Cheesy Penne with Tomato Sauce

I just made the most deliciously simple cheesy penne with tomato sauce. It’s actually supposed to be a vodka sauce base, but I didn’t have vodka so had to improvise.

This is a simple weeknight dish with a lot of substitutions available. Without further ado, here’s the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb of pasta - I chose penne because that’s what I had, but any small pasta shell will do

• 2 tbsp butter

• 1 tbsp oil - add chili or red pepper flakes in for additional spice

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

• 1 and 1/2 cu cherry tomatoes

• Salt and Pepper to taste

• 1/4 cu reserved pasta water

• 4 tbsp tomato paste

• 1/4 cup vodka - I ended up using water this time, but the vodka adds a nice flavor

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 3/4 cup parmessian

• 4-8 oz mozzerella or burratta

Recipe:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions in heavy salted water. Cooking hack… you can add salt in after the water boils, water will boil faster without salt

2. In a large sauce pan, melt the butter on medium low heat add in the oil and the chili flakes.

3. Stir in garlic and red pepper until fragrant, make sure to keep the heat low to not burn the garlic.

4. Add in the cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper, and pasta water. No need to cut the tomatoes as they saute, they will expand and burst to create a fresh sauce. Stir, cover and let cook for 5-8 minutes until cherry tomatoes are about to burst. Make sure to stir every so often to keep tomatoes from burning or sticking to the pan.

5. Add in the tomato paste, mix and cook until it turns dark red and covers all the cherry tomatoes. Then add in the vodka (or additional pasta water) and cook until the vodka is absorbed.

6. Add in the cream, half at a time, making sure the sauce thickens before adding in the second half. Stir in the parmesan cheese until melted.

7. Once sauce is thickened to your liking add in the cooked pasta and toss.

8. Break out the mozzarella or burrata into bite sized pieces and mix in to pasta.

9. Serve with salt and pepper to taste, add some fresh herbs if you so desire and enjoy!

This is one of my favorite go-to weeknight dishes. It serves about 4 generously. It’s so simple to make and is an easy base for versatility. You could easily add a protein to the dish for added heft. Or some fresh vegitable to mix things up. You could also remove the tomato paste and just have the tomatoes and oil for a lighter sauce. The chili flakes add a bit of a spice to the dish that adds variety to the standard vodka sauce, but if you don’t want the spice simply remove the chili flakes.