Shrimp Broth

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook the garlic, shallot, anchovies, and bay leaf for 3 minutes, mashing up the anchovies with a wooden spoon. Add the shrimp heads and shells, then cook, stirring, for 4 minutes.

Reduce broth- Add the wine, turn the heat up to high, then simmer for 2 minutes until mostly evaporated. Add the broth and salt, bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer gently on low for 25 minutes. Crush the shrimp heads twice with a potato masher to extract their flavor as the broth cooks. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl, pressing all the juice out of the shrimp shells. Discard the solids. You should have around 1¼ cups of broth. Don't worry if you have a bit more or less, it will self-correct later!

Cook linguine- Bring 10 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan and cook the linguine according to the package directions minus 1 minute. (Start cooking the shrimp once the pasta is in the water.) Stir the pasta regularly to ensure it doesn't stick together. Just before draining, scoop out a cup of pasta cooking water (reserve), then drain the pasta.

Cook shrimp- Toss the shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook the shrimp for 1½ minutes on each side until just cooked, then transfer to a plate.

Pasta sauce- Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the same pan. Cook the garlic and red pepper flakes for 15 seconds until the garlic is golden. Add the shrimp broth, then turn the heat up to high. Simmer rapidly for 2-3 minutes, stirring to scrape the base of the pan, until the liquid reduces down to about ½ cup. (You can pause at this point if the pasta is not yet cooked.)

Toss with pasta- Add ⅓ cup of the reserved pasta cooking water, the cooked pasta, and cherry tomatoes. Still over high heat, toss for 1-2 minutes using two wooden spoons until the sauce thickens and coats the pasta rather than pooling at the bottom of the pan. It will seem loose at first, but the pasta will finish cooking in the sauce and soak up some of the liquid. Add additional reserved pasta cooking water if needed.

Serve- Working quickly, toss the shrimp and parsley through the pasta. Divide between bowls and serve, stat!