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Portobello mushroom pasta alla vodka
Serves 2 Hands-on time 40 min
Pasta alla vodka is a magically perfect thing on its own: smooth and creamy, fruity and tangy and full of umami – simplicity at its best. For mushroom lovers, though, the addition of meaty, earthy slices of portobello takes the dish to another level.
BE A BETTER COOK
Cooking scientist extraordinaire J Kenji López-Alt claims 7 minutes is the perfect amount of time to simmer after the vodka has been added, to burn off enough alcohol yet bring out the fruitiness of the tomatoes.
Taste the sauce before the vodka goes in as well as after. This way you get to taste the transformation and understand what the addition of vodka does to the dish.
• Drizzle olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• Pinch chilli flakes (optional)
• 50g tomato purée
• 400ml passata
• 160g casarecce pasta or similar
• Knob of butter
• 200g portobello or flat cap mushrooms, sliced 2cm thick
• 75ml double cream
• 50ml vodka
• 15g parmesan or vegetarian alternative, grated
1 To make a tomato sauce, heat a drizzle of oil in a sauté pan over a medium heat, then cook the onion, garlic and, if using, chilli flakes until soft but without colour (around 8 minutes), stirring regularly. Add a splash of water to deglaze the pan, stir in the tomato pureé for a minute, then add the passata. Leave the mixture to simmer for 8 minutes. 2 Cook the pasta in a saucepan of salted boiling water for 10-12 minutes or according to the packet instructions. Meanwhile put a large frying pan over a high heat. Once smoking hot, add the butter and sliced mushrooms, cook until golden, then season with salt.
3 Use a stick blender to whizz the tomato sauce until smooth, then add the cream and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms (along with any remaining butter in the pan) and the vodka. Simmer for 7 minutes.
4 Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper. It shouldn’t taste of vodka, but be rich and creamy with a hint of sharpness. Stir the drained pasta into the sauce, then divide among bowls and finish with grated parmesan.
Per serving 719kcals, 26g fat (15g saturated), 20g protein, 77g carbs (23g sugars), 0.4g salt, 10g fibre
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