My Chicken and Pasta in Vodka Sauce
by Anthony Speciale
(Pine Brook, NJ)
Chicken and pasta in pink vodka sauce
Let’s make the gravy first,
2 28oz cans of imported whole tomatoes,
4 cloves of garlic-chopped fine, very fine, olive oil, fresh basil, salt and pepper.
In blender, blend both cans of tomatoes well and set a side.
In a 5qt pot add oil to just cover bottom over mid heat, when oil is hot add garlic and sauté lightly,
Add tomatoes, salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar, add fresh basil leaves hole, simmer about 1/2 hour.
Turn off pour into a big bowl, leave un-covered to cool slightly.
Return pot to stove, add 1/2 stick of butter and 2 Tbs of olive oil,
Turn heat on low to melt butter without burning it, finly chop 1/2 of a sweet white onion,
Add to butter and oil and simmer 5 minutes without burning.
Remove from stove, add 1 cup of good vodka then return pot to stove and raise heat to mid-heat to boil out half the vodka.
Add gravy that was pre-made and stir well, Add 2 pints of heavy or light cream - slowly and stir as you are add the cream, you might not need 2 full pints, it will depend on how pink you like your vodka sauce, pouring slowly and stirring well will let you control the pinkness of your sauce.
Let simmer about 15 -20 minutes stirring often to thicken.
Set aside un-covered.
Chicken pieces-white meat; I like to use chicken tenders for this dish,
Beat 3 eggs, add chopped parsley, salt and pepper to egg.
In a frying pan heat up vegetable oil, flower chicken pieces and then dip in egg mix, fry chicken until mid golden about 3 minutes on each side then place in dish with paper towels to drain oil.
Boil pasta per box direction, drain and place in large serving dish, add some vodka sauce and mix, then add chicken on top of pasta and add more vodka sauce on top of chicken and pasta covering with sauce, add graded cheese and fresh chop parsley.
Serve hot.
