Instant Pot cascatelli with vodka sauce

Have you heard of the brand-new pasta shape, cascatelli? It was developed by Dan Pashman, host of my favorite food podcast, The Sporkful (and a fellow Tufts alum). I listen to a lot of podcasts, and I have a recipe blog. So when I tell you my favorite podcast is the Sporkful, don't take that lightly. Pashman is a guy that appreciates the details of food. He's not fancy, he just wants to deliver the most delicious food to his mouth in the tastiest way. He'll nerd out on whether you should eat your cheeseburger upside down so the cheese is closer to your tongue. I'll admit to doing things like this, including inspecting the distribution of flavoring on a chip and positioning that part directly on my tongue!  

Pashman devoted this level of attention to detail to developing a brand new pasta shape. He chronicled this in an award-winning mini pod series Mission: ImPASTAble. He wanted a pasta shape that was forkable, sauceable, and toothsinkable. The result is cascatelli, a waterfall-shaped pasta with ruffles and a groove in the middle Pashman calls a "sauce trough." This new pasta shape was listed as one of Time's best inventions of 2021. 

Trader Joe's is now selling cascatelli. Last weekend, I finally spotted it at my local store for a mere $2.69!

I've written before about why the Instant Pot is a surprisingly ideal way to make pasta. When cooked on the stovetop, cascatelli has a longer than usual cook time, clocking in at 11 minutes. The Instant Pot is a great way to speed this up a bit. I couldn't find any recipes for cascatelli in the Instant Pot, so I took one of my favorite recipes, penne with vodka sauce, and converted it. I think this may be the first recipe on the internet for cascatelli in an Instant Pot!

How did it turn out? It was perfect! It indeed had great sauceability, holding on to extra vodka sauce. The pasta is the perfect size, too. It's a short pasta cut, but a bit more substantial than, say, penne, so a single noodle was the perfect bite-size sauce delivery method. 

You can make any of the Instant Pot pasta recipes on my blog with cascatelli. Just pressure cook the cascatelli for 7 minutes (as opposed to 4 or 5 minutes listed in my other recipes) and do a quick pressure release at the end. For the recipe below, I did a slight variation on my usual vodka sauce by using diced tomatoes instead of tomato paste. I thought it would be fun to have a bit of a textural contrast and that the ruffles would do a good job holding onto the tomato pieces. If you'd like to try the more traditional smooth vodka sauce, use my original recipe, but pressure cook it for 7 minutes.

Instant Pot cascatelli with vodka sauce

1 T butter
1 medium onion, minced (optional)
1 T minced garlic

15 oz can diced tomatoes

1/4 cup vodka

2 t salt

4 cups water

1 16 oz bag cascatelli pasta
1 cup heavy cream

black pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste

heaping 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

Using sauté mode on the Instant Pot, melt butter and sauté onions until softened, if using, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes, and vodka, and sauté for a minute. Add salt, water, and pasta. Stir well, seal the Instant Pot, and pressure cook on high for 7 minutes. Do a quick release once the pressure cook cycle has finished. Stir in remaining ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. If pasta is too saucy, let stand for a few minutes to thicken. If not saucy enough, add a few tablespoons of water to moisten. Serve with additional parmesan if desired.