Pasta alla vodka with fusilli

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta and preheat a heavy bottom pot over medium heat for the sauce.

Mince the shallots very finely and press or mince the garlic.

Add 40 g olive oil to the warmed pot, then the shallots, garlic and a strong pinch of salt, and stir.

Sweat them one to two minutes, to the edge of translucent with no caramelization yet, so they do not stand out texturally in the sauce.

Add the chili flakes and chopped Calabrian chilies and stir to bloom them in the oil, frying about a minute until the oil is perfumed and orange.

Add the tomato paste and fry about two minutes, stirring often, until rust coloured, without burning the garlic or over-caramelizing the sugars.

Add the vodka and deglaze any tomato gripping the bottom of the pot.

Give the vodka a minute or so to evaporate, until the sauce is pasty again and starting to glaze the bottom of the pot.

Add 350 g heavy cream.

Turn the heat to its lowest setting and add two to four ounces of pasta water so the sauce does not over-reduce and split.

Salt the boiling water generously, add a pound of fusilli, agitate it with tongs and cook nine minutes to a soft-bite al dente.

Reserve one to two cups of the starchy cooking liquid, then drain the pasta.

Add the drained pasta to the sauce, which has been simmering nine to ten minutes over very low heat, with 75 g butter and half a cup of pasta water.

Stir gently over very low heat until the butter is melted in and the sauce is shiny; the starch coming off the pasta with the slowly melted butter makes it creamy.

Add another half cup of pasta water and 50 to 75 g grated Parmesan, then stir off the heat until melted in.

Adjust with more water to thin or more cheese and butter to thicken, then taste for salt.

Plate, then finish with grated aged Parmesan, fresh cracked black pepper, chili flakes, fresh basil and a long squeeze of olive oil.