Wondering what a broken sauce is? Read all about it here.
Slowly add your warmed cream to the dutch oven until a smooth sauce forms. Remove from heat.
Before draining your cooked pasta, use that same glass measuring cup to reserve ~1 cup of pasta water. Then drain your pasta.
Add your cooked pasta to the dutch oven. Going back and forth, add some pasta water and parmesan cheese and stir. Pasta water. Cheese. Pasta water. Cheese. Do this until the sauce is combined and smooth. Season with more salt is needed.
I top this pasta with a splash of olive oil, a few cracks of black pep, a mountain of parmesan cheese and basil.
For a video of step-by-step instructions, check out this recipe on Basically.
And before I get to what’s giving me life this week, I have exciting news! Next week’s newsletter is actually going to be the first of what I hope is many guest spotlights. I’m taking the week off to unpack and get settled in my new home, and so instead of me sharing a recipe, I’m going to have someone very special takeover. I hope you’re all as excited as I am about this!
So for what’s giving me life this week, it’s been taking a few bites of this coffee chocolate chip ice cream every night. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help myself! It was buying too many plants from Reroot. Their little recipe cards for watering & sunlight are genius. It was switching up my surroundings by working a day out of my friend Caroline’s WeWork. Yes, the same Caroline who loves Rigatoni with Vodka Sauce. If you’re still working from home like me, I highly recommend breaking from your routine for a day. It felt weirdly refreshing to wear a pair of jeans ON A WEEKDAY. It was having the BEST matzo ball soup from Rosenberg’s, and roasting the shit out of all our end-of-season tomatoes. For that recipe, check out Alison Roman’s newsletter.
And then lastly, for all my Chicago & KC peeps— Go ahead and book an in-home cooking class with my friend Liza. Her side hustle, Florabelle, is something I’ve been dying to do, so if one of you guys could do it, that would at least allow me to live vicariously through you!
Wish I was with you,
Maddie