Presto Pasta - Penne a la Vodka

Oh man! I'll tell you, NaBloPoMo is tough, especially if, like me, you are not a very interesting person. But still I persist! Which is hard after today. (I am really writing this on Tuesday night and am going to use the majic of blogger to post this tonight for tomorrow before I fall asleep.) There is much FRIEND DRAMA in Calgary tonight, involving multiple emailing to multiple people, and we are all - "Well she told me" and "When I talked to him he didn't say anything" and "I thought it was strange that she didn't email me back". O, the drama, people.

And today was a tough and busy day at my new job. So here I am, a girl in her jammies. Full of Tylenol and one (or two) drinks flopped in her chair with a heating pad. P-A-R-T-Y.

Now that I have whined and you have been sympathetic let me tell you about the latest pasta dish I made for Ruth's weekly Presto Pasta Nights!

I mentioned in this post that we'd invited my parents over for dinner last weekend. For our main course that night I made a dish that I've wanted to make forever, Penne a la Vodka. Much like the schnitzel I always thought Penne a la Vodka was a difficult dish. But it's not. It's no more time consuming or difficult than a basic pasta sauce, other than you need cream and vodka. And those are readily available ingredients, I have learned.

OK, this post is rapidly going downhill. Let's get to the recipe!

You can't really see the cute pasta bowl the pasta is in, but the pasta is in a cute pasta bowl which is part of a cute pasta bowl set. I'll post pictures of said set at a later date.

Penne a la Vodka

1/2 onion
4 garlic cloves
3 tb olive oil
796 ml can diced tomatos
1 lb penne
100 ml vodka
2 tb butter
4 tb cream
salt and pepper
Parmesan

Finely chop, by hand or in a food processor, the onion and garlic. Heat the oil over medium heat and cook the onion and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add the tomatos, season with salt and pepper, and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Cook the penne in boiling water until done to your liking. Drain and pour the pasta into your warmed serving bowl. Add the butter to the tomato sauce and stir until incorporated. Add the cream and vodka and stir again. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the pasta and toss together. Serve with the cheese on the side.