Penne al Everclear, or, How I tried to sabotage this recipe, but still won

So, first, I used whole wheat pasta, and the box only contained 12.5 oz of pasta.

Second, I added 3/4 tablespoon of salt, not 3/4 teaspoon. Yikes. For damage control I added another spoonful of tomato paste.

Then the Everclear. I filled half my 1/3 measuring cup with water, and then the rest with everclear. I nearly forgot and almost added full strength everclear. Which would have been bad. Five minutes into cooking off the booze, the sauce still tasted like an alcoholic’s car. Cooked for a few more minutes and it started to be okay. I think you would probably be able to taste the difference between using vodka vs everclear, as there was still kind of a burning zing.

After all that, I served it and Sean immediately wished it has been regular pasta, not whole wheat, but it went over really well other than that, I did serve it as a side to salmon, and thought it was a nice meal. Have lots leftover, wonder how well it goes as leftovers?

I’m going to try it. Apparently Alton says that it will work as long as it is watered down to vodka strength., which I have no idea how I am going to achieve, but I’ll figure it out. Wish me luck!

I don’t have access to the original recipe anymore, but I know that I slightly increased the sauce to pasta ratio. Also, the original bizarrely called for 12 oz of pasta, and most boxes are a full pound (16 oz), so I modified the proportions again to accommodate a third more pasta.