Welcome to another installment of Italian-a-fy. In this episode Matt takes everyone’s favorite late night snack (yes of course it’s nachos) and gives it a fantastic Italian spin.
Those of you out there that are not familiar with vodka sauce or simply are not vodka fans may be slightly off-put by the idea of putting the alcohol into your pasta sauce. This technique has been in use for many years but was really popularized in the late 70’s. When cooked down with the sauce the vodka simply heightens the flavors, acting as an enhancer. It also adds just a bit of bite to the sauce in most cases which is perfect when you consider we are going to be putting this sauce on nachos.
We are going to start this off by preheating a cast-iron skillet and putting our pancetta into it on high heat. Refer to the amount that Matt is using in the video to decide how much to cook, just keep in mind that you will be using more pancetta for this dish than you normally would for a dish that was made with penne, for example. Cook your pancetta down until you start to see crispy golden brown edges appear along with a good amount of the fat rendering off into the skillet. Add in your vodka and continue to cook the pancetta. You are essentially going to cook most of the alcohol out of the pancetta leaving you with only the flavors you really want for a dish like this.
When your pancetta has cooked back down to something close to what you see in the video add in your tomato sauce, reduce the heat and stir frequently. The high heat was intended to shock the pancetta, allowing us to easily render off the fat and really get those crisp edges we’re after. Now that we have moved onto the tomato sauce high heat is just way too high. Take your heat down to a low simmer and let your flavors meld together in the skillet as your sauce continues to reduce.
Begin adding in your cream at this point. Matt likes to add his cream in stages for a variety of reasons, the most important one being that he likes to maintain the color of his sauce. Adding the cream in stages helps you regulate the amount you’re adding, you can always add more but you cannot remove the cream that you have already put in. Continue to let your sauce simmer on low and move ahead to the nacho part of this recipe.
Preheat your oven to 425′ F and lay out your choice of chips on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Spread them out evenly and add mozzarella, some chili peppers (unless you simply don’t care for the heat), onions, and then drizzle the entire pan with olive oil. Olive oil is a secret weapon when it comes to bringing out the flavor in your onions and peppers while roasting. Cook the nachos in the oven until your cheese is melted and you reach your desired level of overall crispness.
Cover this with dollops of your sauce, as generously as you see fit, and top it with Parmesan cheese, fresh basil, and some arugula sprouts for bite. Now that your Vodka Sauce Nachos are complete the only thing left to do is find someone to help you eat them all.
As always thank you for tuning in to another episodic food adventure here on the Fidel Gastro channel. More fresh content coming soon, don’t be a stranger, subscribe to the channel and make sure you aren’t missing out on new recipes, travel vlogs and more.