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Ina Garten’s Pasta Alla Vecchia Bettola

This delicious recipe for pasta alla vecchia bettola, which calls for sweating onions and garlic, reducing vodka, adding canned San Marzano tomatoes, plenty of cream, and baking the mixture in a covered pan for one-and-a-half hours, is reminiscent of the classic penne alla vodka but with so much more flavor! // alexandracooks.com

Most often, when I see recipes with quantity-ingredient combos such as one cup heavy cream, two sticks butter, a quarter pound cheese, I don’t give them a second look. It just never seems necessary — comfort food can succeed at comforting without heavy doses of heavy ingredients.

But after reading the preface to this pasta alla vecchia bettola recipe in The Barefoot Contessa’s Foolproof, I had to make it despite the cup of cream. More than being a mainstay on the menu of one of Ina’s favorite restaurants for 20 years, what struck me about the recipe was the method, which calls for sweating onions and garlic, reducing vodka, adding canned San Marzano tomatoes, and baking the mixture in a covered pan for one-and-a-half hours. The recipe originates from a restaurant in Florence, and Ina likens the dish to the classic penne alla vodka “but with so much more flavor.”

Few sauces that call for using canned tomatoes leave me satisfied the way this one has. About this time of year ever year, when the tomatoes begin disappearing from the farmstands, I start stocking up on canned tomatoes and preparing for a season of sauces that, while perfectly delicious, pale in comparison to the fresh sauces of summer. But this sauce has the potential to make this winter like no other. During the hour and a half in the oven, liquids reduce and flavors concentrate, and the resulting sweet-spicy mixture needs little more than a few splashes of cream and a handful of cheese to balance it out. Adding the full cup of cream makes for an incredibly delicious sauce, but it can hold its own with much less.

And while I haven’t experimented much yet, I could see using the base mixture — the puréed tomatoes and onions before the cream and cheese are added — as a component to so many dishes: thinned out with stock or water for soup; stirred into risotto; combined with other vegetables for baked pastas. This recipe is a little fussier than most of its kind, but the hands-on time is minimal, and the lengthy cooking time really transforms the canned tomatoes. And while a cup of cream seems excessive at first glance, the recipe yields a fair amount of sauce — at least five cups.

If you’re a penne alla vodka fan, this one’s for you. And I promise to pass no judgement if you use the full cup of cream. Go big. You won’t be disappointed you did.

ingredients

First you sweat the onions and garlic for five minutes:
sweating the onions and garlic

After draining the San Marzano tomatoes…
draining the tomatoes

you squeeze them right into the pan:
adding the tomatoes

After 1.5 hours in the oven…
after 1.5 hours in the oven

into a blender or food processor it goes:
puréed tomatoes, onions, vodka

pasta

cooked pipettes

cream and Parmigiano

adding the cream

sauce

pasta1

Pasta Alla Vecchia Bettola

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Ina Garten’s Pasta Alla Vecchia Bettola

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews
  • Yield: 5 cups
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Description

Source: The Barefoot Contessa’s Foolproof

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 1 medium (or a few small) Spanish onion(s), chopped to yield 2½ cups
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • ¼ – ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (If you are sensitive to heat, just use a pinch and adjust at the end. The ½ teaspoon makes for a seriously spicy sauce.)
  • 1½ teaspoons dried oregano (optional — I didn’t use. I love dried oregano, but I don’t always love it in tomato sauce.)
  • 1 cup vodka
  • 2 (28-ounce) cans peeled plum tomatoes
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • ¾ pound penne pasta or whatever shape you like
  • 4 tablespoons fresh oregano (I used basil)
  • ¼ to 1 cup heavy cream
  • grated Parmigiano or Pecorino

