As I was reading this recipe book by Tobie Puttock recently I came across this pasta recipe with vodka in it. Now maybe I have been living under a rock but I had never heard of pasta with a vodka sauce. Then I read a recent post by Dianne Hales on her blog about reading an Italian Menu, and there is was again, a pasta dish with vodka, this time fusilli alla vodka.
Once I saw that I was really enthusiastic to try the recipe that I had found. Tobie’s recipe in his cookbook uses 240g of pasta and he says that it is either a starter for 4 or a main course for 2. Depending on what recipe you find and who you listen to, pasta per head ranges from 70g – 100g. I ended up using the whole 500 g packet, which means that there are leftovers today in the fridge but there is nothing wrong with that!
1 500g packet of pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
60 g butter
3 medium onions, finely sliced
3 cloves garlic
a sprinkling of chilli flakes (this is where I differed from the original recipe as Tobie used 1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, plus extra to garnish
100 ml vodka or white wine
200g smoked salmon, roughly sliced
I prepared my sauce before I cooked the pasta, which also differs from the original recipe.
Put the olive oil and butter in a saucepan and heat gently. Add the onions, garlic, chilli and thyme. Sauté until the onions are soft and translucent (about 15 minutes).
Turn up the heat and add the vodka to the onions. Allow the alcohol to burn off for a minute or two. Remove the saucepan from the heat, then add the salmon.
I had put on a pan of water to boil and I cooked my pasta until it was al dente. I added the drained pasta to the salmon sauce along with some extra thyme leaves, and I stirred well to coat the pasta with the sauce.
It was really delicious. I think I will be making it again.
