Penne a la Vodka Sauce (Sans Cream)

by Arielle J on July 25, 2012

I eat what I crave.

And tonight I was craving penne a la vodka sauce.
so a la vodka it
was!

No clue why/how I thought of this dish, since I haven’t
been in an Italian restaurant in ages, but I just
knew I needed something creamy and comforting…

I didn’t have cream in my fridge (I wanted to healthify it up, anyway)
AND I didn’t feel like using hemp milk, so thank
goodness for my cans of coconut milk sitting in my cupboard.

Love healthifying rich, delicious dishes….and keeping the delish factor.

My version came out a little too thin (I think because I used tomato
sauce instead of tomato paste) but either way,
it tasted EXACTLY like vodka sauce from an Italian restaurant
AND, its the SAME EXACT pretty pink/orange color
AND, it’s sans cream for all of you vegans!!!!!

Here’s what I used to healthify it up:

Penne a la Vodka Sauce
INGREDIENTS:
brown rice pasta (penne)
2 tbs olive oil
4 garlic cloves (chopped)
1 cup basil (chopped)
1 cup coconut milk
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup vodka (high quality. I used Kettle One) (optional)
1 tbs raw agave/coconut palm sugar (optional)
1 cup frozen green peas
cayenne (optional)
parmesan cheese or almond flour (optional)
sea salt (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)
Brown Rice Pasta

DIRECTIONS:
1. Make brown rice penne (according to packages directions)
2. Heat up olive oil and garlic.

3. Add tomato sauce and coconut milk.

4. Simmer for 10 minutes

5. Add vodka and simmer for another 10 minutes.
6. Add frozen peas during last 3 minutes.

7. Stir it up

8. Add to penne