Penne a la vodka with baby broccolini & Italian sausage

I love a vodka sauce over pasta! While we were recently in Florida, a great restaurant in Clearwater Beach served up my favorite pasta meal with the addition of baby broccolini in the sauce itself and it was great! I recreated it last night and it was pretty close – I would definitely make it again and tweak it by remembering to get whole cream at the grocery store, haha!
If you’re a pasta-appreciator, you’ll probably love it. This has baby broccolini in the recipe itself so if you wanted to forgo another veggie serving, at least you’re getting something…or you could serve with a salad or even the rest of the steamed broccolini on the side.

Ingredients

• Penne pasta, enough to feed your crowd (I use half a box of Barilla pasta for just 2 or 3 of us)
• Couple bunches of baby broccolini (I was surprised that our little local rural grocery store had it – but you should be able to find it at larger or “better” groceries)
• Italian sausage (for just 2 people, I just use half a pound and freeze the other half)
• 1 large (for 2-4 people, I would use 2 cans for a larger crowd) can San Marzano tomatoes
• 1/4-1/2 finely diced white onion and about a tsp of garlic, if you like – I’ve made it with and without the onion and garlic, and don’t even notice much difference if I don’t use them.
• a little swirl (maybe a tbsp) of olive oil, a couple shakes of salt and about 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• Couple generous glugs of your favorite vodka (unflavored)
• Couple splashes of whole cream (I used half and half in the recipe above because I forgot whole cream at the store – and its just not quite as creamy)
  

Instructions & Serving Suggestions

• In a large skillet, saute your Italian sausage til browned. Remove sausage to a paper towel lined plate to drain grease.
• I take out my whole cream (you’ll use a couple splashes – maybe 1/4 c) to come to room temp.
• Go ahead and wash/prepare your broccolini to steam when you’re boiling your pasta. I put it into the steamer basket whole, then chopped before adding it into the sauce. If you want to serve some whole on the side, then steam both bunches. Or you can just chop all of it and add it into the sauce – whatever floats your boat.
• In same skillet (you can wipe extra grease clean with a paper towel but leave any “browned bits” to help create your sauce) add in a swirl of olive oil and saute your finely diced onion. When onion is softened, add in tsp of garlic and the can of San Marzano tomatoes. I break up the tomatoes with the side of a spoon or spatula. Let simmer for a bit and add in a bit of salt to taste (I do just a couple of shakes) and Italian seasoning to taste (about half a tsp of Italian seasoning).
• Splash in a couple glugs of vodka and let sauce simmer for about 10 minutes (so the alcohol simmers off). Take off heat for a bit so it can “temper” a little and then add in your room-temp whole cream. I let it temper a little first, so the cream doesn’t curdle. Blend sauce together and add your sausage back in.
• Get your broccolini steaming, but steam it “al dente” – just for a few minutes til it turns brighter green and remove from heat before it gets too soggy.
• Prepare your pasta and when done al dente, drain and combine with the sauce.
• Chop amount of broccolini that you want to add in to the sauce and throw that in there too.

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