Easy 30 minute shrimp pasta with creamy tomato vodka sauce, so rich and delicious!
Have you ever made pasta with vodka sauce? It’s a velvety creamy tomato sauce that happens to be simmered with a squirt of vodka, making this simple sauce just sublime in a remarkable way.
Typically, pasta alla vodka is made with penne pasta. For this version, we’ll add fresh shrimp to make the dish more of an entree and use fettuccine pasta.
So why the vodka?
According to Serious Eats’ Kenji Lopez-Alt, citing Harold McGee, low levels of alcohol enhance flavor aromas. Kenji did an extensive test of vodka sauces with different concentrations of vodka and found that yes, adding vodka makes a difference.
That means it’s not absolutely necessary. You’ll still have a nice sauce without it.
So if you don’t like alcohol, just skip the vodka and enjoy these shrimp fettuccine with a creamy tomato sauce.
How to make shrimp pasta alla vodka
Shrimp pasta alla vodka
ingredients
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12 ounces Fettuccine pasta
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Salt
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2 tablespoon (1 ounce) butter
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1 1/2 cups finely chopped Onion
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4 cloves garlicchopped, about 4 teaspoons
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1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
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1 (28–Ounce) can crushed tomatoes
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1/4 Cup vodka
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6 tablespoon fat whipped cream
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1 teaspoon Lemon peel
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1 lb peeled, deveined raw shrimp
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3 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
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Fresh ground black pepper
method
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Boil pasta water:
Place a large pot of salted water (1 tablespoon salt in 2 liters of water) to boil the noodles.
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Sauté onions, garlic, paprika flakes:
Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium, add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook a minute longer.
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Add tomatoes, vodka, cream, zest:
Add the crushed tomatoes to the onions. Stir in the vodka, cream and lemon zest. Increase the heat to bring it to a simmer, then reduce the heat to maintain the simmer.
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Start cooking pasta:
Once the sauce begins to simmer, add the pasta to boiling salted water. Pasta should be ready in 10 minutes.
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Add raw shrimp to the sauce:
After the sauce has simmered for 5 minutes, about halfway through the pasta cooking time, taste for salt and add salt to taste (you’ll probably need about 1 teaspoon). Add the raw, peeled and deveined shrimp to the sauce.
Cook until shrimp are just cooked through, about 5 minutes, then remove from heat.
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Add cooked pasta to sauce and shrimp:
When the pasta is done, al dente, drain and add to the vodka tomato sauce and shrimp.
Sprinkle with parsley and freshly ground black pepper to serve.
Links:
Cheesy Cauliflower alla Vodka Casserole by I Breathe I’m Hungry
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 666 | calories |
| 17g | Fat |
| 91g | carbohydrates |
| 32g | protein |
