Penne Alla Vodka

This delicious pasta dish has subtle creamy flavor and richness. In the original recipe by Lidia Bastianich, she uses whole cream, however, a marvelous substitute for cream in sauces such as this is to blend nonfat cottage cheese and a little milk (depending on how thick you want your "cream") in a food processor. When you add the blended cottage cheese to the hot pan, it will separate a bit, but with heat, the cottage cheese should melt into the sauce. This dish is wonderful on its own, but if you wish to make this a complete meal, grill some garlic chicken (recipe to follow) and serve with a side salad.

Ingredients

1 lb. whole wheat penne pasta (recommended: Barilla Plus)
3–14oz. cans diced tomatoes, no salt added
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
10 cloves garlic, peeled
Crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup vodka
½ cup nonfat cottage cheese minus 2 tablespoons
2 tablespoons skim milk
3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley 
¾ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano
Salt, to taste
2 tablespoons butter for finishing the sauce (very much optional)

Bring a medium-sized pot full of salted water to a boil. Stir penne into the boiling water. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until quite al dente. Drain.

In a food processor, pulse the diced tomatoes until they are fairly smooth—a few chunks are okay.

Heat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add garlic to oil and cook until the garlic is lightly browned—about 3 minutes. Carefully pour in your tomatoes. Bring to a boil, season with some pepper flakes (this is completely up to personal taste, however, the subtle heat of the pepper adds a much-needed punch to the sauce, recommended: ½ teaspoon). Boil for 2 minutes. Pour in the vodka and lower the heat 'til you have a lively simmer. Simmer 10 minutes or so. 

In a food processor, blend the cottage cheese and milk on high for about a minute.

Fish out the garlic cloves and pour in the creamed cottage cheese. Let the sauce simmer and reduce for around 5 minutes. If the skillet is large enough, add the pasta to the sauce. If not, add the sauce to the pasta pot. Sprinkle with the parsley and mix the sauce into the pasta. Boil until the sauce has reduced enough to cling to the pasta.

Off the heat, toss with the Parmigiano-Reggiano.


Grilled Garlic Chicken

Ingredients

1 large chicken breast, defrosted
1 heaping tablespoon crushed garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice

In a gallon-sized Ziploc bag, combine oil, garlic, parsley, and lemon juice. Add the chicken and close the bag. Toss the bag well, so that the marinade covers the chicken well. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Take the bag, squeeze any air out, and cushion it between two paper towels. Get out your meat mallet and thwack the chicken on both sides until it is about ½" thick. At this point you can either grill the chicken in an oiled grill pan, on the barbecue, or in the oven under the broiler. If you are broiling, it's about 10-15 minutes per side, but the chicken is done when it has a bit of color and the center is no longer pink.