Health-ified Comfort Food

Josh and I both love pasta.  I could without a doubt eat pasta every day.  Pasta also happens to be quick to make and you can buy it and store it forever without it going bad.  I find that I waste so much food because I buy perishable items and then wind up having to throw them away if I don't cook them fast enough.  That's one of the problems I have with buying meat, I always wind up throwing some of it away.  But not pasta.  Pasta can just be stored in the pantry until you're ready for it. 

A couple of months ago Josh, Greg and I went to a local restaurant, Mother Kelly's.  It was a great family style Italian restaurant where the portions are too big and nothing is healthy.  Greg got fettucine alfredo, I had chicken parmesan and Josh ordered penne with vodka sauce.  I've never really liked vodka sauce because I never liked cream sauces, they were always too heavy.  However, this penne with vodka sauce was amazing.

The next day, after we finished our leftovers I was on the hunt for a non-heart attack inducing vodka sauce and I found one that didn't seem too bad. I made it a few days later and we all loved it.  Since then I've been trying to make it even healthier and the other night I think I succeeded.  The pasta still tasted great and had that home-y, heavy, unhealthy comforting feeling that you want to get from this pasta dish.  The only problem was that I was out of penne pasta - had to improvise with bowties!

I put the sauce into the weight watchers calculator and the entire recipe comes to 15 points. So, depending how many servings you get from this (we got 4, but we both had big servings), the sauce only comes to 4 points per serving.  Add that to your serving of pasta and a little parmesan cheese and it's a very do-able dinner! 

You can also add chicken to this dish, or veggies if you want.  Josh wants me to add chicken next time, but I think I'll only add it to half - I don't really like chicken in pasta dishes.

Bowtie Pasta with Vodka Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon whipped butter
• 1 medium shallot, minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced (I didn't have fresh so I used about 1 teaspoon of dried)
• 3 tablespoons canned tomato paste
• 2 oz vodka (which I learned is 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup light cream
• 12 oz dry pasta
• Parmesan cheese (optional)

First, get the pasta water up to boil.  The sauce comes together pretty quickly so if you start the water first the sauce and pasta should be done at the same time.  Don't forget to salt the water once it starts to boil - I realized it really does make a difference in flavoring the pasta!

Next, chop up your shallot and garlic.  Melt the butter in a pan on medium heat.  Once melted, add the shallot and garlic and stir around until starting to caramelize, about 3 minutes.

Then, add the parsley, sea salt and pepper to the pan.  Stir to combine.  Add tomato paste and mix together with the garlic/shallot to combine.

Cook the tomato paste mixture for about 5 minutes, moving around the pan occasionally.    Add the vodka.  Scrap the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon and cook for 5 more minutes.  The liquid will all evaporate during this time.  Add cream to tomato mixture.  You'll need to work it a little bit to get it combined.  You could use a whisk but I don't like to dirty more utensils than I have to, so I just used the wooden spoon.

Once combined, lower the heat and let simmer for about 3 minutes or until your pasta is ready.  Once pasta is done pour sauce over and combine.  Top with parmesan cheese.  Yum!