Servings: 2-3
Source: Fine Cooking
Ingredients
One: Sauté
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
Two: Flavor
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme (or ½ tsp.dried)
2 tsp. chopped fresh oregano (or ½ tsp. dried)
¼ tsp. dried red chile flakes
¼ cup vodka
1/3 cup homemade or low-salt canned chicken or vegetable broth
Three: Enrich
½ to 2/3 cup heavy cream
Four: Toss
12 oz. dried penne, cooked and drained
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
¼ cup roughly chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
Directions
Do onions first until soft. Add garlic for 30 sec, then tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Add spices, then liquids. Do not boil, but reduce liquid slightly to let flavors form a background. Add cream and reduce slightly so that sauce has a nice coating consistency but isn’t thick. No more than a few minutes of cooking. Under reducing will make for a soupy sauce with a raw edge. Over-reducing won’t give you enough sauce to coat the pasta well, plus you may break the cream.Add the cheese and the cooked pasta while the pan is still over the heat. Toss both in the pan and stir to heat pasta through and sauce completely incorporated. Remove pan from heat. Check salt and pepper. Add parsley now. Serve immediately.