Recipe - Vegetarian "Meat" Sauce

So I'm going to tell you right off the bat that the name of this "sauce" is misleading. I had actually originally meant to make sundried tomato vodka cream sauce but because I was missing a few things and made a few mistakes, I ended up with THIS delicious sauce that made both my roommate and I think of a faux meat sauce where the meat was actually tomato; the consistency was similar. My intention was to make a creamy sauce for the lobster ravioli we had purchased from Costco. Below are the mistakes in trying to make the cream sauce BUT contributed to the sauce for which I will share ingredients and instructions. Hooray culinary mistakes!

Mistakes: 

• I didn't have heavy cream (and no time to go get some), so I had to get half and half which resulted in the sauce not being as creamy as hoped. 
• I also didn't have canned tomatoes so used a food processor on some fresh tomatoes so they came out a little chunky still. 
• I should have drained the tomato mixture before adding it to the saucepan. Mine turned out a bit more watery than I would have liked.
• Put the sundried tomatoes on the bottom so that it can be properly cut up. Better - slice them up yourself! If it came in a can with oil already in it, skimp on the oil in the sauce pan.

Step 1: Ingredients (serving size: 2 dinner portions)

• olive oil (for pan)
• basil leaves (to taste)
• 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup vodka
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 4 Roma tomatoes
• 5 cloves garlic
  
  

Step 2: Processing the tomatoes
Don't make my mistake by putting the fresh tomatoes in first because then you won't get the sundried tomatoes cut up into bites. I ended up only using four of my tomatoes rather than the six shown above. Slice up the tomatoes before you put them in the processor to make it easier. Then process it until it's a nice consistency.


Step 3: Using the vodka
So when you're making this, please don't use vodka that you wouldn't drink on its own. It should be good enough that you'd take a shot of it without a problem. I mean, it's still going in food! Anyhow, heat up a saucepan on medium and add your olive oil. If there is a lot of oil in the sundried tomatoes you used due to the jar it came in (like mine did), use a minimal amount. Mince your garlic and toss it in with the oil. Once that browns, pour in your vodka and let the alcohol evaporate before moving on.


Step 4: Adding the tomatoes, cheese, and half-and-half
Simple - add your tomatoes and cheese! After the cheese has been blended a bit with the sauce, you may add the half-and-half.

 
Step 5: Completion
Your sauce should be done after simmering for a few minutes. You can now put it over your pasta. Since it came out so chunky and of a meat-sauce-like consistency, it would work well with textured pastas. Nevertheless, it was still delicious with our ravioli.