Sauce is better with booze/Sweets are better with salt

I realize this is post #3 and once again it’s alcohol-centric. Whatevs.

Last week I went to Celeste’s swank new apartment to catch up over carbs and wine, cause that’s how we do. Somehow our meetings always revolve around creamy pasta. And that’s alright with me.

On the menu:
Penne alla vodka
Fleur de sel brownies

We searched all the usual sites for recipes but ultimately came back to one of our favorite places ever, Luxirare. No one knows who Luxirare is. As far as we know, it’s a she. And she makes unbelievable creations. Just take a peek and you’ll be hooked. And her penne alla vodka looked incredible so while she doesn’t provide a recipe, we used the ingredients and our intuition as our guide.

Key ingredient in penne alla vodka: penne. Don’t let anyone tell you anything different. I’m Italian. I know.

Another key ingredient: vodka. No lie.

That’s Celeste. Celeste works for Behind the Burner, and even though she claims to not really enjoy cooking, she looks mighty happy right here. We ate more sauce from the pot than we did over pasta. Ain’t no shame.

Parmesan cheese, braseole (an air dried Italian meat, less salty than a pancetta but totally holds its own in this dish), fresh basil, half and half, vodka, garlic, San Marzano tomatoes, and a sprinkling of chopped onions. How can something so simple be so unrelentingly delicious? Who cares.

Sometimes the oven stops working and you have to bake brownies in the toaster oven. And then sometimes they come out like batter in the middle and crispy on the outside and you eat them anyway because you are a little drunk and they are goooo-ood.

We made these particular brownies with a basic brownie recipe and upped the amount of salt to a teaspoon and a half of fleur de sel, also sprinkling some on top. The combination of sweet but bitter dark chocolate and the salt is perfect.

Warning: this meal is not low calorie. In fact, you may have just gained a couple pounds reading this post. I’m not really that sorry about it.