Gochujang chicken arrabbiata

The gochujang replaces the guanciale's funk entirely and brings its own slow, smouldering heat. A weeknight dish that eats like a project.

1. Put a big pot of well salted water on to boil. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces, pat them properly dry and season with salt.
2. Warm the olive oil in a wide pan over medium high. Sear the chicken in a single layer, undisturbed, until deeply golden on one side, then toss and finish briefly. Lift it out to a plate. It will not be fully cooked. Good.
3. Lower the heat. Into the same pan go the sliced garlic and red pepper flakes, softened in the fond for a minute until fragrant but never browned.
4. Stir in the gochujang and let it fry for 30 seconds so it loses its raw edge, then add the crushed tomatoes. This is the moment that makes the dish: frying the fermented paste before the tomatoes go in cooks off its raw bite and wakes up the whole jar. Simmer 8 to 10 minutes until it darkens and thickens.
5. Cook the pasta one minute shy of the box. Reserve a mug of the starchy water before you drain.
6. Return the chicken and its juices to the sauce, then the pasta. Toss hard with a splash of pasta water and the butter until every tube is glossed and clinging.
7. Off the heat, a shower of Parmesan and the parsley. Taste for salt, then again, because you were wrong the first time.

Serve at once, with something cold and fizzy. No one has ever regretted a second bowl.