I think a good start to any a la vodka sauce is the pancetta. I started this recipe by browning 6 slices of pancetta without any oil and adding the sausage to the drippings, then launched into everything else. I also upped the vodka quantity to 1/4 of a cup and upped the heavy cream to 3/4 of a cup. I completely omitted the salt. I used Contadina crushed tomatos with roasted garlic. The meal was definitely "restaurant quality"
This recipe is top-notch and would rival any Penne a la Vodka that you'd order in an Italian restaurant. I prepared it almost to the letter, and it was perfect. I have also tried this a different way by making it a lowfat dish. I substituted turkey sausage, and instead of heavy cream, I used half and half blended with 1 tsp. of corn starch. It was a fantastic lower fat variation and tasted just as good as the original.
I changed this recipe. 3 tablespoons of white wine instead of vodka, added spinach, tomato sauce and extra red pepper flakes, simmered the sauce 30 minutes and melted parmesean and feta cheese. made for a large group. got rave reviews, tasted just like penne rosa from noodles and company!
I frequently do a sausage pasta with a fresh sauce but never occurred to me to do a vodka cream version. Great! My only alteration is in the pasta choice. Pardon, but I am a particular snob in this area. For a sauce like this one with roll-away chunks, a more appropriate pasta choice is one that snuggles the sauce - in this case I go for an egg noodle or at least the widest fettuccine you can find. Tubed pasta work better on thinner sauces that need a little traveling compartment.
This was good although I have had better sauces but I must say I liked the addition of the sausage. It actually tasted better the next day. I would make it again. The ony thing is I reduced the oil and the salt I felt the amounts given were high.
All the signs of greatness: Tastes really good, is fast and easy, and also pretty darn inexpensive! I went a little easy on the crushed red pepper (it was still nice and spicy), and topped each serving with a little shredded fresh Romano. SERIOUS YUM, especially with a glass of red wine...
I browned the sausage separately and then added it to the sauce. For the sauce I sauteed some onion used 1/4 c. of vodka 1 c. of whipping cream and added some fresh basil. Overall I think the sauce is better without the sausage.
My family loved this. I thought it was very similar to Bowties w/Sausage Tomatoes & Cream (also on this site) and may consider using that recipe as my base vodka sauce. I followed the directions pretty accurately with only a few minor changes. I put literally a drop of EVOO into the pan and browned my sausage whole. I think 2 links crumbled as written would have been lost in the sauce. I drained the oil and fat from the pan reserving about 1-1/2 Tbsp. in the pan for flavor. I cut down to 1/2 the amount of red pepper to make it more kid-friendly. I also cut back dramatically on the parsley. As I was chopping it I realized that it was a lot so I sprinkled it little by little until I got the flavor I wanted. I ended up using a little over a tbsp I would guess. My only other change was to use a little over a half pound of a variety of pastas.(finished up the boxes) I served it with grated parm and think that next time I may add it to the sauce during cooking for a much better flavor. The flavor of the dish was good but I definitely recommend increasing the vodka A LOT! You could barely taste it. Also I think I prefer my vodka sauce a bit more creamier than tomato-ey so next time I will definitely add more cream to the dish as well. Overall this was a very delicious dish and was loved by my whole family. My 22 month old went back for thirds!! It does make a lot of sauce so be prepared for extra...perfect for dipping garlic bread into. Thank you Star!
This was wonderful and so quick and easy!! I did drain the sausage and also added the cream after bringing the vodka to a boil (wasn't sure about cream boiling and curdling). I only had hot italian sausage on hand, and it was great - next time I'll try the sweet! This was very similiar to 'Rigatoni ala vodka' my husband and I used to order at a local restaurant - also good with the addition of chicken breast cooked in the sausage grease (sounds weird but tastes great). Thanks for the recipe!!
In spite of the good reviews this recipe gets, neither DH nor I was a big fan. Maybe we just don't like vodka sauce. Had only had it once before (the jarred stuff from Trader Joe's), but still wasn't that enthralled with it from scratch. I halved the amount of EVOO; used spicy Italian sausage, so halved the red pepper flakes; also halved the salt based on other reviewers' comments, and halved the amount of pasta for just two of us (still had leftovers). Used fire-roasted crushed tomatoes, and threw in a bit of prosciutto with the sausage for some additional flavor. Served with shredded parmesan and whole wheat sourdough rolls. Thanks for sharing your recipe, Star!
