A ‘Flare’ for the Dramatic
I have a very long wooden spoon that I only take out when I make this recipe. It’s so long that it gets tucked away sideways in the back of a drawer, and it even is a bit charred near the scoop from all the times I’ve made this dish! But not to worry – I’ve included a non-flambéed version if you don’t really want to see flames leaping up from the pot as you stir the vodka-doused pasta! When I told Hank I want going to use this for a Berkshire Eagle column (link here), he insisted I also make a non-flambéed version. He was right about that, and also was very happy to have penne alla vodka twice as I worked on this piece!
PENNE ALLA VODKA
by Elizabeth Baer
I recently had the great pleasure of visiting with my college friend, Dorothy, who is an anthropology professor in Bolzano, Italy (we don’t get to see each other very often, but she is doing some research in the States at the moment), and she told me that next year she is teaching a class on the anthropology of food. I wish I could take her class! I spend so much time reading cookbooks and thinking about the transmission and evolution of recipes, and of culinary preferences and practices, I am certain I would love every minute of it!
What does this have to do with the recipe in this column, penne alla vodka? Often I read about what qualifies a recipe as “authentic,” but I think it misses the point to disparage certain concoctions as inauthentic and thus somehow inferior. Penne alla vodka is frequently identified as an American creation, and not truly Italian at all. This may be the case, and yet I know with absolute certainty that I first tasted this dish when I studied in Rome for a semester during college and enjoyed it there often.
After college, I was determined to learn how to make this. But in the days before the internet could produce more recipes in a fraction of a second than you could count, this was not an easy task. I would check the index of every Italian cookbook I could find, at bookstore after bookstore, searching for this recipe.
Although there are many pasta alla vodka recipes out there, my favorite version differs in that you burn off the vodka before adding in other ingredients. I know not everyone will be interested in doing this, so I’ve offered two versions below. Most importantly, if you do decide to burn off the vodka, you will need a very long wooden spoon for this step! Mine is 20 inches long, and wood is important because it won’t conduct the heat so you won’t burn yourself!
Dorothy and I met when we were in a number of linguistics classes together, and our recent conversation came around to the transmission and exchange of idea about food having some parallels with the language trees, linguistic change, and lexical borrowing we studied in college. Of course there are many more factors affecting food and cuisine around the world, such as climate, accessibility, and socio-economic factors, just to name a few. Yet I’d like to get away from thinking that inauthentic is somehow lesser in quality, and instead appreciate the ways in which food can give us a taste of our wide, diverse world.
PENNE ALLA VODKA
Serves 4-6
N.B. If you want the bite of red pepper flakes, you will need to add them to the vodka a few days ahead of time.
INGREDIENTS
4 ounces vodka
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, optional
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 thin slices of pancetta (bacon can be substituted, or omit for vegetarian)
2 cups canned tomato purée (crushed tomatoes don't work as well in this dish)
1 pound penne rigate
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup heavy or light cream
¼ cup grated Parmesan
Chopped flat-leaf parsley (optional – if you have it on hand, it’s a nice touch)
DIRECTIONS:
Add the pepper to the vodka and let sit for a few days.
Flambéed version:
Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat until shimmering and fragrant. Add the pancetta and cook until the fat begins to render. (If you use bacon, you probably will not need the olive oil.) Add tomato purée and heat through. Lower the heat to keep warm while you cook the pasta.
Cook penne according to the package directions. Drain the penne in a colander, shaking it out well to get rid of excess water, and return to the pot in which you boiled the pasta. (If there is too much water, the vodka won't light well.)
Pour the vodka over the pasta, and, for safety’s sake, standing back and using an extra-long match or long-reach lighter, ignite the vodka. With a very long wooden spoon, stir until the flames subside. Add the butter and stir until it melts. Add the cream, tomato purée and Parmesan and mix well. Garnish with parsley if desired and serve immediately.
Non-flambéed version:
For the non-flambéed version, after cooking the pancetta or bacon, deglaze the pan with the vodka. Add tomato purée and heat through.
Drain the pasta either directly into the sauté pan using a spider, or using a colander and then adding to the sauce. Add the butter and cream and stir to combine. Add the Parmesan and stir again. Garnish with parsley if desired and serve immediately.