Eleanor Steafel’s Bloody Mary rigatoni recipe
A relaxing Friday night in deserves to be celebrated, ideally with a wonderful plate of food. Whether you’re cooking dinner for friends or family, or savouring a supper for one, there’s nothing quite like a comforting bowl of pasta.
Food writer Eleanor Steafel agrees. In fact, this is the ethos that has shaped her popular Telegraph column The Art of Friday Night Dinner, on which her debut cookbook is based.
One of the many moreish recipes within its pages is this delicious Bloody Mary rigatoni for one. Eleanor’s take on a classic vodka sauce has all the spicy kick of a Bloody Mary. Vodka sauce dates back to the 1970s but, like many other nostalgic dishes, is making something of a comeback.
The beauty of this sauce lies in the simplicity of its ingredients and how they complement and elevate each other. Vodka, for example, plays a fundamental role by allowing the tomato to release its natural flavours in the alcohol. It also acts as an emulsifier, which prevents the creamy sauce from splitting due to the tomatoes’ acidity.
“There are some pastas born entirely out of a combination of profound hunger and happy accident,” says Eleanor. “This is one such pasta. A craving for something deeply, lip-smackingly savoury with a bit of a kick; tomato-y but not especially saucy; a little creamy without being heavy; a pasta that sits somewhere between sexy and ordinary.”
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Ingredients
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 red onion, finely sliced
- 1 celery stick, very finely chopped
- 100 g dried rigatoni
- 1 large garlic clove, grated
- 0.5 teaspoon celery seeds (or 1 teaspoon celery salt, and reduce the salt)
- 3 tablespoons tomato purée
- 2 tsp fruity hot sauce
- 2 dashes of Worcestershire sauce, to taste
- 1 tbsp vodka or gin
- 0.5 lemon, juiced
- 50 ml double cream
- 1 pinch sea salt flakes, to taste
- 1 handful grated Parmesan, to taste
- 1 pinch ground black pepper, to taste
Details
- Cuisine: Italo-American
- Recipe Type: Pasta
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 5 mins
- Cooking Time: 10 mins
- Serves: 1
Step-by-step
- Put the butter and olive oil in a heavy-based pan over low to medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the onion and celery and a good pinch of salt. Cover the pan with the lid and cook the onion and celery for 15 minutes, or until both have turned properly soft.
- Meanwhile, put the pasta on. Cook the rigatoni in plenty of well-salted boiling water, until al dente. Reserve a couple of tablespoons of cooking water when you come to drain it.
- Add the garlic and celery seeds (or celery salt) to the onion and celery and cook, without the lid, for 1 minute.
- Turn the heat up a little and add the tomato purée, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, then add the vodka, lemon juice and a good pinch of salt. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring, until the sauce has come together and looks smooth and glossy. Take the pan off the heat.
- Tip the pasta and the reserved cooking water into the pan with the sauce and add the cream. Put the pan back over low heat and mix everything together, tossing it thoroughly to make sure the sauce is clinging to the pasta. Serve with plenty of Parmesan and black pepper.
Recipe adapted from The Art of Friday Night Dinner: Recipes for the best night of the week by Eleanor Steafel (Bloomsbury Publishing, £26, Hardback). Photography by Sophie Davidson.
The Art of Friday Night Dinner: Recipes for the best night of the week by Eleanor Steafel. Photography by Sophie Davidson.
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