Spaghetti all'assassina ('killer spaghetti')
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Invented in Puglia’s capital Bari in the 1960s, this recipe treats pasta in a very different way. Uncooked dry spaghetti is added to a pan with a little tomato sauce and fed splashes of broth – a bit like a risotto – as it fries, crisps up and chars in the sauce. These crispy, smoky bits elevate the flavour into something more exciting and complex than the ingredients might suggest.
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking Time: 18-25 minutes
Source: delicious (magazine), August 27 2024. https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/spaghetti-allassassina-killer-spaghetti/?utm_source=delicious.+2024&utm_campaign=641a410311-Italian+launch+campaign&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4f48938054-641a410311-308422425&mc_cid=641a410311&mc_eid=31043a587f
Ingredients:
100g tomato puree
1/2 bunch basil
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves
1 fresh or dried red chilli, split open
100ml passata
200g dried spaghetti
Method:
Measure out 600ml in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Once boiled, stir in the tomato puree, basil and a pinch of salt. Keep at a gentle simmer.
Put a large, wide frying pan over a medium heat (it needs to be wide enough for the spaghetti to lie flat in the bottom). Add the oil, garlic and chilli - as soon as the garlic starts to sizzle, add the passata and a pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer.
Lay the spaghetti across the base of the pan and leave it undisturbed to fry in the oily sauce (about 5 minutes). Once the base of the pasta is crisp and browned, use a spatula to slip all the strands over and crisp the other sie. This is a crucial part of the assassina, so don't flip until it's crisp!
Once the spaghetti is browned and crisp on both sides, the sauce in the base of the pan will have started to catch and brown. Add 2 ladles of the gently simmering tomato broth to the pan and leave to vigorously simmer, undisturbed, until almost all the liquid is absorbed.
Continue this process until the pasta is nearly al dente (about 8 minutes). Trickle a little broth around the edges of the pan just to keep the sauce from drying out completely; this will allow a second crust to form. Give the pasta a final flip, crisp it on the other side while drizzling in the broth, then divide between bowls.