So I’m still unpacking and moving boxes like crazy, but I’ve finally slowed down a little. It’s been nice trying out all of my new kitchen gadgets that I got for Christmas in my new, albeit oddly designed, kitchen. Haven’t done a ton of inventive cooking as of late. I’ve been sticking to recipes that I find online for quick meals that are cheap and delicious and a couple of my old staples. Over the break I made some amazing orange “chicken”, cabinet soup, a thai coconut sauce and various other little bits to eat.

Today’s posting is for my vodka sauce, which I made on Monday. Super easy to make and is super delicious.

What You’ll Need:

  • 1/4 c plain vodka ( the alcohol cooks out and just leaves a distinct flavor. Brand doesn’t really matter, nor does price. I just used up a super cheap left over bottle from my birthday party that’d lost it’s cap)
  • 32 oz can of diced tomatoes (or 32oz of tomato sauce, I pureed my tomatoes myself to try and cut down on the sodium found in most canned sauces)
  • 3 cloves of diced garlic
  • 1/2 an onion, diced
  • 1 zucchini, chopped
  • Mushrooms, chopped
  • Italian spice mix (thyme, basil, rosemary, oregano, marjoram)
  • 1/4 c bechemel sauce
  • 1/4 c nutritional yeast
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

  1. If you already haven’t, chop/mince your onions and garlic. Toss those into a pan with some oil and let them saute until tender. I used my larger pan with high sides so that I’d be able to make the sauce in fewer pans.
  2. Shake in your spices as the onions and garlic are cooking.
  3. Puree the tomatoes if you’re not using canned sauce and add those to the pan, letting them come to a boil before turning the heat down to medium-low and covering.
  4. Add the zucchinis and vodka in and  let the sauce simmer for about 30 minutes.
  5. While the sauce is cooking, we’ll make the bechemel to add in.
    1. 1/4 c Earth balance melted in a pot or bowl.
    2. Mix in two heaping spoonfuls of flour until it’s a paste like texture.
    3. Add in about a 1/4 c of soy milk and stir until the paste is totally dissolved.
    4. Mix in another spoon or two of flour until the sauce is looking thick.
    5. Stir in the nutritional yeast.

    6. Bechemel Sauce

  6. Once the bechemel is done, add that in and stir pretty constantly until it’s completely incorporated. Since the bechemel has flour in it it’ll thicken the sauce as well as make tiny tomato sauce dumplings/burned bits if left alone and not stirred on a regular basis while cooking. Remove the sauce from heat and cover.
  7. Boil some water and throw in your noodles of choice. We ate this with Farfalle noodles that were super cute and tastey. Once your noodles are boiled and tender, drain, plate and sauce.

That’s all it takes. Normally a vodka sauce calls for Parmesan cheese in the mix but since I’m making this vegan I just added in nutritional yeast to the “cream” portion to give it a cheesy flavor.


This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 2:57 pm, by NeedToDestroy, and is filed under Entree. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.