Yield:4 to 6 servings

In a 1974 cookbook, the Italian actor Ugo Tognazzi published a recipe for pasta all’infuriata, "furious pasta," a chile-vodka-spiked tomato number. It’s one of the first written accounts of vodka in pasta. The alcohol is said to help fat disperse more evenly, keeping the sauce emulsion glossy and creamy, and to help you smell, and in turn taste, the sauce's flavors in a heightened way. The ricotta serving suggestion draws inspiration from the creamy tomato soup with three dollops of cool, sweet ricotta on top from the now-closed Caffe Falai in Manhattan’s NoLIta neighborhood. The ricotta lends coolness both in temperature and in flavor, offering relief between bites of spicy booziness.

Ingredients

• Kosher salt
• 1tablespoon olive oil
• 4slices thick-cut bacon (6 ounces), coarsely chopped
• 1½teaspoons red-pepper flakes
• 1teaspoon dried oregano
• 4large garlic cloves, crushed but left whole
• 1medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 5tablespoons tomato paste, preferably double-concentrated
• ¾ to 1cup vodka, depending on how boozy you want it
• 1pound fusilli, penne or rigatoni
• 1cup heavy cream
• 4ounces Pecorino Romano or Parmesan, finely grated (1 cup)
• 1cup/8 ounces whole-milk ricotta
• Finely chopped flat-leaf parsley or basil, for serving

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.