Gordon Ramsay's Bloody Mary Pasta: A Dry January Experiment

Inspired by the flavors of a classic brunch favorite, a home cook attempted Gordon Ramsay's Bloody Mary linguine. The dish is designed to translate the savory, spicy notes of the cocktail into a pasta course.

Ramsay explains the concept in his Ultimate Home Cooking cookbook, stating,

"Bloody Mary is one of my favorite drinks, so I thought why not incorporate the same flavors on the plate?"

The recipe serves four and is positioned as an unusual starter or main course. It demonstrates how familiar dishes, such as pasta and tomato sauce, can be updated with creative twists.

To prepare the dish, a specific set of ingredients is required. The main sauce components include a red onion, a garlic clove, and a 400-gram tin of chopped tomatoes.

The cocktail-inspired flavors come from:

• 50 milliliters of vodka
• 1-2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce
• 1 teaspoon of finely granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon of celery salt

For the topping, the recipe calls for a large handful of white breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoon of finely chopped parsley, and olive oil for frying. The pasta used is 400 grams of dried linguine.

A note on the ingredients: Ramsay's cookbook uses British measurements. In American supermarkets, "chopped tomatoes" are typically found as diced tomatoes. Additionally, celery salt was unavailable for this specific preparation and was omitted.

The cooking process began with minimal prep work. The onion was diced, parsley chopped, and garlic crushed. Before making the sauce, the breadcrumbs were toasted in a frying pan with olive oil over medium heat.

Seasoned with salt and pepper, the crumbs were stirred until they reached a golden hue. The chopped parsley was added to the hot crumbs, and the mixture was set aside.

For the sauce, olive oil was heated in a fresh pan. The diced onion was sautéed until softened and light golden, followed by the garlic for another two minutes. The Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, and sugar were added at this stage.

Vodka was poured in to deglaze the pan. As noted in the recipe description,

"The alcohol all evaporates, but it adds a richness to the sauce,"

Ramsay writes. The tomatoes were then added, and the heat was lowered to a simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the sauce reduced slightly.

While the sauce simmered, the linguine was cooked until al dente according to package instructions. Before draining the pasta, some of the starchy pasta water was reserved and stirred into the sauce.

Ramsay advises that saving pasta water helps to make the sauce silky smooth. After draining, the noodles were tossed directly into the pan with the sauce.

The final presentation involved topping the pasta with the freshly toasted breadcrumbs. Visually, the dish appeared simpler compared to other Ramsay recipes, such as his 15-minute Bolognese or cacio e pepe.

The final tasting revealed a dish that mirrored its visual simplicity. The sauce lacked significant depth, though the Tabasco provided a noticeable kick. Overall, the pasta was described as an average tomato-sauce dish.

Reflection on the preparation suggested potential improvements. The use of diced tomatoes may have impacted flavor; opting for whole San Marzano tomatoes crushed by hand, perhaps with tomato paste, might have yielded better results.

Additionally, the omission of celery salt—due to availability—likely removed a layer of complexity from the sauce. The dish serves as a creative experiment for Dry January, though the flavors of the cocktail may not fully translate to the pasta.