Meaty Vodka Marinara
My husband recreated this recipe as part of a wedding gift for one of my best friends. Her former boyfriend and his best friend, Mike, past away from cancer in 2015 he didn’t cook much but he was known for his Vodka Spaghetti Sauce but no one including his girlfriends had the recipe. After several tries my husband and I were able to capture the taste of Mikes signature dish and presented the recipe to Mikes former girlfriend, a little piece of him to carry into her future.
The signature ingredient of the sauce is vodka and its amazing abilities to unlock flavors that are hidden with out it. Some flavor components dissolve in water, some in fat. Alcohol has the great advantage that it dissolves fat and water and some flavor components that neither fat nor water can dissolve.
This is part of why wine is so often used in cooking, in addition to its own flavor it unlocks the flavor of other ingredients. Vodka itself does not have a lot of taste however the flavor components in tomatoes dissolve in alcohol. Those flavors are released into the sauce, as the alcohol is cooked off. For a fruitier flavor red wine can be substituted.
Mike’s Meaty Vodka Marinara Sauce
Equipment
- Wooden Spoon
- Large Saucepan or enamelled Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 2 tsp Olive Oil
- 1 lb Italian Sausage Mild or Hot
- 2 TBSP Sugar
- 1 large Onion diced
- 3-4 cloves of Garlic minced
- 28 oz can Crushed Tomatoes
- 14 oz can Diced Tomatoes
- 1 TBSP Tomato Paste
- 1-2 TBSP dried Italian herbs Basil, Oregano, Marjoram, etc.
- ¼ tsp Red Pepper Flake
- 1 shot mid-shelf Vodka
- 1 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 TBSP fresh Basil chiffonade
Instructions
- Add Olive Oil to cooking vessel and place over med-high heat until oil shimmers.
- Remove sausage from casing and add to vessel with sugar; breaking up the sausage as it cooks and the sugar begins to caramelize.
- Once the sausage is browned reduce heat to med-low, and add onion to the vessel to sweat. As the moisture from the onions renders out make sure to scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Once the onions become translucent add garlic and cook until bloomed (you can strongly smell it, no longer than a minute.
- Next add the crushed and diced tomatoes and paste and cook until warmed through, once again scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any fond (brown bits). After the sauce is up to temp, add herbs, spices, and vodka, then simmer for about 20 mins.
- Once the flavors have melded remove from heat and add fresh basil and vinegar to brighten the sauce. Add sauce to pasta of your choice and enjoy.
