A while back, I made a Mango Pepper Vodka Sorbet, which of course required a Pepper Vodka. It's pretty easy; 3 Tablespoons cracked black pepper corns in a fifth of vodka, and give it a shake every now and then for a week.

The thing is, the sorbet (which was awesome, by the way) only required 1/4 cup of the vodka, so afterwards I still had nearly a full bottle of vodka, and I don't drink vodka.

At dinner with J&R a couple weeks ago, I mentioned the dilemma of what to do with a bottle of Pepper Vodka I had no intention of drinking. J ran upstairs to the computer room and produced an Emeril Lagasse recipe for a Pasta in Pepper Vodka Sauce.

It's different that other pasta sauces; it uses one shallot and garlic rather than onions as an aromatic and 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Plus the vodka, of course.

I tried it last week and it is a phenominal sauce. The Pepper Vodka brings a damned fine bang to the proceedings, so I thought I'd try it as a pizza sauce this week, using tomato sauce in place of the diced tomatoes.

I expect to be using it as my standard pizza sauce to a while.

Now comes the quest for the perfect crust.

Pappardelle (not really) bolognese

This experiment is correction of a cardinal sin. Upon first reading Mario Batali's "Babbo Cookbook", I cooked up a variation of this recipe without making it as intended first.

I eliminated things I figured weren't important and I didn't like, specifically celery and carrots.

Turns out that shit is important. And, more amazing, I liked them.

Chopped onions, celery and carrots together make up the Italian aromatic mix called Gremolotta. Or is it Gradiska? Anyway, it's a big deal and I kick myself for blowing it off last time.

One thing is, I couldn't find Pappardelle pasta (wide strips of flat pasta). Batali being Batali, his recipe involves making ones own pasta, and I'm not above that sort of thing, but I have no pasta roller. So I bought lasagna noodles, partially cooked them and sliced them into little sheets, then finished them in the sauce itself.

It worked, but I cut the pasta too big.

Finished with some shaved parmisan, fresh oregano and a bit of olive oil (extra virgin, of course).

A successful venture.

New rule: No fucking with a new recipe until I've made it properly once.