Carbone NYC Inspired Spicy Vodka Rigatoni
Seems like each time new measures are announced, we start dreaming of the places we miss travelling to, the food we crave in our favourite cities and the loud dinner parties with groups of friends. Maybe it’s something special about the places you’ve met friends close to your heart that you haven’t seen in way too long. Catching up & making plans over a bottle of wine, an ambitious number of shared dishes and endless laughter. Ending the night with a full tummy & a bursting heart.
One of the places on my mind is always Carbone, a New York Italian-American restaurant. I’ve only ever been to the one in Hong Kong, with its red leather seats, dark wood paneling, warm lighting and perfectly-fitting soundtrack. Beautifully piled portions of pasta served on oversized, beautifully painted dishes to fill the table and share with friends.
You know it’s been a good night, fully absorbed in conversation & laughter, when you don’t have a single good photo of a meal or restaurant as beautiful as Carbone’s after several visits. So here’s a terribly blurry shot from one of our visits. Their Spicy Vodka Rigatoni is something else – the most balanced spicy tomato based sauce coating perfectly al-dente rigatoni tubes. So simple, yet so satisfying.
Jump to Recipe
The beauty in a ‘simple’ dish is that you can easily try it at home. I browsed several recipes on the internet and have made this many times, before landing on ‘my’ version of Carbone’s Spicy Vodka Rigatoni. I’m sure it has my own spin on it, but the result is still a shiny dish of pasta that warms the soul and fuels a long night of conversation & laughter with those close to your heart.
Although we might not have the same beautiful heavy plates or be with friends in faraway places, we find ourselves travelling through food. We fill our homes with love, music, beautiful smells and treasured family & friends; knowing to take none of it for granted!
Carbone NYC Inspired Spicy Vodka Rigatoni
Ingredients
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 2 small yellow onions sliced thinly
- 150 ml water
- 1 tsp salt
- One 14 oz can chopped or diced italian tomatoes
- 40 g calabrian chillis (and some of the oil they come in) if they come whole, remove stems and chop very finely
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp vodka
- 20 g basil leaves roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp crème fraîche
- salt & pepper to taste
- 2 l water
- 1 tbsp salt
- 400 g large rigatoni
- ½ cup shaved parmesan
Instructions
- Heat a heavy bottomed pot on low to medium heat and melt 50g of unsalted butter. When ready, add sliced yellow onions and saute for 5 minutes
- Add 150ml water and 1 tsp salt. Allow to cook slowly on low heat for another 20 minutes, stirring often so it doesn't stick. Add a little more water to deglaze the pan if necessary
- When the onions are nice and translucent, add the chopped tomatoes, Calabrian chilis, olive oil, sugar and vodka. Mix well and bring to a boil over medium heat, then turn the heat down to low and let simmer for 15 minutes
- At this point, you can boil your 2l pasta water, add 1 tbsp salt and cook the rigatoni per instructions on package. Cook until al dente as you will mix into the sauce later and it will continue cooking.Important to note that if you're going to drain your pasta before your sauce is ready, make sure to save 1 cup of pasta water! You will add it to your pasta sauce later!
- After your sauce mixture has simmered for 15 minutes, mix in the chopped basil and cème fraîche. Add salt & pepper to taste and let simmer on very low heat for another 5 minutes. If you like a smoother sauce, cut the heat and use an immersion blender to blend up the sauce in the pot at this point. I like to blend about ¾ of it, and leave the onion / chopped tomato texture in the remaining ¼ for a nice balance! Just mix it all back together.
- Bring the sauce back to a simmer on low heat and add in ½ cup of pasta water and the cooked rigatoni. The pasta water will add starch (thicken) and salt to your sauce. Mix it all through on low heat for a moment & if you're happy with the consistency, you're ready to enjoy!
- Prepare your bowls each with a ¼ cup of shaved parmesan at the bottom, then scoop your portion of spicy rigatoni vodka on it. Garnish with any leftover basil if you'd like and dig in!
Notes
