gochujang pasta alla vodka with crab

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup of olive oil

• 2 tbsp of unsalted butter

• 6 tbsp of tomato paste

• 1 tbsp of gochujang

• 1 tsp of gochugaru

• 3 cloves of garlic; minced

• 1/2 pint (8 oz) of heavy cream

• 3 tbsp of vodka

• 1 tsp of salt

• 1 cup of cooked crab meat ( I used the Jonah Crab from my Kildare Seafood Medley box)

• I box of pasta of your choice (I would recommend a long noodle of some sort)

• 2 scallions; sliced thinly

In a large pot, get some water boiling with a large pinch of salt.

In a non-stick pan (big enough to hold your sauce and pasta), heat up your olive oil and butter until melted. Add in your tomato paste, gochujang, gochugaru, and garlic into the oil/butter. Using a whisk, whisk it all together and let the tomato paste get a few shades darker.

Add your pasta to your boiling pasta water and cook until al dente. You want to time this nicely so you can reserve some pasta water and move the pasta directly from the pot to the sauce!

Into the tomato paste, add your heavy cream and whisk until the sauce turned a lovely pink color. Add in your vodka and cook (whisking) the sauce until the sauce no longer smells like a bloody Mary (aka you can’t smell the vodka any more. Season with some salt. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings as needed.

By this point, your pasta should be just about done. Using some tongs, place the pasta directly in the sauce, tossing it all together. If the sauce is looking a bit dry, use some of the reserved pasta water to loosen it up a bit.

Once the pasta is covered in sauce, fold in your pieces of crab so you have crab in every bite.

Serve immediately and top with scallions!