Have you ever made pasta with vodka sauce? it is a velvety creamy spaghetti sauce that happens to be cooked with a splash of vodka, which remarkably makes this easy sauce taste simply sublime.
Typically, pasta alla vodka is formed with penne pasta. For this version we are adding in some fresh shrimp, to form the dish more of a main course, and using fettuccine pasta.
We’ve also added slightly of lemon peel because it works with so well with shrimp, and alongside the vodka helps brighten this creamy sauce.
So, why the vodka?
Kenji Lopez-Alt of Serious Eats states that low concentrations of alcohol increase the flavour aromas. Kenji determined that adding vodka does make a difference as he tried test of vodka sauces at various engrossment of vodka.
That said, it is not absolutely necessary. You’ll still have a stunning sauce without it. So if no alcohol is how you roll, just skip the vodka and luxuriate in this shrimp fettuccine with a creamy spaghetti sauce.
How to Make it?
Ingredients
- 12 ounces’ fettuccine pasta
- Salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
- 4 cloves garlic, minced, about 4 teaspoons
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 28-ounce can crush tomatoes
- 1/4 cup vodka
- 6 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 pound peeled, deveined raw shrimp
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- Freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Put pasta water on to boil:
Put an outsized pot of salted water (1 Tbsp salt for each 2 quarts of water) on to boil for the pasta.
Sauté onions, garlic, red pepper flakes:
Melt butter during a large, thick-bottomed pot on medium high heat. Put the onion and saute 5 to 7 minutes, until lightly browned.
- Add tomatoes, vodka, cream, zest:
Add the crushed tomatoes to the onions. Stir within the vodka, cream, and lemon peel. Increase heat to bring back a simmer, then lower the warmth to take care of a simmer.
Start cooking pasta:
As soon as you begin simmering the sauce, add pasta to boiling salted water. Pasta should be wiped out 10 minutes.
- Add raw shrimp to sauce:
After the sauce has simmered for five minutes, about halfway through the pasta cooking time, taste for salt and add salt to taste (you’ll likely need about 1 teaspoon). Put the peeled shrimp to the sauce.
- Add cooked pasta to sauce and shrimp:
When the pasta is completed, al dente, strain it and add it to the vodka spaghetti sauce and shrimp.
Sprinkle with parsley and freshly ground black pepper to serve.
