(or Anelli Siciliani Alla Vodka)
This recipe is part fun and part genuine – although maybe not in equal parts – and it serves to illustrate our loyalty and affection for some foods over and above our basic senses. Childhood memories can play their part too. This is my grown-up spaghetti hoops – very grown-up in fact. It’s a marriage of the drink that bears its name and the classic penne alla vodka.
Opinion as to the origins of vodka first being used in an Italian tomato sauce is certainly divided. Some claim Bologna and some claim a student of Columbia University, but the story that I like is that it was invented by a chef in New York reaching for the nearest thing to hand in order to thin a tomato sauce he was making – which begs the question, why was it so readily to hand in the first place?
Serves 2 hungry grown-ups
½ onion, finely chopped
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp dairy-free butter
1 x 400g (15oz) tin of good-quality chopped tomatoes
150ml (½ cup) water
½ tsp celery salt
few grinds of pepper
couple of dashes of Tabasco (or to taste)
4 tsp good-quality branded vodka
200g (1½ cups) Anelli Siciliani 60A (by La Molisana)
* Make the sauce first. It will be an advantage to let it sit a little bit while you are making the pasta.
Gently fry the chopped onion in the olive oil and 1 tsp of dairy-free butter until it softens but only just begins to colour. Add the tinned tomatoes and water. A simple tip here is to use the empty tin to add the water – swilling it around to get all the tomato juice out.
Cook on a medium heat for 15–20 minutes, adding the salt, pepper and Tabasco halfway through, until the sauce is cooked down but still fairly loose when you stir it. Add only 2 tsp vodka here and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover, keep warm and set aside to rest. The sauce must be loose and not paste-like – stir in a little water if you feel it’s not thin enough.
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions – the one I use, as with all pasta I use, is ‘bronze die’ and has a cooking time longer than you might expect for a small pasta – 16–18 minutes. You do want some texture unlike the famous tinned variety. Once cooked, remove from the heat, drain and return to the empty warm pan – add the second tsp of dairy-free butter and remaining 2 tsp of vodka to the pasta and stir through. Warm the tomato sauce through again and add the pasta to the sauce (not the other way round). Stir through and serve in warmed pasta bowls dressed with a few basil leaves.
Like so many pasta dishes, it’s always rewarding to have some warm crusty bread to hand when the pasta is gone but there is still sauce!