Add Some Spice In Your Life With This Aromatic Vodka Sauce

When I was growing up I used to call Vodka sauce "pink sauce" because I knew there was a delicious difference between that sauce and your standard marinara sauce. I loved pink sauce for its smoothness and creaminess, especially paired with a nice penne pasta or rigatoni pasta and added with a few slices of grilled sausage or chicken (or even shrimp if you're a fish lover... but, not me); today I'm still a huge fan of pink sauce, sorry I mean vodka sauce. Sometimes I'll even incorporate it as a soup pairing it with homemade grilled cheeses (which makes it a great vegan option, too). Yum! This week I experimented with this old childhood favorite recipe and elevated it just a bit to satisfy my adult palate. 

In the pictures following, you'll see I prepared this dish with elbow macaroni. I had intended to use mini rigatoni but, I'll be honest here, I was too lazy to run to the store. At best, I was trying to be resourceful. Same great taste though! A lot of times when I'm cooking I don't follow an exact recipe; instead, I kind of feel things out and allow the dish to come to life on it's own. But of course, if you want to successfully make this dish, I suggest you follow the list of ingredients that I provide. BUT at the same time I encourage you to add more or less of each ingredient to make it your own! Have fun with it and if you do make this, I'd love to see how yours turned out! Please share this post and tag me on your photos on Instagram @itsdaniellemarie_ 

What You Need:

- Pasta

- Sausage, Chicken or Shrimp (optional)

- Extra Virgin Olive Oil

- Garlic Cloves

- Yellow Onion

- Heavy Cream

- Tomato Paste

- Cajon Seasoning

- Red Pepper Flakes

- Salt & Pepper

- Parmesan Cheese 

- Lime Juice

Instructions:

1). If you decide to incorporate a protein, the first step would be to prepare your choice of chicken, sausage or shrimp in a pan, cook through and then set aside.

2). Second, cut the onion and garlic (I process them in my food processor for a smoother finish). 

Pour EVOO into a warm pan, add chopped onion and garlic and stir together for about 10 minutes under medium heat (until ingredients are translucent). 

3). Add heavy cream and stir.

4). Add tomato paste and continue stirring. The more tomato paste you add the darker the sauce will become. Keep this in mind. As you're stirring, begin to slowing increase the heat to medium-high. 

5). While the sauce is cooking, boil a separate pot of water for your pasta.

6). Then add protein into the sauce mix and stir. This alone adds wonderful flavor into the sauce! Add all seasoning mentioned above to your liking. Drizzle some lime juice to blend all the flavors together. Then reduce heat.

7). Cook pasta until al dente. Strain, then add the pasta to the sauce, sprinkle some parmesan and serve!