New Recipe: Penne with Vodka Tomato Cream Sauce

Happy Tasty Tuesday!

As previously mentioned, I was in the process of experimenting with different ingredients in hope to recreate the amazing dish I had while vacationing in Chicago and I believe I came pretty close to the original masterpiece. The finished product was super delicious and it took no more than 20 minutes to prepare (score!). FYI: I usually don't buy raw chicken since I really hate to touch it and usually substitute a rotisserie chicken for most of my recipes, however, I decided to buy raw chicken strips for this recipe and it really paid off.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of penne pasta
• 1 package chicken breast strips
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 4 whole mushrooms, washed and sliced
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp vodka --- For those of you without vodka in the house, I bought a little nip at the liquor store for $1.50
• Red pepper flakes & parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes. Drain water from pasta and set pasta aside.
• In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. While that heats up, cut chicken strips into smaller pieces and add to skillet. Cook chicken strips completely until they start to brown up a bit. 
• Add garlic, mushrooms and peas to skillet and cook for 5 minutes.
• Add crushed tomatoes and salt, bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
• Add vodka and cream and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to low and add cooked pasta, toss until pasta is completely covered.
• Garnish with red pepper flakes (if you like a little spice) and parmesan cheese.
• Enjoy!

xoxo