Penne with Spicy Vodka Tomato Cream Sauce

I think a good start to any a la vodka sauce is the pancetta. I started this recipe by browning 6 slices of pancetta without any oil and adding the sausage to the drippings, then launched into everything else. I also upped the vodka quantity to 1/4 of a cup and upped the heavy cream to 3/4 of a cup. I completely omitted the salt. I used Contadina crushed tomatos with roasted garlic. The meal was definitely "restaurant quality"

This recipe is top-notch and would rival any Penne a la Vodka that you'd order in an Italian restaurant. I prepared it almost to the letter, and it was perfect. I have also tried this a different way by making it a lowfat dish. I substituted turkey sausage, and instead of heavy cream, I used half and half blended with 1 tsp. of corn starch. It was a fantastic lower fat variation and tasted just as good as the original.

This was good although I have had better sauces but I must say I liked the addition of the sausage. It actually tasted better the next day. I would make it again. The ony thing is I reduced the oil and the salt I felt the amounts given were high.

All the signs of greatness: Tastes really good, is fast and easy, and also pretty darn inexpensive! I went a little easy on the crushed red pepper (it was still nice and spicy), and topped each serving with a little shredded fresh Romano. SERIOUS YUM, especially with a glass of red wine...

I changed this recipe. 3 tablespoons of white wine instead of vodka, added spinach, tomato sauce and extra red pepper flakes, simmered the sauce 30 minutes and melted parmesean and feta cheese. made for a large group. got rave reviews, tasted just like penne rosa from noodles and company!

This was wonderful and so quick and easy!! I did drain the sausage and also added the cream after bringing the vodka to a boil (wasn't sure about cream boiling and curdling). I only had hot italian sausage on hand, and it was great - next time I'll try the sweet! This was very similiar to 'Rigatoni ala vodka' my husband and I used to order at a local restaurant - also good with the addition of chicken breast cooked in the sausage grease (sounds weird but tastes great). Thanks for the recipe!!

I frequently do a sausage pasta with a fresh sauce but never occurred to me to do a vodka cream version. Great! My only alteration is in the pasta choice. Pardon, but I am a particular snob in this area. For a sauce like this one with roll-away chunks, a more appropriate pasta choice is one that snuggles the sauce - in this case I go for an egg noodle or at least the widest fettuccine you can find. Tubed pasta work better on thinner sauces that need a little traveling compartment.

Very Good! I also reduced the oil and salt and just noticed that another person did the same thing.

My family loved this. I thought it was very similar to Bowties w/Sausage, Tomatoes & Cream (also on this site) and may consider using that recipe as my base vodka sauce. I followed the directions pretty accurately with only a few minor changes. I put literally a drop of EVOO into the pan and browned my sausage whole. I think 2 links crumbled as written would have been lost in the sauce. I drained the oil and fat from the pan reserving about 1-1/2 Tbsp. in the pan for flavor. I cut down to 1/2 the amount of red pepper to make it more kid-friendly. I also cut back dramatically on the parsley. As I was chopping it I realized that it was a lot so I sprinkled it little by little until I got the flavor I wanted. I ended up using a little over a tbsp I would guess. My only other change was to use a little over a half pound of a variety of pastas.(finished up the boxes) I served it with grated parm and think that next time I may add it to the sauce during cooking for a much better flavor. The flavor of the dish was good but I definitely recommend increasing the vodka A LOT! You could barely taste it. Also I think I prefer my vodka sauce a bit more creamier than tomato-ey so next time I will definitely add more cream to the dish as well. Overall this was a very delicious dish and was loved by my whole family. My 22 month old went back for thirds!! It does make a lot of sauce so be prepared for extra...perfect for dipping garlic bread into. Thank you Star!