Before the hubs had left on his trip I stopped at the store & picked up a huge bag of tomatoes. For some reason I had it in my head that I was going to make enchilada sauce. Well… those of you who already know that you don’t use tomatoes in enchilada sauce are laughing at me right now. I know – but at least I didn’t try to make it work using them. I ditched my not so great idea & went back to my Easy Family Dinner Ideas. One thing I have always wanted to do was make my own pasta sauce. I have seen many different marinara recipes floating around & I thought about trying one of those. But what I really love is Vodka Sauce. It’s so amazing & I love that you get the flavor enhancement from the vodka – but all the alcohol cooks out so everyone can enjoy it. So that’s what I set out to make.
So I just started pulling ingredients out that I thought would work well. I didn’t really have a plan – it was sort of throw this in & “oh, this would be great” sort of recipe day. I had the basics in my head & the rest was just R&D. Which I am happy to say, worked out great this time. While that isn’t always the case & there have been plenty of recipes as of late that didn’t make it here for one reason or another – this one I had to give you.
Something so satisfying about making your own sauce. I then used it with some ground beef & elbow macaroni & a few olives. YUM!
Vodka Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 green bell pepper
- 2 orange sweet peppers
- 1/2 purple onion
- 10 to matoes
- 1 can tomato paste
- 1/3 cup vodka
- 3 fresh basil leaves
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 - 1 cup half & half
- season salt
- granulated garlic
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Cut all peppers - removing seeds & chop
- Chop onion
- Place peppers & onion in food processor & pulse to thick but pureed consistency
- Transfer to deep skillet
- Cut tomatoes & place in food processor & pulse just a few times to bring them to the consistency of crushed tomatoes
- Pour into skillet
- Add seasonings, vodka & tomato paste
- Bring to a boil for 5-7 minutes stirring frequently
- Add basil
- Cover & reduce heat to low & allow to simmer approx 30 minutes
- After 20 minutes - slowly add cheese & half & half - stir
- Allow to simmer remaining 10 minutes
- At this point you can immediately add this to your browned meat & then to your pasta & serve
- Or you can carefully transfer to jars & store in refrigerator for several days before using.
- This filled 2- 32 ounce jars.
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate. Please double-check with your own dietary calculator for the best accuracy. We at Yummi Haus cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
Looking for more great pasta ideas?
Chicken Cordon Bleu Creamy Mac & Cheese
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Kim Cunningham says
Oh yum. I do love Vodka sauce, and this looks like a crowd pleaser.
Gina Kleinworth says
Indeed Kim – it didn’t last long.