Gluten-Free Rotini with Spicy Vodka Sauce

My hands down favorite pasta dish is from Jon & Vinny’s in LA - The Spicy Fusilli. It has the best flavor and the perfect amount of spice to give this dish the ultimate crown of my personal favorite pasta dish in LA. The only downfall is that I can only eat it once in awhile because every time I have it, I end up having the absolute worst stomach ache afterwards because of the gluten and dairy in the dish.

This led me to creating a gluten-free, lactose-intolerant friendly dish that is so good, you’ll never know that it didn’t come from the famed restaurant - Jon & Vinny’s. It’s made with the newly reformulate Ancient Harvest Organic Gluten-Free Rotini that holds up so well - you’ll never know that its gluten-free since the texture is just like regular pasta and doesn’t turn mushy after cooking. Plus, instead of cream and butter - I swapped in my favorite ghee and almond milk which turned out better than I could have ever imagined.

I made a large portion for my family and it made about 6-8 servings so we still had leftovers for the next day. Feel free to adjust the recipe as needed based on how many servings you’d like as well as I’d recommend starting with the lower end of red pepper flakes and add more as needed based on how spicy you like your pasta.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did and can’t wait to hear what you think! If you end up making this dish, tag me @sweatspace on social and I’ll repost them all!

Time to Make: 20 minutes
Gluten-Free / Lactose-Intolerant Friendly

Ingredients (6-8 Servings):
16 oz Ancient Harvest Rotini
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ shallot, diced
1 garlic clove, diced
½ cup tomato paste
2 tablespoons vodka
1 cup almond milk
1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (pending spice level)
Salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons ghee
¼ cup roughly chopped fresh basil
2 ounces finely grated parmesan (optional)

Instructions:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallot, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and softened, about 3-5 minutes.
2. Add the tomato paste, stirring occasionally, until its dark red and starts to caramelize, about 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the vodka and cook down until liquid is mostly evaporated, stirring constantly about 2 minutes.
4. Add the almond milk and red pepper flakes, stirring until everything is smooth and mixed well, about 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then remove from the heat and set aside.
5. As the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the rotini until al dente, about 7-8 minutes.
6. Drain the rotini, keep at least 1 cup of pasta cooking liquid for the sauce.
7. Add the rotini to the sauce with ghee and 1/2 cup cooking liquid, cooking over medium-low heat for about 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, add more liquid if needed. Salt and pepper to taste. (optional: add half the parmesan to coat rotini)
8. Serve pasta with basil. (optional: finish with more parmesan)