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a large oven proof sauté pan over medium heat, add the onions and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add the red pepper flakes and dried oregano (if using) and cook for 1 minute more. Add the vodka and continue cooking until the mixture is reduced by half, about 5 to 7 minutes more.
  3. Meanwhile, drain the tomatoes through a sieve. (Save the strained juice. I stuck mine in the freezer. It can be used for future sauce-making days as well as for homemade bloody Mary mix, etc. Maybe you have more thoughts for repurposing this strained juice? Would love to hear.) Put on an apron and crush the tomatoes into the pan with your hands — careful hear…you might make a mess all over your oven. Add 2 teaspoons salt and a pinch of black pepper. Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid and place it in the oven for 1½ hours.
  4. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta al dente. (Note: Ina adds 2 tablespoons of kosher salt to her pasta water. I did this, too, and found it really seasons the pasta nicely. There is no need to save pasta cooking liquid in this recipe, but if there were, I think the 2 tablespoons would be a little too much — the reserved liquid would be too salty. Just something to keep in mind.) Drain and set aside.
  5. Place the tomato mixture in a blender or food processor and purée in batches until the sauce is a smooth consistency. Place potholders or dishtowels around the handles of your pot to prevent burning your hands in the next step.(Note: I puréed a handful of basil with the sauce at this step and didn’t add anymore fresh herbs.) Return sauce to the pan.
  6. Reheat the sauce, add 2 tablespoons fresh oregano (if using) and enough heavy cream to make the sauce a creamy consistency — start with a quarter cup; taste; add more as necessary. Add salt (if necessary) and pepper, to taste, and simmer for 10 minutes. Toss the pasta into the sauce and cook for 2 minutes more. Stir in a generous handful of grated cheese. Serve with an additional sprinkle of cheese and a sprinkle of fresh oregano (if using) on each plate.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I’m looking to make this for xmas eve and was wondering if this can be made ahead and heated in the oven or cooked in the oven if made ahead?

    Otherwise I’m looking for a baked ziti that doesn’t require a ton of cheese.

    Thank you

    Reply

    • You can definitely make the sauce in advance. And I think you could definitely parboil some noodles, toss them in the sauce, place it all in a 9×13-inch baking pan with some cheese and let that sit until you are ready to bake it. Does that make sense?

      Reply

  2. I’m wondering how many this recipe would serve? I’m hosting a dinner this weekend for 6 people and want to be sure to have enough. The guest of honor loves vodka sauce. Should I double the recipe?

    Reply

    • Rhonda — so sorry I missed this! This makes a lot of sauce — I don’t think you need to double it, though I’d be curious to know what you did if you made it.

      Sarah — I don’t think you need to double it — it makes a ton. Fun!

      Reply

  3. I don’t know if anyone has asked this yet but does the sauce need to be in the oven for the full hour and a half? or could maybe just 30-45 minutes still be good enough to get a great result?
    thanks for any help!

    Reply

  4. Hi, I have a question: Can you double the size of the ingredients and freeze the unused sauce? Would it survive in flavor when reheated?
    Thanks!!!

    Reply

  6. I made this last night and it was very good! I used only a half teaspoon on oregano and went light on the salt. I ended up adding a little salt in at the end, but I wanted to ensure it wasn’t too salty for me. Also, instead of pureeing in small batches, I just dumped it all in my vitamix and did it that way, which worked perfectly. Thanks for the recipe!!

    Reply

  7. I do not have a pan that would go from stove top to oven. Would transferring the stove top ingredients to a covered casserole dish work?

    Reply

  9. Trick for crushing tomatoes into a pan without any mess – cut a slit in a paper plate, push the plate over the handle of a potato masher. Now you have a tomato smoosher with a lid!

    Reply

  10. I’ve been making this dish for quite some time now and it’s delicious. That being said, I’d like to know how to make this dish in advance? Should I make extra sauce to pour over the pasta while its heating on the sternos? Or should I ask my bro if I can cook at his house? HELP!!!

    Reply

    • Hi Brian, I’m not sure if this answers your question, but this sauce freezes well. So if you make a double batch (or not), you can transfer it to storage containers and freeze it.

      Reply

  12. I forgot to add the vodka and my pan is in the oven now. Can I add when it comes out and cook it over a flame?
    Can’t wait to taste this!

    Reply

  14. Hosting Christmas Eve. 30 Adults. Could I make this sauce say day before but in fridge and then boil pasta on the day of and add it to sauce in 2 lasagna pans to reheat in the evening? What would you suggest for quantity – 4 X the recipe?

    Reply

  16. Yes I have doubled and tripled this recipe. Using it a day or two later enhances the flavor. Just add cream day of serving. This is absolutely the best go to sauce when you dont have time for the traditional all day sunday sauce. I have now used this sauce for my lasagne and my pizza sauce (minus the cream). I do not strain the tomatoes and it tastes just the same as if I did. I just have more of it. I have read the previous posts and definitely would not eliminate the oregano or pepper flakes. My only other recommendation is when using it as a sauce with no cream added, it does need more salt. And lastly, it absolutely needs it oven roasted for all of the 90 minutes.

    Reply

  17. …was wondering if I could use the frozen San Marzano tomatoes (that my neighbour grew and gave to me last summer) Instead of canned ones?

    Reply

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