PENNE ALLA VODKA
SMG Italian Festival favorite Recipe for Celebrating at Home Contributed by Fr. Kevin Haines
Ingredients:
Olive oil 1 large jar Alfredo sauce 1 cup white onion, diced 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 2 Tbsp. Minced garlic 3 shots of vodka Salt & Italian seasoning to taste Cooked penne pasta, or any pasta variety 2 jars spaghetti sauce
Instructions: …For this recipe, I would start out with heated olive oil in a pan, a large cup of white onion and 2 tablespoons of minced garlic. You are only going to make the store-bought sauce taste that much better and homemade. Add salt and Italian seasoning. Then, add 2 large jars of chunky vegetable tomato sauce, to 1 large jar of Alfredo sauce and mix together. In a vodka sauce, you are essentially using the Alfredo sauce to “cheese” up the tomato sauce and make it creamy tomato. I swear someone invented this when they poured some red sauce by mistake into a pan of white sauce, but it is delicious. Let simmer and add 1 heaping cup of Parmesan cheese to the sauce. Then 3 shots of actual vodka. Don’t worry, the vodka is going to cook off leaving just a little kick of taste in its disappearance. Next, and here’s where you can get creative…add what you like to the sauce before putting it on the pasta. At the Italian Festival, we use strips of grilled chicken, a little bacon, and peas, and tiny pieces of cut up asparagus. People who like carrots say that they work well also. And, this is another pasta where if you like mushrooms, put them in! Also, if you like hot Italian sausage, (after all, who doesn’t?) instead of the grilled chicken strips, try some good hot sausage, to kick this pasta up a notch! Or, you can make a vegetarian version of this with more and different kinds of vegetables. …Finally, you can put this sauce on virtually any pasta, and it is going to taste great! Penne, rigatoni, even tortellini are all excellent examples. Enjoy! And cooking this at home will make you think it’s July and you’re at the Italian Festival!
Recipe shared from St. Maria Goretti’s Feeding the Flock cookbook, a collection of recipes by parishioners and clergy for the Altar Rosary Society
PENNE WITH HOMEMADE PESTO
Recipe for Celebrating at Home Contributed by Fr. Kevin Haines
Ingredients:
1 cup olive oil Small jar pine nuts (or black walnuts) 1 cup white onion Shredded chicken 2 Tbsp. minced garlic 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese 40 – 50 basil leaves 1 lb. penne pasta, al dente Salt, pepper & Italian seasoning
Instructions: Heat olive oil in a pan. Toss in white onions and minced garlic. Heat until onion and garlic are golden brown.
Next, mix in 40 to 50 basil leaves, pulverized in a blender with a little more olive oil. Add salt, pepper, and Italian seasonings to taste. Toss in 1 small jar of pine nuts.
(Nut allergy alert here!) If there is no allergy, you can also add small pieces of black walnuts, for an even more woodsy taste! And black walnuts tend to be less expensive than pine nuts!
If you’re not making this for a Friday during Lent, I would add in some shredded chicken breast for some additional protein, and the chicken picks up the wonderful taste of the pesto so well!
At the end, add Parmesan cheese to the whole mixture.
Makes enough for 1 pound of pasta of your choice, cooked al dente, of course!
I would use penne or one of my new favorites, strozzapreti pasta, which literally means “choke the priest”. Apparently, a few years back, an Italian priest’s housekeeper didn’t like her boss much, and cooked up this special type of pasta to “take him out”. Try it. It’s delicious! Just don’t have it when I come over!
Recipe shared from St. Maria Goretti’s Feeding the Flock cookbook, a collection of recipes by parishioners and clergy for the Altar Rosary Society