VODKA TOMATO SAUCE, FAVUZZI

Vodka sauce

Description

Our vodka sauce is made with just enough cream to let the delicious taste of tomatoes take centre stage. Smooth and seasoned with fresh basil, it is enhanced by a nice parmesan flavour and a subtle nutty aroma.

Uses

While vodka sauce is traditionally served with penne, it is just as delicious with gnocchi or tortellini. It's also a great starting point for a cannelloni recipe. Average proportions are 375 mL (1 ½ cup)tomato sauce for 500 g (1 lb) pasta. Don't throw away all your pasta cooking water: it's a good idea to add a bit to your sauce. Mix in ¼ to ½ cup (or a ladleful) cooking water with the sauce before adding the pasta. The salted, starchy water will enhance flavours and thicken the sauce, helping it stick to the pasta.

Distinctives attributes

Nothing rivals with the taste of Italian tomatoes ripened under the Mediterranean sun and seasoned with fresh, locally grown aromatics. If our sauces have a velvety texture, comparable to a homemade sauce, it is partly because they are prepared in small batches and cooked over an open flame, the same technique traditionally used by Italian mammas, allowing the water to evaporate gradually.

Artisan

The De Laurentiis family owns an artisanal business in the Abruzzo mountain region. For two generations, it has been drawing on traditional ingredients and know-how to offer products with an authentically Italian taste. The family grows organic tomatoes, saffron and other seasonings on its own plots of land, and turns them into sauces and condiments thanks to a veritable regiment of cooks who busily tend the ovens.

Origin

Roccascalegna, Abruzzo, Italy.

History and anecdotes

While there is no consensus about the origin of the famous penne alla vodka, it is generally agreed that the dish, very popular in the 1980s, owes its fame to Italian actor Ugo Tognazzi, who included the recipe in his 1974 book L'Abbuffon