Directions

• Add olive oil and garlic to a 4 qt pot and place over medium heat. Once garlic begins to sizzle, add onion and a pinch of Kosher salt. Saute onion and garlic until softened, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes. Add tomato paste and turn heat to medium low. Cook tomato paste and onion mixture until slightly caramelized, at least 5 minutes, but ideally 15 minutes more, stirring every five minutes or so. Add vodka and stir to loosen up all the caramelized bits. Raise temperature to medium high heat to cook off the majority of the vodka. Reduce heat back to medium, add tomato purée, sugar, heavy cream and stir to combine. Simmer for about 5 more minutes. Season to taste with salt and black pepper and add red pepper flakes if desired.
  
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Add appx. 2 tbsp salt to 3 qts water and bring to a boil. Cook ziti until al dente, then drain and add back to empty pot. Add sauce and mix thoroughly. Scatter 1/2 cup Parmesan over pasta and add ricotta cheese into the center to pot. Stir gently. You don’t want it to be homogeneous. You want visible streaks of ricotta cheese to remain.  Pour pasta mixture into baking dish and top with remaining Parmesan and all the mozzarella. Bake on middle rack for about 25-30 minutes (check for doneness at appx. 20 min), until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown. If you like a bronze lid of crusty cheese (you know I do), place baked ziti under your oven broiler (on high) and DO NOT WALK AWAY. Cheese goes from golden to burnt very quickly, so keep an eye on it. It should only take a few minutes under the broiler to look like mine does in the photo. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes, then dig in!