Birthday Dinners

Yesterday was my oldest daughter Alexandra's birthday. In our house we have a tradition to allow the birthday child to pick her favorite meal for dinner. I say her because at this time the girls are the only ones who can articulate what they want to eat. With Matthew all we would get is a guttural sound that is something like "mow" which we think means more.

Alexandra said she could not decide what she wanted for her birthday dinner and asked me to surprise her. Alex is a carnivore, she loves meat. Anything meat; steak, roast, ribs, you name it. However we just had steak over the weekend, as you may have seen in my last post, so I began considering other options.

Alex can eat pasta in any form at any time of day. We are surprised at this point that she has not turned into a noodle. So my attention turned to a pasta dish, and I remembered that she has a new favorite dish that we have only made once at home. Pasta Alla Vodka. Pasta in Vodka Sauce. This is one of the yummiest heartiest dishes made entirely without meat, and yet is so soul satisfying. I wonder if it is the alcohol. (Just Kidding) The alcohol is completely cooked out of the sauce and you are left with a very nice flavor from the Vodka.

I worked yesterday so on Sunday I purchased the meal ingredients for the week, and included all the birthday requirements as well. The menu was as follows: Pasta Alla Vodka (for the birthday girl), Pan Seared Tilapia (Need to have a protein to offset all those carbs), and a Caesar salad.

I remember that many years ago my sister in law Beth had just joined the family, and brought with her a fantastic recipe for Pasta Alla Vodka. She cooked it and I loved it!!! In fact, if I still remember it after 16 years, its gotta be good. However, I tried to make this recipe myself a couple of years back and it was an epic FAIL! I don't know why, but the Parmesan clumped so badly into one gooey lump on my spoon. It was pretty much inedible. A few years ago I found another recipe for Pasta Alla Vodka and gave it another go. It was fantastic, stupendous, outrageously good.... So here I am wanting to to make this for Alex's birthday dinner. I find Beth's recipe, but wouldn't you know it I can't find the newest version that I loved. I do this all the time. Make a great recipe and don't print it or copy it into my cookbook. I went online and read about 4 different versions of the recipe.
Below is my version, created on my premise that it is very easy to make a gourmet meal in less than an hour on a weeknight and have happy faces around the table. One nod to Giada De Laurentiis she suggested using a jar sauce if pressed for time, so I did.

Pasta Alla Vodka

1 Box of Penne                                         1 Jar of your favorite Pasta Sauce (Red)
3/4 cup of Vodka                                      1 Cup Heavy Cream
1 Cup of Parmesan Cheese                       salt and pepper to taste

Make Penne according to package directions and set aside. Place jar of sauce into a saucepan and blend with an immersion blender or regular blender to smooth out the sauce. Then heat over medium heat. Place a cover on pot since the sauce spits a lot when heating and cooking. Once it has come to temperature, pour the Vodka into the sauce and keep at a rolling boil, on low to medium heat for about 20 minutes. this will allow sufficient time for the alcohol to cook off. Add heavy cream, and cook for 5 minutes to bring temperature back up. Slowly add Parmesan cheese and mix with a non stick spatula until melted. Place cooked pasta into sauce pot, mix and heat through. This allows the flavor of the sauce to permeate the pasta with all its yumminess. Add salt and pepper to taste. In other variations you can cook off some pancetta, or shallots at the beginning of the recipe, to add depth of flavor and then proceed with the rest of the menu. You also can use a homemade sauce of your own and once it is cooked and ready add the vodka and remaining ingredients.

This is not a low cal dish, but really brings warmth and goodness to your belly and soul. To cut down on the calories from this meal, we make a Tilapia dredged in flour and pan seared simply with salt pepper and garlic powder, and a Caesar salad.

Whichever way you choose to enjoy this yummy meal, you can always have "Good Food in Good Time"