Vodka Sauce

2 tbsp rice bran oil
3 shallots
6 garlic cloves
790 g crushed tomatoes
170 g tomato paste
½ cup vodka
¾ cup heavy whipping cream
½ cup shaved Parmesan cheese
1 tsp crushed chilli flakes
SIDS SALT & PEPPER to taste
2 tbsp minced fresh basil

Heat up a Dutch oven over medium heat and add oil. Add diced shallots and sauté until it starts to brown.
Smash and mince garlic, add it to the pot, and sauté until garlic is fragrant.
Add crushed tomatoes and tomato paste, stir well and simmer until heated through. Pour in vodka, stir, and let it come to simmer.
Simmer for a 5-7 minutes but make sure to keep the lid on with a small opening for the steam to escape. (Tomatoes will splatter while simmering so the lid will help a lot.) Stir often.
Stir in heavy whipping cream and add shaved Parmesan cheese, SIDS SALT & PEPPER and crushed chilli flakes. Stir everything together and simmer until the cheese is all melted and smooth.
Stir in minced fresh basil and let it cook for just a minute or so.
Take off heat and it’s ready to be mixed with pasta.
TIP: the sauce can be left chunky or blended smooth. If you want to blend the sauce, use an immersion blender or transfer it into a food processor. Be careful if transferring the sauce to blend because it will be scalding hot.
Cook pasta at the same time as the sauce because both will take about the same amount of time.
History: Vodka sauce is an Italian-American cuisine sauce made from a smooth tomato sauce, vodka, typical Italian herbs and heavy cream (which gives the sauce its distinctive orange coloration). It is a key ingredient in penne alla vodka. The vodka's function is, ostensibly, to release flavours in the tomato that are normally inaccessible. Using alcoholic beverages for this purpose is common in Italian cooking, although wine is usually used and vodka seldom used. The alcohol is also an emulsifier, serving to keep the sauce together, when normally the oil of the cream sauce would react with the acidic tomato sauce to separate from the water in both.