stories:
The Ten
10 Recipes Using Vodka
Have your way with vodka, from cocktails to dinner and dessert
By Aida Mollenkamp
1. Angel Hair Pasta with Spicy Vodka Sauce. This sauce is partly inspired by the spicy Roman arrabbiata as well as by the classic tomato-vodka sauce. With a bit of oregano, a pinch of chile, and a few shots of vodka, this simple dish pays off with big taste.
2. Linguine with Clams and Chorizo. If surf ’n’ turf had a baby, this pasta dish would be it. Bits of spicy, browned chorizo deglazed with vodka mingle with briny bites of clam.
3. Seared Scallops with Lemon and Vodka. Seared scallops are great, and they leave delicious browned bits in the pan that this recipe makes the most of. We deglaze the pan and hit it with a touch of cream and a pinch of tarragon for a recipe that can be served as dinner for two or over thin noodles for a weeknight pasta dish.
4. Drunken Shrimp. Shrimp are tenderized and flavored by a combination of vodka, chiles, lemongrass, and garlic, then sautéed. A last touch of vodka helps boost the sauce’s flavors. All that’s left to add is steamed rice.
5. Orange-Vanilla Ricotta Cheesecake. Who doesn’t love a Creamsicle: vanilla ice cream wrapped in orange ice? Now take those flavors, whip them together with ricotta and a bit of vodka, and you’ve got an adult cheesecake that’s elegant yet still strikes a nostalgic chord.
6. Chocolate Ganache Tart. What do we like about Black Forest cake? The fruit and chocolate. What do we hate? The sickening sweetness. But this deep, intense, dark chocolate tart comes with a vodka-cherry sauced loaded with vanilla flavor, for a perfect twist on Black Forest.
7. Hannibal Lecter. Yes, that Hannibal. He loved the French wine–based apéritif Lillet served over ice with a slice of orange. We like to take that combo past happy hour by combining it with vodka and serving it chilled and up.
8. Disco Dancer. Nothing says the 1970s quite like a Harvey Wallbanger. Here’s a version more apropos to modern times.
9. Oat and Honey Vodka. It’s been said a thousand times that the folks over at Blue Hill at Stone Barns are a talented bunch. The simple genius of infusing vodka with oats and honey is what made us jump on the bandwagon.
10. Sunshine Bitters. These bitters made with vodka and spices have a delicate yet pronounced flavor: just the thing for a stiff floral cocktail like the Girasol.
The bitters recipe sounds interesting and just made me realize that all the bitter recipes I've been seeing lately are probably a good way to use up some ominously aging spices (somehow I wound up with a glut of saffron, who would have imagined?).
I just made Polish Fruitcake - Cwibak or Chleb Wigilijny - for the first time for my mom (daughter of Polish immigrants) who requested an Xmas treat with dates and walnuts. It's more of a cake or quickbread I think than traditional fruitcake, but what I liked about it was that it called for using vodka in the batter! The thematic tidiness of that!
Not sure what vodka is doing for the recipe, but a friend of mine mentioned that she thinks the vodka can help give a lighter crumb or flake when used in pastries and breads because it evaporates so quickly in the oven? Will have to research.
The fruitcake seemed to come out nicely and she is enjoying, so despite the bad rap fruitcakes have (maybe just call it a Polish fruit and nut tea cake?) , I'd recommend it as another vodka recipe in which the ingredient is a bit stealth.
I'll have to make some for New Years!
There are some good recipes using Landy Cognac too...like cognac mashed potatoes and cognac in egg nog.