Baked Vodka Sauce Pasta

Hello friends! I don’t make pasta often but when I do, I ALWAYS make vodka sauce to put on the pasta. It’s my favorite SAUCE and tastes so good with pasta and roasted vegetables as you’ll see in the recipe below. Hope y’all enjoy the pasta 🙂

Ingredients:

• 2 tbspns olive oil
• 1.5 cup chopped onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tspns italian seasoning
• 1 tspn crushed red pepper
• 1 tspn oregano
• 1/2 tspn basil
• 1/2 tspn salt or to taste
• 1/2 tspn onion powder
• 1/2 tspn garlic powder
• 1/2 cup tomato paste (not puree not crushed tomatoes, concentrated paste)
• 1 tbspn vodka
• 1 + 2/3 cup half and half

• 4 cups cooked pasta

• 2 cups vegetable
• 1 tbspn oil
• 1 tbspn italian seasoning
• salt to taste
• 1/2 tspn onion powder
• 1/2 tspn garlic powder

• 3/4 cup shredded italian blend cheese

Directions:

1. In a saucepan on medium heat, add olive oil.
2. Once the oil has heated up add onion and minced/chopped garlic.
3. Sauté the mixture until fragrant.
4. Add Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, oregano, and basil. Sauté.
5. Add the tomato paste and sauté for 20-30 seconds.
6. Add the vodka to deglaze the pan.
7. Once the vodka has evaporated, add the half and half. Stir to make sure the sauce is homogenous.
8. Let the mixture come to a boil and then your sauce is ready! Put the sauce aside.
9. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
10. Now in a separate sauce pan, we will make the roasted vegetables. Add the oil to the pan on medium heat.
11. Once the oil is warm, add the vegetables and seasonings. I usually use frozen spinach, olives, and sundried tomatoes. Other alternatives are various squashes, mushroom, kale, literally anything. Let the vegetables cook, stirring occasionally to make sure they don’t burn.
12. Now it’s time to assemble! In atleast an 8×8 square pan, add the cooked pasta, and roasted veggies. Stir to combine!
13. Add the vodka sauce on top.
14. Sprinkle the cheese.
15. Bake the mixture until cheese is melted!