Spicy chicken alla vodka sandwich with pesto and burrata (recreating Mama's Too)

Cut the top off a whole bulb of garlic and place on a foil-lined tray with topped-and-tailed shallots, halved if large; salt, and add olive oil about 60% of the way up.

Roast at 400 degrees until golden brown; set aside, keeping the oil.

Cut four chicken breasts diagonally in half against the grain, cover each half with plastic wrap and pound flat with a meat mallet; refrigerate to rest and firm up.

Make a thin wet batter of flour, salt, black pepper, dried basil, dried oregano and paprika with just enough seltzer water for a thin slurry texture; no egg.

Make the dry dredge: Italian bread crumbs with dried oregano, dried basil, dried parsley and chopped fresh parsley.

Dip each cold cutlet in the wet batter, let the excess run off, then press into the crumbs on all sides; rest on a wire rack over a sheet tray so the coating hydrates and sticks.

In a dutch oven, cook a tube of tomato paste and a tablespoon of chili flakes in the roasted shallot garlic oil until it looks like a sofrito, the raw tomato flavour cooked out and the water evaporated.

Deglaze with about half a cup of vodka and flambé with a lighter, stirring until few flames remain.

Add two cans of whole peeled tomatoes crushed by hand, the remaining roasted shallots and garlic, about a cup of water, salt and sugar; simmer about an hour.

Toast pine nuts in a dry pan over medium heat until golden brown.

Blanch the basil leaves in boiling water about five seconds until wilted, plunge into ice water, squeeze and spread on a towel to drain.

Grate the pecorino and parmigiano into a container, add one or two roasted shallots, about four roasted garlic cloves, a handful of pine nuts, the basil and salt, and blitz while streaming in about half a cup of olive oil; stir to let air out if it turns pale.

Stir a cup of heavy cream into the red sauce to make the vodka sauce.

Fry the cutlets in oil at 350F until golden brown and crispy; rest on a tray until cooled.

Cut the loaf in half but not all the way through; layer the cutlets with plenty of vodka sauce on, between and under them.

Dot with chunks of burrata, about half a large ball, and zigzag pesto across the top.