Spaghetti a la vodka with swiss chard

Made this delicious one pot spaghetti recipe from Food Network Magazine this past week. It was relatively easy and quick and definitely delicious. Since I’m always trying to make recipes better, it tasted like it was missing something - so next time I’ll add bacon, sauteed onions, and more garlic to give it a little extra depth.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion

1 bunch Swiss chard, stems thinly sliced and leaves chopped

1 tsp Kosher salt

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/3 cup vodka (or big splash of red wine if you don’t have vodka)

1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes

12 ounces spaghetti, broken in half

1/3 cup almond milk (original recipe called for heavy cream but yeah no)

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese, plus more for topping

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

Garnish: cooked bacon, crumbled

What To Do

Note: the pasta is cooked right in the sauce so no need to boil water to cook it

Heat the olive oil in a large wide pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic for 30 seconds then onions and chard stems, season with salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add pepper flakes then stir in the tomato paste and cook until slightly darker in color, about 1 minute. Carefully add the vodka and cook 30 seconds to burn off the alcohol but not all the liquid.

Add 4 cups water, the crushed tomatoes, and 1 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Once boiling and the spaghetti to the pot and stir. Cook according to package. About halfway through, stir in the chard leaves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender and the sauce is thickened, 10 to 12 minutes.

Stir in the almond milk and parmesan. Cook, tossing, until combined. Remove from the heat and stir in the cherry tomatoes. Let stand a few minutes to let the sauce thicken; season with salt. Divide among bowls and top with more parmesan.