Penne a la Vodka

Woo! Tonight, I made penne a la vodka! I consulted with various recipes, but the end recipe was my own :)

28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (mine didn't have any salted added - so use less salt if your's does)
about 1/2 cup of heavy cream
1/3 cup vodka
1/4 lb prosciutto
3-4 teaspoons crushed garlic
1/8 cup chopped onion
olive oil
kosher salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
basil
~1 pound of penne

Saute the garlic and onion and some salt in a generous amount of olive oil. Add the crushed tomatoes, more salt, pepper, basil and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Adjust seasoning so it tastes good. Saute the prosciutto in some more garlic and olive oil and then add it to the sauce. Add the cream and mix it up. Add the vodka and mix it again. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Then eat it over pasta. Sprinkle with parmesan.

Also, you might be able to tell, but the amounts are what I think I used (except the can of tomatoes, that's solid!), adjust accordingly. Mmmmmm :D

Instant dinner!

Tonight, I managed to make a complete meal in less than an hour....and not destroy my kitchen in the process! The menu consisted of:

Penne with homemade tomato sauce
Italian sausage
Garlic bread

The Sauce
1 28 oz jar of crushed tomatoes (I use the kind that are unsalted and unseasoned)
1.5t crushed garlic
half an onion, chopped and sauteed in some olive oil with the garlic
salt, pepper, dried basil to taste

Mix it up and simmer it for a half hour or so....and you've got some delicious sauce :)

The Sausage
I got some italian sausage from the grocery store, but it was made by a local sausage man:

Logan Sausage,
4116 Wheeler Ave.,
Alexandria;
703-212-6677;
He makes : Italian (10 varieties), bratwurst, country, kielbasa, andouille, butifarra (Catalan), chorizo, Salvadoran, Argentine, Guatemalan and Colombian) and chicken.

That's all the info I could dig up, but I think I will seek out the shop sometime because the sausage was good and it seemed to be lower in fat than the regular sausage

The Bread
The garlic bread was a baguette from the Caboose Bakery sliced in half length wise and spread with a mixture of butter, olive oil, salt and garlic and baked at 350 degrees for a little while.

Doesn't he look happy?