Pasta alla Vodka

Today's recipe came from Annie's Eats. This is the first time I've tried a recipe from her site, and it certainly won't be the last! She's got lots of fun stuff there.

I've cooked with wine plenty of times before, but this is my first time venturing into the liquor cabinet for vodka! I think it gave the pasta a nice extra bite (although John says he didn't really taste any difference).

I gave this meal a 4 star rating, but John said he would only give it a 2½ or 3. Too bad for him, I'm the one writing this blog! :)

I followed the recipe exactly, except that the commissary didn't have any heavy cream, so I used half and half instead. (Honestly, I'm not really sure if there's much difference. I rarely use cream when cooking, because I'm a bit lactose intolerant. Half and half was probably better for me, I'm guessing.)

Ingredients: 

• 16 oz. dried pasta (I used medium shells)
• 1 (28 oz.) can whole tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• ¼ cup minced onion (I used an entire small onion)
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste (side note: I hate having to store the rest of the tomato paste in my fridge)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 5)
• ½ tsp. red pepper flakes (I didn't measure, but I probably used a couple tablespoons!)
• ½ tsp. table salt
• ¼ to 1/3 cup vodka (I used 1/3 cup)
• ½ cup heavy cream (I used half and half)
• ¼ cup reserved pasta water, if needed (I didn't need it)
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh basil leaves
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Full recipe at Annie's Eats.

The bread we had on the side was store-bought garlic bread. 

One of these days, I'm going to make my own garlic bread to keep in my freezer. Anybody have a favorite recipe?