A rustic take on vodka sauce

I game on a lot of Saturdays. Sometimes it's D&D, sometimes it's board games. Of late, we've been working on putting Shadowrun characters together. If Austin doesn't fire up the grill or make chili, we usually send out to the pizza place. 

Not usually for pizza, though. Salads, calzone, sandwiches, wings. Most recently, a couple of us got penne vodka. It was merely okay. I thought I could do better, so I mulled it over for a week and this is what I came up with.

1 Cup diced yellow onion
2 T unsalted butter
4 oz diced pancetta
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
6 oz can of tomato paste. I use Contadina. The ingredients read: Tomatoes. Nothing else.
1.5 cups of your favorite vodka (I used Chopin. Nexx thinks I should have used a grain vodka instead of potato)
Juice of half a lemon
1 t black pepper
1 pound of your favorite pasta. Penne is traditional, but honestly, I find it boring. And if I'm putting this much effort into a sauce, I want something that holds on to it. I used fusilli, but as you wish.
approx 1 cup heavy cream
grated parmesan (optional)

Melt the butter in a skillet on medium-low heat. Stir in the onions, and keep stirring until they are your favorite shade of brown and well caramelized. Set aside.

Cut the sundried tomatoes into strips. Place in a bowl, a mortar & pestle, a food processer and smush them into a chunky paste. Set aside.

 In a sauté pan, cook the pancetta until crisp. Remove the pancetta, but leave about 1T of the fat in the pan. Deglaze the pan with 3/4 cup of the vodka and keep the heat down low. Scrape up all the brown bits.

When brown bits are all incorporated into the liquid, gradually add the tomato paste, the sun-dried tomatoes, the lemon juice, the onion and the pancetta. Stir well to combine, goose the heat up a little bit.

Start your pasta water boiling. Continue to stir the sauce. Add in the pepper and bring to a slow boil. Gradually add the rest of the vodka. Keep the temperature to where you have tiny bubbles, but not a rolling boil.

Cook pasta to your idea of doneness. Drain. Slowly stir in the cream until you think it's the proper color and taste. Return pasta to pot. Pour sauce over. Gently stir so you don't break the pasta and serve. Top with parmesan. Completely forget about the salad you were going to make.

I loved how this came out. The tomato wasn't too sweet, the chunky texture I'll experiment with a grain vodka. I tend to prefer potato because I find it to have a softer taste, and Chopin because it's Polish. 

What pasta would you put this over? Inquiring minds want to know.

In Which Kate Puts the Calories back in a recipe

Thank you for your patience this week. Over the weekend, the sweetie and I joined a couple of friends at Newport's Annual Chowder Cookoff. For several hours, we sampled about twenty kinds of chowder (clam, seafood and "creative"), and I also indulged in a couple of clam cakes and some strawberry shortcake. I also had lobster for dinner--grilled, which was a delicious experience.

I was going to cook dinner when we came home on Sunday, but after all the chowder and a brunch that ended with key lime pie, I decided not to cook. I could have put up an entry, but I really wanted to try this week's recipe a second time before I blogged about it.

I like pasta a lot, in all shapes and sizes, though not all grains. I would have to be dying to eat whole-wheat pasta, for example, but I like Barilla's multigrain line. Anyway  I've always considered it more of a main dish than a side. Woe to my hips, but anyway. I looked at the recipe, and saw that it made four servings, I figured this had to be a side dish. I thought I could simply make it as is and it would work for two main dish meals. Let's look at the ingredients:

    *   8  ounces  uncooked cavatappi pasta The first time I made the recipe, I only had Angel Hair in the house. The second time, I bought some celetani, because I could not find cavatappi.

    * 1  pound  asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into 1 1/2-inch pieces

    * 1  teaspoon  minced garlic 

    * 3  tablespoons  pine nuts I reduced this to 2 Tbsp the second time. 1 tbsp pine nuts per person seems to work as a rule of thumb. My thumb, anyhow.

    * 2  ounces  diced pancetta I know Cooking Light is about saving calories, but this little meat for a dish meant for four people? I'd be embarassed to serve something that basically has a "tease" of a meat taste. 

    * 2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice I ran a little short the first time. The freshness it adds is fabulous and really made the dish something special the second time.

    * 2  teaspoons  extra-virgin olive oil

    * 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt

    * 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

    * 1/4  cup   (1 ounce) crumbled Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese I cut this in half for round two

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; add asparagus to pan during last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain. Sprinkle pasta mixture with garlic; return to pan, and toss well.

This is a question of style where I disagree. Instead, I started the pasta while the pancetta was in the oven (below). It's not that difficult to multitask one dish in an oven and one on the stove.

3. Arrange pine nuts in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan. Bake at 400° for 3 minutes or until golden and fragrant, stirring occasionally. Place in a small bowl.

I find it takes a little longer than three minutes, your mileage and oven may vary.

4. Increase oven temperature to 475°.

5. Arrange pancetta on jelly-roll pan. Bake at 475° for 6 minutes or until crisp.

This took a little longer than stated as well. If you don't have an oven thermometer, its a good gadget to have.  

6. Combine lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle over pasta mixture; toss well to coat. Sprinkle with pine nuts, pancetta, and cheese.

The second time I made the recipe was miles more successful than the first, though it completely killed the whole "light" concept. The meat was definitely in attendance at the party, not just a wallflower cowering in the corner. Also, the pasta held up against the asparagus. As much as I like my angel hair, the asparagus totally overwhelmed it in the first time I tried the dish.

If you have to omit any ingredients for whatever reason, don't make it the lemon juice in this one. My audience (this would be Ken the sweetie) thought the first incarnation a little blah, but really enjoyed the second one.

Questions? Comments? Have a recipe for me to try? I'd love to hear from you!