Shortly after news came out that our favorite supermodel, Gigi Hadid, was pregnant with long-time boyfriend Zayn Malik, she retreated to her Instagram stories to make our favorite comfort food: pasta.
I'm usually not one to give in to celebrity Instagram recipes, but honestly? This one looked so good, I couldn't resist. Plus, you might remember that the girl won "Celebrity MasterChef" once upon a time. If she's good enough not to get cursed out of Gordon Ramsay's kitchen, who am I to brush off her recipe?
This wasn't a typical vodka sauce (she didn't use vodka in her version, of course). It was filled with cream, butter, and cheese — the holy trinity of good Italian cooking. Unfortunately, I'm lactose-intolerant, so I made a few adjustments. But even then, the recipe was delicious. I doubled the recipe and also made it gluten-free for my celiac-ridden family one evening and we all agreed it was the best pasta we've ever had, so I can't even imagine what Gigi's OG version tastes like.
Personally, I'm blind as a bat. So, if you're an expert at zooming in on screenshots, then be my guest. Personally, I had to write everything down on a piece of paper. So if you're anything like me, this will be of great use:
Ingredients:
(Serves 2)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup shallot
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1/2 cup heavy cream (substitute unsweetened oat milk or cashew milk —make sure to read ingredient labels for hidden sugar — for dairy-free version)
- red pepper flakes to taste
- 1 tbsp vodka
- 1 tbsp butter (substitute vegan butter for dairy-free version)
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (substitute nutritional yeast for dairy-free version)
- half box desired pasta (she used shells, I used gluten-free brown rice pasta)
Recipe:
1. While cooking pasta in a separate pot, start a separate pan large enough to hold all pasta and sauce when the recipe is complete.
2. In it, heat up the olive oil, diced clove of garlic, and shallot (onions work too, like Gigi mentions) till they're all soft.
3. Add in the tomato paste and cook till it gets darker and the onions caramelize.
4. Stir in the vodka, and cook it till it evaporates. (She skipped this step.)
5. Stir in the heavy cream. (This is where I put in oat milk.)
6. Add in your desired amount of red pepper flakes. She used 1 tsp but my family enjoys spice, so I put in nearly 4 tbsps.
7. By now, your pasta should be done cooking. Before straining it, use a ladle or spoon to take out about 1/4 cup of pasta water to add to your sauce mixture.
8. Strain pasta and add it to the sauce along with 1 tbsp of (vegan) butter.
9. Stir in parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast and add salt and pepper to taste. Mine honestly didn't need any after this.
Trust me, there won't be leftovers.
