j konger

Ingredients

• 1 lb pasta shape of your choice ((I recommend orecchiette or small shells))
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced shallot or red onion
• 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic ((from about 2 cloves))
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 2 Tbsp vodka ((you can omit if you don’t want to use))
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes ((can use more or less or omit altogether and add at the end to individual dishes))
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, (plus more for topping)
• Chopped basil, (for topping)

Instructions

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package instructions. When draining, reserve about 1/2 cup of pasta water.
• While pasta is cooking, add olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add shallot or onion and cook until it begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about one minute.
• Add tomato paste and stir. Let cook for 3-4 minutes until it’s starting to brown/caramelize a bit.
• Stir vodka into sauce and let cook for about 1 minute.
• Add heavy cream, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Remove from heat.
• Add cooked pasta, reserved pasta water, and butter to skillet and toss to coat pasta in sauce. Stir in parmesan cheese.
• Serve pasta topped with additional parmesan and chopped basil.

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Notes

It was cold but we went to Wendy’s to get free frosties. We got keyfobs that let us do this, from S—‘s dad. This makes us part of a rare and very exclusive club: pescatarians¹ who occasionally go to Wendy’s. this is an absolute waste of time (especially when its cold out), but nothing worthwhile is not a waste of time. Joy is felt best outside of existence’s upkeep. This is the first lesson Gigi Hadid’s pasta taught.

Footnotes

1. ugly word ↩