Recipe–Vegan Vodka Sauce

Here’s a little recipe that uses mostly pantry supplies to make a really awesome pasta topping. We whipped it up to put on some homemade gnocchi on Easter Sunday. The gnocchi followed a traditional Tuscan recipe published recently by Travel+Leisure, and so it wasn’t fully vegan because it included an egg, but the whole dish was dairy free. The sauce would also be perfect on regular pasta, or gluten free pasta, or cauliflower gnocchi, or to make a really rad homemade pizza.

Vegan Vodka Sauce

Ingredients

1/2 cup hot water (I used water just shy of boiling)

1/2 cup cashews

1/4 cup vodka

1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 clove or 1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1. Combine cashews and hot water in a blender, and blend until smooth and creamy.
2. Scrape out of blender into a medium size sauce pan and stir in vodka. Turn heat on low and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently. Do not bother cleaning the blender.
3. While cashews and vodka come to a simmer, open tomatoes and put about 1/4 cup into the blender with the remains of the cashews. Add in all the other ingredients and blend until well combined. Pour in the rest of the tomatoes and pulse once or twice to combine.
4. Pour tomatoes into the saucepan with the cashew cream and vodka, and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, but be careful because she spits when she’s hot.
5. Serve over whatever pasta you want.