Spicy cottage cheese pasta with vodka

If you've ever wondered if you could swap cottage cheese in for heavy cream in everyone's favorite fiery pasta sauce -- and why wouldn't you, given cottage cheese's "It Girl" status -- rest assured, you can. It takes a little finesse to ensure the pasta sauce stays luscious, given cottage cheese's high protein and low fat contents. (This is not the time for low-fat cottage cheese.

You need what little fat you can get here, so reach for the whole-milk stuff.) Heed this advice: To keep the sauce from curdling, blitz it for longer than you think it needs, incorporate warm pasta water just a little at a time, and toss it with perfectly cooked, stout rigatoni off heat.